Oracle Academy Tech Chat

Do you want to be a data engineer? In this episode, host Alba Joven speaks with Oracle Autonomous Database specialist Javier de la Torre Medina about what it takes to become an AI data engineer.

Episode Transcript:

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:15

Unknown

Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy, tech chat where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation workforce.

00:00:34:17 - 00:00:57:14

Unknown

I'm your host, Alba Joven. And in this episode, I'm joined by Javier de la Torre Medina, an Autonomous database specialist at Oracle. Today, Javier and I will be talking about how to become an AI data engineer. Welcome Javier. Thank you very much Alba a pleasure to have you today here on this nice chat. Javier before we dive in

00:00:57:15 - 00:01:20:15

Unknown

Can you tell us a little bit about what's your background and what's your role at Oracle? Sure. So I have it already at Oracle 13 years ago so when I when I joined and having working a lot of positions and all of the data related. So I'm working as a big data specialist, a NoSQL specialist, Oracle database specialist.

00:01:20:17 - 00:01:44:11

Unknown

So always having, working to, to help customers to build data architectures and solution which has the best approach. So to help them to, get the best value of the data. So normally my day, I do workshops to show the technology and demos to show it live, architecture diagram. I also I do a lot of proof of concepts.

00:01:44:13 - 00:02:07:17

Unknown

That's to, to help them to, to build the solution that their looking for. So at the end, I always been, data related, but now I have a special focus with, autonomous database, which is our, product right now in the, in the markets. I understand that you are an expert in, you know, autonomous database for those who may not be familiar what exactly it is and why is such a game changer?

00:02:07:19 - 00:02:35:15

Unknown

They are markets perception that Oracle is difficult. And you need a lot of gears and expertise. In order to start using this technology. And this is our game changer because we provide the Oracle database as so some access, an ERP or a CRM. But for the technology point of view it's access, because the idea of the goal of Oracle is you can start working directly with the data and forget about everything.

00:02:35:17 - 00:02:58:05

Unknown

So Oracle automatically is in charge of putting the data is in charge and doing backups is in charge of doing all this kind of, of activities. And that's why I suddenly changer. Because so also one of the good thing is that there is a lot of configuration already done. So the idea is that you don't need to be an expert in Oracle in Uni in order to start using it.

00:02:58:07 - 00:03:18:07

Unknown

Even if you left the university tomorrow, you can start using, create great applications, AI application that we'll talk later about it in a matter of minutes. And this is where the business see value because even in the, in the AI space. So we see that every day this a new something is changing or something is happening.

00:03:18:09 - 00:03:40:11

Unknown

So to be up to date or to be able to adapt these new changes into your application or the business is very important. So that's why is the key difference from from there or a game changer for the autonomous database. Also, one of the key things is that, we're going to talk about this concept of data engineer.

00:03:40:13 - 00:04:00:16

Unknown

So I think normally when we talk about the Oracle database, we are talking about database administrators. But this concept I think is one to disappear too. And data engineers. But the good things or if someone is a DBA and is listening to us is that the knowledge to do have is still is great because you need to work with the data you need to create.

00:04:00:18 - 00:04:23:09

Unknown

Move the data you know the form of the data. So on this value you can use it is still as a data engineer there. But you can forget about all these tedious talks about patching, backups, upgrades or all these things that doesn't provide value. And normally it's a stopper to to innovate on the DBAs or not, the data engineers can, benefit about all these new capabilities.

00:04:23:09 - 00:04:42:22

Unknown

The autonomous database is going to provide. You have mentioned the role of AI data engineer quite a bit. Can you explain how Oracle has achieved this role? So before going into the AI engineer, let me explain. What is a data engineer? If someone is coming from a DBA or have seen Oracle has only a database point of view.

00:04:43:00 - 00:05:03:03

Unknown

So I was mentioning. So one of the goal of the Oracle with the autonomous database is to focus only on the data, which is really important. But also there is a concept that we call in the autonomous database is the convert data model. So that means that we can work with any datatype. We can work with Json, we can work with data spatial.

00:05:03:09 - 00:05:26:23

Unknown

We can work with a relational. We can work with graph data. It doesn't matter. This is very important because many companies want to be a data driven company but become they become data movement company. So they move data from one product to another product. And then when the business came, I need a report by one yesterday I need to buy yesterday.

00:05:26:23 - 00:05:52:01

Unknown

No, there was too late. No. And this is one of the benefits that Oracle has to to be able to avoid to move data. Unless you don't need it. But also we have, great graphical interface which is called Data Studio. So I was mentioning you before that even if you left the university, today, tomorrow you can start using the autonomous database and you can become a data engineer.

