Introducing #Oracle #MySQL ACE Director Ronald Bradford to #ODTUG

ronald_bradford.jpgAs I promised in my previous blog posting, I got the opportunity to ask Ronald Bradford some questions.  I hope this serves as an introduction to Ronald, and that you’ll attendKaleidoscope to learn more from Ronald in person.

MR: Would you like to share some background information about yourself for our ODTUG readers?

RB: “I have worked with various RDBMS technologies for 20+ years.   I was first introduced to Ingres at university and after my Bachelors Degree in 1989. I started my professional IT career performing Ingres database architecture, system design as well as software development.  I worked solidly with Ingres for 7 years including on Australia’s largest distributed Ingres deployment at the time.  In 1996 I was recruited by Oracle Corporation as their resident Ingres Specialist in the design and migration services group. I worked on the R&D Ingres to Oracle Conversion (ITOC) Workbench project where we successfully reverse engineered Ingres applications into Oracle Designer (Version 1.3.2) and then forward generated an Oracle database (Version 7.3) and also produced Oracle applications.  I got up to speed with Oracle technology and then worked in Oracle partner services providing Oracle consulting and custom application development including achieved the rare 100% generated Oracle Developer application once for a client. I have even endured having to install Oracle Financials once, thanks Bruce Turner for that unique privilege :) .  My experience working with the Oracle RDBMS finished at single digit version (8i and 9i).

I joined my first now failed Internet startup in 1999. This was an Oracle/Java shop which was actually a startup using office space at Oracle and was one of my consulting gigs at the time. I started using and playing with MySQL in 1998/1999   From 2003 I had transitioned to full time to MySQL design, development, tuning, DBA support etc and included my now second failed Internet startup experience.  In 2006 after having provided independent consulting for a number of years in Australia around Java, MySQL and Oracle technologies I joined MySQL Inc as a Senior Consultant in the USA. I worked with MySQL the company behind the product, traveling weekly to new clients and new situations until the MySQL acquisition in 2008 by Sun Microsystems.  At this time I started providing independent MySQL consulting.  Today my work with clients involves a mixture of remote and onsite MySQL consulting and has included work in USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.

My name may be known to some readers especially in the DC area.  I have presented to the Federal Government in the Ronald Reagan building twice, first in 2008 with the 1 day ’DBA Bootcamp: MySQL for the Oracle DBA’ which I also presented in New York and San Francisco.  In 2009 I then presented ‘Best Practices for Migrating from Oracle and SQL Server to MySQL’.

In 2009 I was named MySQL community member of the year, and in 2010 I was recognized as one of the first and only three Oracle ACE Directors for MySQL.  I am co-author of the book ‘Expert PHP and MySQL’ http://expertphpandmysql.com, and I’ll be giving away free copies at the conference until I run out of them.  Say hi and give me the code word for a copy. You will have to read my blog for the answer!

And for a piece of trivia, I bought my first PC compatible machine in 1984, an Epson QX-16 which even had Dual CPU booting either 8086 and Z80 with it’s twin floppies and green screen.  It cost me $4,000 and took a very long time to pay off while working part-time for $5 per hour.”

MR: We at ODTUG feel there is a great synergy and opportunity for the MySQL community, what’s your thoughts on that?

RB: “I completely agree.  Since the Oracle acquisition was completed a number of Oracle User Groups including ODTUG, IOUG, NoCOUG and NYOUG have been very open to approaching the MySQL community including myself, to reach out to welcome us, see what we are about, and to see how the MySQL community can benefit with the various Oracle user groups.  I’m excited to see a MySQL track at ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010, and I’m looking forward for a packed room for every session on offer.  The ODTUG committee people I have worked with directly including Mike, Jerry, Kathleen and Lauren have all been great and very responsive.  While I have worked for a number of years on the MySQL users conference review committee, this is my first time having to organize, plan, schedule and manage an entire MySQL track for 4 days.  I could have not done this without the constant help of my fellow MySQL community members Sheeri K Cabral and Giuseppe Maxia.

We have a great line up of speakers with many years of MySQL experience. Many I approached directly just days after our first discussion of ODTUG MySQL content, and most responded immediately with yes I can contribute.  Our speakers include 4 book authors of MySQL content with 5 books in total.

I feel it will be some time before MySQL only developers will start attending Oracle conferences and other Oracle user group events. Many people don’t know enough in layman’s terms what is happening with the acquisition process and the future of MySQL. As an Oracle ACE Director I am committed  to work with Oracle and the MySQL community to promote and open doors that provide benefits for all users.

I’m looking forward to an ongoing relationship in future years with MySQL content at Kaleidoscope, much like the success of Hyperion in recent years that I have been told about.”

MR: If you had a chance to talk with Oracle developer attendees before your presentations what sort of questions would you be asking?

RB: “It is always great to prepare conference content based on the needs of the audience.  We are unsure just how many developers and attendees develop in both Oracle and MySQL, only time will tell. If I had a chance I would have liked to know what was the most important for attendees. We have definitely tried to create a track of content that covers what we feel are the most pressing developer related questions using MySQL.   We have created content for an intermediate level based for those developers that know their stuff in a respective technology and want that same level of proficiency in MySQL development and adminstration.  It’s difficult to transition from one technology to another, or need to work on multiple technologies without grasping and mastering all the idea situations the technology can offer.  We hope that our session discussions on the in’s and out’s of replication,  capturing, analyzing and optimizing SQL the MySQL way and much more will be of broad appeal.

Myself and Sherri K Cabral, another Oracle ACE Director will be partaking in theMonday night sundown sessions so this will be an ideal time to ask any questions.”

MR: If I do not know much about MySQL where should I start?

RB: “If I was to give you the top five tips to getting started with MySQL.

1. Download the current version of the MySQL Community server 5.1.x athttp://dev.mysql.com/downloads/
2. Read the MySQL manual and documentation athttp://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/index.html which will guide through setup and installation.
3. Start using MySQL, try the mysql client, download some open source LAMP products such as http://wordpress.org
4. Check out the MySQL Planet Blog aggregator at http://planet.mysql.com for a wealth of information from the MySQL community.
5. There is a wealth of presentations online starting with the MySQL User conference athttp://www.mysqlconf.com. You can also go back to previous years from a menu option of each year.  There is also a large number of video recordings of conference presentations at http://technocation.org

You can find out more information about Ronald at http://ronaldbradford.com andhttp://linkedin.com/in/ronaldbradford

Register for ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010, be a part of the first annual MySQL track at the conference, and meet Ronald Bradford.

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