00:05:52:03 - 00:06:13:18

Unknown

And this is because this suite of tools which are included for free, it is something very, very important with the autonomous database, allow us to go through the life cycle of the data engineer. So the lifecycle of a data engineer has three main stages, which is load data from a source of data transform the data will be data quality and reach it and so on.

00:06:14:00 - 00:06:36:16

Unknown

And then to serve it as maybe we need to serve it to a BI person who has to, prepare a report for their business. Maybe you want to serve it with an internal application because we need it for HR, marketing or so on, or even including application for third parties. So this is really very important. And all these three stages are very important from a data engineer.

00:06:36:16 - 00:07:06:04

Unknown

And you can achieve it very easily with a graphical interface which is called the the, the data studio. And what we say the I know with artificial intelligence. AI is transforming every industry. But what exactly is an AI data engineer. So have been talking about data engineer. So the AI engineer go a bit farther now, something that, I see, and I hear a lot is like a AI is not going to take your job, but someone who will use it.

00:07:06:04 - 00:07:28:18

Unknown

Wait. So this is very, very, very important because this is going to boost productivity. But even if it boost productivity is very important to check what the AI is suggesting because it's not going to do all the job for for us. So this is very, very important. And also in the data studio, we have included, a lot of AI features that anybody can can use.

00:07:28:20 - 00:07:49:00

Unknown

But something that I would like to highlight is that all the AI features that are included are open. So it means that I can work with any level in the market. You know that tomorrow, today, open AI is really cool, but tomorrow we have a three and then we have the IPsec and they're everywhere. Is, is is changing now.

00:07:49:02 - 00:08:10:01

Unknown

So something which is very important is to say, okay, from a business point of view, I want to take this technology and use it as soon as possible. But I don't want to change all the processes that I have underneath. If you have to adapt or develop something every day, you will never get anything to production or anything useful no

00:08:10:03 - 00:08:26:17

Unknown

And that's why in the database we are able to connect to any, and we are able to suggest or to work in order to improve this kind of pipelines or data load and all this kind of features that we like to highlight, you know, so this is very important.

00:08:26:19 - 00:08:50:17

Unknown

I mean when we boost their productivity. But then the AI engineer go a bit farther because also on top of that we have the load transform on serve that I was mentioning before. The AI can do more things. One thing is to create synthetic data or fake data. Imagine that they have to create an application for an internal marketing department.

00:08:50:19 - 00:09:14:23

Unknown

So I can use AI to generate the data model to generate the fake data. And the developer going to start working tomorrow directly. So this boost the productivity I don't have to worry too about, all these things are going to be a quickie. And also something that we can use in the autonomous database, which is very popular easily. We can work with that vector, database because the vector is a datatype is inside the autonomous database.

00:09:15:01 - 00:09:40:22

Unknown

So, anybody is not familiar with the vector is that we provide is the information we provide to the NLM in order to provide, more, business related, answers. For example, we have PDFs, I have Excel. I have a lot of information, pictures that I want my NLM to help me in my business so I can do it directly inside of the autonomous database in a very easy, very easy way.

00:09:41:00 - 00:10:02:02

Unknown

So that's why from I didn't AI different area point of view is generating fake fake data or synthetic data. I can go with vector, which is very important. I don't need to move the data inside or outside to different system, which is the converge capabilities that I mentioned before. And also I can create production ready applications in a matter of, of of minutes.

00:10:02:04 - 00:10:24:19

Unknown

So we have also a great capability which is select AI in which we can use natural language to resolve business queries. And this is, compared with a competition. And we have something which is really nice or very cool. And this is because the select AI feature is inside of the Oracle database is in the heart of the Oracle database.

00:10:24:21 - 00:10:44:11

Unknown

So for example, if you go and talk with ChatGPT is outside. We didn't know anything about your data. You know, tell me. Give me a recommendation about what you are what I'm looking for. But once you are inside of the Oracle database, the select AI the SLM is able to know everything about your business.

00:10:44:13 - 00:11:06:15

Unknown

But on top of that. So there are two key things, that are very important. One is the integration with all the Oracle ecosystem. It's very easy to create an application. For example, I created very simple application. Yes, to show the potential, although it is a bit useless, but I use my Apple Watch and Siri to talk with my autonomous database.

00:11:06:21 - 00:11:27:23

Unknown

So even though I'm, it seems like I'm talking with Siri at the end, the Apple Watch is sending a Rest API to select the AI SQL statement. So, create these kinds of things. It's our, one hour effort or less. Okay. So, this is very, very powerful. And I think it's more complicated to configure this. The Apple watch.

00:11:27:23 - 00:11:47:03

Unknown

Than doing the rest API. So this is give the feeling to our customers or anybody who is using it that I can have do it, do it very quickly. And if tomorrow instead of open AI I want to use work, I can do it very easily. That's another. My application is going to work the same.

00:11:47:06 - 00:12:07:07

Unknown

My rest API is going to be the same. And the second thing, which is very important is the security. Because even though you ask, tell me all the data, at the end you're going to generate a SQL statement. And if your user doesn't have the data privileges to read all the data, the L&M is not that an issue.

00:12:07:08 - 00:12:37:19

Unknown

All the information is secure by by default, because I have seen customers that for example, they build their own, the let's say their own, they put everything in a black box ChatGPT and then it's working. But they have a concern. What happens if I try to get information, imagine my medical or healthcare information about another user. You are never 100% sure that you can do some hacking to get this information.

00:12:37:21 - 00:13:00:10

Unknown

So at the end, what they do is they build another L&M to supervise the response. Anything after an L&M to supervise the second L&M. So everything became very, very, very complicated. But if you have the security by default it you can forget about all these things and make it applications, really to do all this kind of things, which is really powerful.

00:13:00:12 - 00:13:22:15

Unknown

So that's why I think that the AI data engineer with Autonomous database has all these benefits to create value in matter of, of minutes for the, for the business. So this is super interesting for those, listening who want to get this started in this file, where can anyone for our audience go to learn about how to become an AI data engineer?

00:13:22:17 - 00:13:42:06

Unknown

I think one of the key resources, because we are talking about many features about the Oracle Autonomous Database to be able to work with any kind of data type or to create the rest of the services and so on, so that we have a web page which is called Live Loves this. Live loves our Oracle, a free training.

00:13:42:06 - 00:14:08:16

Unknown

So we have more than 1000 trainings there for free, in which even you can have a your own sandbox to play, to play around. Also very important that even if you want to play on your local laptop. So we have a Docker image. So the stuff working in the laptop, even if you are interested to do this kind of things no and from there there are many live loves that will be interesting, like, the basics of the autonomous database, how it works, how to create one.

00:14:08:18 - 00:14:30:08

Unknown

We have live loves about Data studio. How to start with the graphical interface, how the looks splice and so on. Maybe then I will do something about, select AI, I can connect to another limb or I can create my application. How can create the fresh data services on top of that. So these are then key components that I will do it.

00:14:30:10 - 00:14:58:19

Unknown

And then to become the real AI engineer task we talk the vector how to work directly inside of the Oracle database. And then something that I highly recommend is to use Apex or Application Express, which is local application development. So I can create applications without the need of code. And even we have already built applications that you can use as for example, Lap chat to the first use cases that anybody wants to use.

00:14:58:21 - 00:15:24:21

Unknown

I want to chat with my data. I didn't want to use a black box or to write a strange commands and a create an application, have an easy way. So with this free live lab, you can have it in your laptop very, very easily and start working with, select AI under business. And then also we have another select the AI or support, which is a bit more advanced because the first business application is I want to chat with my data.

00:15:24:23 - 00:15:46:23

Unknown

And the second customer requirement is I want to create an application for my business user. For example, I know that nobody's reading the documentation. I will improve myself there. So let me let me create an application in which anybody can ask questions about the documentation to resolve any issues to to reduce the number of tickets on and so on.

00:15:47:01 - 00:16:09:01

Unknown

So this is also, done in a, in a free live love using vector. So we have the PDFs, the vector and then the L&M. And in a few clicks you can have all this, this work. So I recommend to go to this live love of application. You can look it in Google do it. You will see it because it's very, very nice, very simple, very intuitive with a lot of videos.

00:16:09:04 - 00:16:34:14

Unknown

So anybody can can follow it. And we have some angle. Something which is very important is we don't assume that you have some knowledge previous and knowledge, which is very, very, very important. Well, this has been such, inspo conversation before we will run up, my final question will be if you could give one piece of advice to faculty or students, what would it be?

00:16:34:16 - 00:16:54:21

Unknown

Something that I see. Well, now that everything is changing very fast. So we see a lot of products, a lot of AI, a lot of things there in the in the market are going on, which is very basic, but something that didn't change are the fundamentals a good data strategy is very important to consume any kind of AI data.

00:16:54:23 - 00:17:17:22

Unknown

And this maybe the name has changed, but if you go, look for a different name is the same concept of the same architecture, the same best practices. So my recommendation will be learn about all these principles, because I don't think it's going to change is true that, for example, the cloud has more flexibility, will be more cost efficient, but the architecture is not going to it's not going to change.

00:17:17:22 - 00:17:40:12

Unknown

No. So this is the the first thing. And the second thing SQL is really powerful. We see as a standard everywhere. So SQL for Json, sequel for relational SQL, for graph everywhere. So with two key things could be the main components I would recommend to anybody looking for to start to build on this kind of things and then going for this kind of live love

00:17:40:12 - 00:18:01:05

Unknown

So you want to became an AI data engineer. Ofcourse I think those were a great piece of advice. So a big thank you to have here for joining me on the podcast today. Thank you very much. If you want to learn more about Oracle Academy, please check out our website and subscribe to the podcast. Thank you for listening.

00:18:01:07 - 00:18:13:10

Unknown

That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Bekere Amassoma speaks with Annick Sakho, Director, Government Affairs Africa about today's rapidly evolving digital landscape and how access to technology education is a crucial factor in driving economic growth, innovation, and job creation.

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Episode Transcript:

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:35:11

Unknown

Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Start, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's workforce.

00:00:35:13 - 00:00:59:17

Unknown

I'm your host, Bekere Amassoma. In this episode, I am joined by Annick Sakho who is Director of Government Affairs Africa in Oracle. So Annick to start off. Thank you for joining us. And can you share a bit about your journey into technology, how you got into Oracle and your current role as Director of Government Affairs for Africa?

00:00:59:22 - 00:01:24:01

Unknown

A big hello to you, Bekere, and thank you for inviting me today. It's a real pleasure to be here with you to discuss Oracle Academy in this, podcast. Thank you for the opportunity. So I am currently the Oracle Government affairs in charge of Africa, and I am based out of Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire, in the Oracle Cote d'Ivoire office.

00:01:24:03 - 00:02:05:17

Unknown

So, you asking me about how I got into Oracle? Well, I started my career as a research and development engineer in a telecommunication company in Switzerland because I hold a telecommunication engineering degree. And later on, I joined Cote d'lvoire and joined IBM at the time when companies were starting to implement remote access to their mainframes and other computers. So, IT companies were actually in need of people who understood telecommunication to configure all these controllers and protocol, etcetera, to establish, stable, secure, remote connection.

00:02:05:19 - 00:02:42:20

Unknown

And this is how I got into technology, because remember at those time, originally remote access was, about dialing up on the phone and having a modem to allow employees to connect to an office, network of telephone networks. And, since I joined technology using my telco skills, I stayed there, and my journey started a very fulfilling one, I would say, where I held, initially a pre-sales role before transitioning into a sales role.

00:02:42:22 - 00:03:11:21

Unknown

I've been with Oracle almost 20 years now, and, New Year has been the same as the previous one because I was privileged to work with customers in different industries located in various regions across Africa, selling innovative solutions to support their business. And the most enriching part was the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment. To progress to a managerial role and then to lead virtual tips.

00:03:11:22 - 00:03:37:04

Unknown

So when I was leading the technology cloud sales team across sub-Saharan Africa a few years ago, I realized that a lot of governments were not familiar with cloud technologies, not even with Oracle solution portfolio. However, we knew that governments have a crucial role in supporting the regulatory environment and the adoption of these technologies in the local digital economy.

00:03:37:06 - 00:04:17:00

Unknown

And this is one this is, the reason why when the director, Government Affairs Africa position opened, I applied. This is what led me to, being today the government office director for Africa. In this capacity, I lead and coordinate Oracle's engagement with the African government officials and the various stakeholders like the NGO, the trade union, the industry associations, etc. and working closely, on the other hand, with Oracle Senior Management in Africa and Oracle Global Business Units.

00:04:17:02 - 00:04:51:13

Unknown

And part of my responsibilities include educating government officials about our company, about our industry and more generally, about technology. Wow Annick that's quite interesting and thank you for sharing. Now how would you describe the current state of the digital divide in Africa's education sector? Interesting question. Africa's digital transformation journey is marked by significant challenges that require, strategic intervention to overcome.

00:04:51:15 - 00:05:29:03

Unknown

And one of the critical areas that needs attention to ensure that the continent can fully leverage digital opportunity. Revolves around digital skills. With 70% of Africa's population under 30. There is a pressing need to reform education systems and to align with our industry needs. And, traditional education, from what I see it often does not equip young people with a skills demanding by the tech industry because we have not been able to, revovle in terms of curriculum.

00:05:29:05 - 00:06:02:19

Unknown

And this leads to a mismatch between education and employment opportunities. So the digital divide in Africa's education sector remains a significant challenge, particularly at the university and high school levels, because this is a last stage before going into the workforce and before applying for jobs. While, digital transformation is accelerating globally. Many African students still face barriers to accessing quality tech education for various reason.

00:06:02:21 - 00:06:35:23

Unknown

Inadequate infrastructure, limited internet connectivity, lack of appropriate training, and the lack of access to quality tech education and relevant training program impede the development of digital competency among the students. And additionally, we can also see that we have disparities between urban and rural areas where limited access to technology into the spread of digital and computing skills and, remote reach.

00:06:35:23 - 00:07:08:01

Unknown

This gap limits the ability of African student to compete in an increasingly technology driven job market. The World Economic Forum had just released their report on jobs, The Future of Jobs 2025, and it really showed that the jobs will transform, and we need to be equipped to have a chance to thrive in this new environment. Companies today, they are not hiring young people based on the traditional degrees alone.

00:07:08:03 - 00:07:48:04

Unknown

They hire them based on skills. This means that, you know, so should certification programs. The, certificate that they can earn will demonstrate how skilled they are. And they have now more values than having a bachelor's or a master's degrees in many cases. And knowing that, Africa has a young population, we need to have a reform of our education system to adequately equip young people with the skills needed for the digital age.

00:07:48:04 - 00:08:26:11

Unknown

And this is, concern more and more, countries, being conscious about and are working towards changing things. Well, I will say that we need to democratize education and the access to digital education. And for that, we need to focus now on upskilling or reskilling our youth to bridge the digital skills gap, ensuring that our young population is prepared to participate in and to drive the digital economy.

00:08:26:13 - 00:08:56:00

Unknown

Addressing this skill gap is essential for the continent's digital future. So as a conclusion, I would say that, we need to foster digital literacy and practical tech skills. Otherwise, the next generation of African professional will not be in a position to compete in a global environment, and they need to be empowered to drive economic growth and innovation across our continent.

00:08:56:06 - 00:09:38:18

Unknown

This is very important. Thank you very much Annick. Well said. Now to the next question. How do you see Oracle Academy's overarching mission in Africa, and how does it align with global efforts in tech education? I had the opportunity to engage with Oracle Academy in, different African countries, and I could see the impact. Oracle Academy's mission in Africa is to democratize access to technology education by providing free, high quality computing resources, curricula and training both to the students and the educators.

00:09:38:20 - 00:10:18:10

Unknown

Oracle Academy helps to bridge the digital divide because it helps equipping student and educator was essential digital skills, and by doing so, it aims to equip young Africans with the digital skills needed for the modern workforce, particularly in high demand fields such as software development, artificial intelligence, cloud computing. This mission aligns closely with global efforts in tech education, which focus on closing the digital skills gap, promoting Stem learning, and fostering innovation driven economy.

00:10:18:12 - 00:11:04:17

Unknown

And when we talk about Stem learning, I would like to also stress the opportunity it gives to women and young female students to have access to technical, education, because I'm a big fan of promoting Stem for the young girls for them to, really get interest into this, subject. So, in Africa where, internet penetration and digital infrastructure are still developing, Oracle Academy plays a crucial role in bridging the digital divide that were mentioned earlier by collaborating with universities, high schools, government institutes.

00:11:04:19 - 00:11:34:18

Unknown

It supports curriculum enhancement, teacher training and practical learning opportunities because we have we are giving access to students and teachers to a hub where they can find all the resources to be really educated and trained to the latest technology. And these ensure that Africa's youth is not left behind in the global digital economy. So this is a, very important role.

00:11:34:20 - 00:12:06:23

Unknown

And I will say that Oracle's academy efforts in Africa are critical, a critical component of a broader global movement towards inclusive and equitable tech education, fostering local talent and driving economic growth, and an increase in digital world.

00:12:07:01 - 00:12:40:17

Unknown

So, like I said, I am currently, director for Government Affairs in Africa. And through the conversations we're having with government that are really trying to, put in place and implement a digital transformation strategy, we realize that education and training is key into this effort. Government collaboration plays a pivotal role in expanding the reach and effectiveness of Oracle Academy across diverse African communities.

00:12:40:19 - 00:13:20:23

Unknown

While Oracle Academy provide the curricula, the training, the technology resources, government will act as a facilitator, an enabler, so that they help to integrate digital education into the national education system. This partnership is essential for creating sustainable, large scale impact. I can give the example where I have participated, in discussion between Oracle Academy and, some African governments in where we have close partnerships.

00:13:21:00 - 00:13:50:23

Unknown

Through ministries of national education or ministries of higher education, or even government institutes that help Oracle Academy engage with a lot of public universities and higher education institute and on board them as a member. This is what I mean by large, large scale impact to be able to reach a larger number of public, education, institutions.

00:13:51:00 - 00:14:34:12

Unknown

And I can say that governments can endorse and integrate Oracle Academy's program into national high school and university curriculum, ensuring that students gain relevant computer coding data science skills as part of formal education. Because this is what we were saying earlier, because they are not well trained and they don't have a modern curricula, sometimes they are left behind,they are not exposed to, technology and education industries also play a key role in aligning this program with national development goals, ensuring they meet industry and market needs.

00:14:34:14 - 00:15:21:19

Unknown

We can see that we have large, program being put in place by, more and more government, long term strategy, five year vision, etc. you'll see that, center of those strategy because they are also the one on which the government, put the effort in terms of enforcing and empowering the digital economy. So, because we have, insufficient number of teachers proficient in digital tools and methodologies, it's obstructed the effective adoption of technology in the education sector.

00:15:21:21 - 00:16:07:14

Unknown

So with institution like Oracle Academy, we can provide professional development to educators. And government can also help by scaling this effort and integrating teacher training program with the international education policies. This is an example of how government can collaborate with us. And of course, they can also encourage, digital skills certifications, both for the teachers to ensure that they are well trained and well equipped to deliver the training and also to the student to push them into the next level of, learning, I would say.

00:16:07:16 - 00:16:42:20

Unknown

So I would say that government collaboration magnify the impact that we can have with Oracle Academy by ensuring that we have a systemic and long-term change in Africa's education sector, and by working together Oracle Academy and government, the African government, we can empower more students. By reduce the, the, the digital divide, and we can build a real tech savvy workforce capable of driving innovation and economic growth in the continent.

00:16:42:22 - 00:17:38:04

Unknown

Thank you Annick, I like what you really said about, how government collaboration can actually amplify the impact of Oracle Academy. Thank you very much, Annick. Now, I would like to ask if you could share one key message for governments and other development partners about collaborating with Oracle Academy. What would it be? I will say that investing in digital education through partnerships with Oracle Academy, it's an investment in Africa's future workforce and economic growth because by integrating Oracle Academy's world class computing curricula into national education systems, government and development partners, by the way, can equip millions of students with the digital skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow through strategic collaboration and enhancing infrastructure training,

00:17:38:04 - 00:18:07:10

Unknown

educators expanded access to technology. African can bridge the digital divide, and we can. There thus foster innovation and drive inclusive economic development. Now's the time to act and skill digital education to ensure that no student is left behind in the global tech revolution. Because we are living in a global world nowadays. Thank you. Thank you very much, Annick.

00:18:07:12 - 00:18:37:09

Unknown

Now, as part of our final question, I would like you to touch on African youth's in Tech. What advice would you give to us African youths aspiring to build careers in tech? Well, everybody is about creating a startup, right? They'll want to create a startup. But now we need to understand what the use of those starts up. There are so many opportunities nowadays, but young people must be ready for that.

00:18:37:11 - 00:19:33:00

Unknown

They need to learn and master the fundamentals with a strong foundation in key tech skills like coding like that to science, like cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence. And this is where taking advantage of free learning platforms like Oracle Academy, for example, makes a difference. They should leverage online learning and certifications. We spoke about certifications and if the ongoing certification program from leading tech companies like Oracle, it is important as an achievement for them because it's very valuable when they'll be on the job market, because it will prove to recruiters and company that they have a competitive edge.

00:19:33:02 - 00:20:02:13

Unknown

They have a competitive edge in the job market and the completion of certificates. We'll talk about cloud skills, for example. It's called high on their resume. And it will give them the foundation to develop a career in tech. And they should also not forget to embrace continuous learning. The tech industry evolves very, very rapidly, so staying updated is crucial.

00:20:02:15 - 00:20:38:06

Unknown

Lastly, they should be resilient and think big, I was talking about startup, but we have challenges. It has challenges like limited internet access, lack of resources. But we need to be perseverant and creative have out of the box thinking it will set them apart. And they should not aim at just being a tech shooter, but they should also try to be a tech innovator and develop solution that solves real problem in their community.

00:20:38:07 - 00:21:04:15

Unknown

Now this is very and I wish this wouldn't end. And your point about, Africa is not not just being, users of this tech, but, you know, innovators of this tech is very key. And I must say that this has been a very insightful conversation. And on say big thank you to you Annick for sharing your experience with also now Oracle Academy is transforming technology education in Africa.

00:21:04:16 - 00:21:36:22

Unknown

And I dare to say that you rock. And to our listeners I would say visit our website academy.oracle.com to learn more about Oracle Academy's learning resources. Subscribe to our podcast. Share with your friends. You can also follow our Academy on X, Instagram and Facebook. Listen to us next week and also visit our website. And please drop or write a review for us or rate us on our website.

00:21:36:22 - 00:21:56:12

Unknown

And please also follow our social media pages. Thank you very much and do enjoy the rest of your day everyone. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Lorna Juma speaks with recent construction management graduates, University of Nairobi, Lewis Miringa and Joyce Ojamong about real-world applications of P6 in construction projects. Learn how Primavera P6 has shaped the careers of two recent Construction Management and explore the increasing role of tech in construction. ----------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;02 - 00;00;36;01 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's workforce.

00;00;36;03 - 00;01;13;20 I am your host, Lorna Juma. In this episode, I am joined by Lily Smearing and Jasper Jamal Rees, recent construction management graduates from the University of Nairobi. Join us as we hear their stories. Learn about, how Primavera P6 has shaped their careers and explore the increasing role of tech in construction project management. Whether you're a student, educator or professional in the construction field, this episode will offer valuable insights into the practical impact of P6 on construction projects and career growth.

00;01;13;22 - 00;01;40;16 Welcome Luis and Joyce. Now, to start off. Can you give me a bit about your background and the respective courses you undertook? Joyce, I'll start with you. Thank you. Lana. I'm so grateful to be here. My name is just a general environmental graduate and construction management graduate from the University of Nairobi. But until recently, where I am currently practicing as a scientist.

00;01;40;19 - 00;02;05;11 Data. So, I basically monitor on project site activities. Thank you. Luis. Thank you, Lorna. My name is Luis meeting. I am a graduate from the University of Nairobi on pursuing construction management. Currently working on Junior Challenge development at city. We also are developing a lot of seating data. Thank you so much. And Leo is just, to have that conversation.

00;02;05;14 - 00;02;31;29 How did you first hear about the Oracle Academy program and its inclusion of Primavera P6? Thank you. My first introduction when I came to learn about Oracle Academy was through creation. This is a student body in full construction real estate student association at the University of Nairobi. Faculty in the Built Environment and at the Department of Real Estate Construction Management and quantity serving.

00;02;32;01 - 00;02;59;12 So, I will part of the students conceived and then time which is the regression body. And the part of the initiative we had wanted to do is have also invited people who can be relevant when they graduate out in the industry. And how do you do this? Is, well, one of the ways is equipping these students with skills that actually in the industry.

00;02;59;16 - 00;03;30;12 So, part of what we're using construction is, Scheduling software. Scheduling software. So, we did that bridge broken. Think the country director. We need what I've been doing, which was well-received. They invite us a meeting them we this class with these. So, when we got there, it was like, let's get into what happened. We came to realize that these are being part of.

00;03;30;14 - 00;04;06;05 And there's a lot of an academy that offers these courses on products that Oracle offers. So, we got there, learned about. The curriculum they do offer and part of it was to have the university, partner with Oracle and get us to have account. So, though I will share the content. We were able to initiate this partnership. The university was already done was giving an account a member account where lecturers are able to sign up students.

00;04;06;07 - 00;04;36;06 Now students get to their own instances, but accounts for these accounts so they are able to access these curriculums. In on the afternoon. So, through this, I was able to learn more about D6, pretty much about the project management curriculum. Good. Even, attempts to download the BC software as a student version. Practically use it. New scenarios I need, which is really amazing.

00;04;36;09 - 00;05;10;09 And that was my first experience. And we the analytics and, thank you so much for that story. So just moving on to you. What motivated you to enroll and learn about this specific tool? And that is Primavera P6. Thank you, Lana. So, my first experience with P6 is from the Python version. So just talked about, with organized our actual training by P6, we were made aware that this is a tool that is widely used in the industry.

00;05;10;12 - 00;05;33;01 So, that motivated me to learn more about putting my video pieces as well as the resources that you provided, that Oracle provided. You were able to get tutorials from the student home and it able also be gained a certificate after the training sessions. And, just having the available resources for you to go through was motivation enough.

00;05;33;02 - 00;05;57;07 And I'm so grateful for that opportunity. How has gaining, Primavera P6 skills given you a competitive edge during your job search? So, during my job, such, there was an opportunity of, site coordinator in a construction site, and I was called for an interview, and they were looking for someone with a vast, project management skills, in particular.

00;05;57;07 - 00;06;23;09 Skills. Link. And since Primavera P6 is a skills link tool. I got to be. I was asked more about it. And the skills that I had and the knowledge that I was able to explain the cost aspects, there's considering aspects, the resource management aspects and that, let me get the job opportunity. And now, Lois, moving over to you.

00;06;23;11 - 00;06;54;04 Can you share specific examples where these skills helped you stand out or secure an opportunity? See what I can mentioning. And it's really nice when somebody asks you something that you are really conversant about. So, when I was actually attending the interview, I was asked, to give a scenario on how you would allocate resources to an activity and how will you know you, and I'm not, resources already located.

00;06;54;09 - 00;07;21;20 This is the kind of questions where you, you actually see deadlines and, and answer them because, but back in school. Oh, we interacted in the P6 till about scheduling. And so, and you are really, really conversant about it. So, it's, it's, it's a question that we answer in confidence. You even give a practical scenario of how you will schedule unit, which is actually what I need.

00;07;21;22 - 00;07;46;15 And I know it pretty much. And I am employed and another scenario, after working there for some, some time, we were actually sent to an did it for a crash program, which is also a concept in P6 when you are really lagging behind in the in, in, in in the scheduling in in addition, you know, the credit, you have to come up with a crash program.

00;07;46;20 - 00;08;19;10 Are you interested in activities and catch up with the lost time. So, part of what we were tasked to do is come up with a crash program. And if, we were given timelines when given due process and asked to come up with a schedule of how you are going to complete these tasks, which was handing over units, but 48 of them in in a period of three months, something you interact with it, you do it.

00;08;19;12 - 00;08;51;22 Because you understand it, which is actually what I need. And, turned out to be successful. So, it is it is something that is applicable out here. As much as you learn, it is good. So, what I'm hearing is a lot of, importance of academia, industry collaboration, which, you know, gives you access to industry tools. And once you are conversant with them, you know, you get a lot of confidence, gives you a differentiating factor, even when you're applying for jobs, even when you're undertaking the interview.

00;08;51;25 - 00;09;20;04 Great. Thank you so much. Now, Joyce, now that you started working in the construction industry, how are you applying Primavera P6 skills in your daily task? You learned so much that, you find that in large construction projects you have multiple contractors, multiple contractors with different tasks that, they have we have to schedule them in a way that we don't lose time as we go along the projects.

00;09;20;06 - 00;09;45;23 So daily, we schedule activities. Primavera P6 provides a work on structure. So, you want to group your activities into smaller tasks and then to be able to schedule them appropriately, allocating enough time for all the contractors. The other thing is you can monitor progress as you go along. So, you monitor progress against what was planned.

00;09;45;25 - 00;10;13;01 And that way you're able to manage time along that project. You manage cost, you know, when you extend your time plans, it comes in extra extrapolate. So, management of the project items is made using the Primavera P6. And Lois, moving over to you. Can you share, specific projects where you've used, P6 to manage timelines, resources or budgets?

00;10;13;06 - 00;10;52;04 Okay. And as I've mentioned before, it was vital, fresh program. Vital was a project that was apparently pain changing and we had to put some good input, some efforts to be able to catch up with time. So about, P6 it's a software that involves a long-term planning, budgeting and even risk analysis when it comes to, the planning aspect itself and the scheduling you get to, you get to when your activities, what breakdown structure you sequence activities inside that.

00;10;52;08 - 00;11;15;20 Then in these activities you want to assign resources to them. Once you assign resources, you are able to track at any given specific time. Is the project actually running behind schedule? And if it is and running behind schedule, which activities are, making it lag behind? And in terms of cost, at least you can budget at any given specific time you can do to pinpoint these projects as of budget.

00;11;15;27 - 00;11;35;03 And if this is its budget and if it's not, if it's not by budget, what is bringing the total to the cost? I was able to pinpoint and say these and these activities are the ones which are costing us. And what can we do to be able to, to, to keep that amount that has been brought about as an overall.

00;11;35;05 - 00;12;25;21 So these are some of these schemes, some of the things that a business does when it comes to the part of the risk analysis, it is something, really amazing because, for the other or many, scheduling software, the interacting with the impact of risk analysis actually fall into this things, which is really amazing in, in a case where you can be able to identify, risk even as an it's really amazing, an instance I can give these thing, we go the procurement department and we have, we have the procurement department, we have the engagement to work to anybody, the procurement department to get materials for the guys and see we have

00;12;25;23 - 00;12;49;20 some materials, some inputs that are supposed to arrive. And this month. But no procurement gets a message but realize or they get some idea that this content is not going to arrive this month due to delays expected and whatever achieved in that month. This information is very critical not to procurement, but to the guys in the field. This comes as a risk.

00;12;49;27 - 00;13;14;16 So, in P6 you're able to raise this risk because in the field this is you guys able to identify each stage. Just be able to know which does depend on this risk. And what is the impact of this risk to the overall schedule. How is it going to impact our delivery. These are some of the skills that you get to practically engage with during you interact with P6.

00;13;14;19 - 00;13;43;17 And as you can see now when you come out in the field, they are quite applicable. So, my experience we in Primavera P6, we are able to generate a procurement schedule. So, in a program. Excuse me, let's take an example of Alto for example. And so, we have two good time games for certain tasks. So, for example we need like the latest bid for active technical submittal the latest date for that submittal to be approved by consultants.

00;13;43;19 - 00;14;09;02 We have the latest date for example delivery to site and its approval. And after that now after the approval of the sample, then we do now go to manufacture. And you find that some are important. So, they have like a long-time leading period. So, the Primavera you're able to check these durations and able to serve and able to know where the risk is.

00;14;09;02 - 00;14;34;26 And so, you want to serve them at the right time. So, we are also Primavera B6. You like schedule? Adjusting time delivery for installation so that we won't have problems of storage issues on site, for example. And so, this is just more of a scheduling tool helping to solve the procurement issues on site. The other item I wanted to talk about is health and safety risks.

00;14;34;29 - 00;15;08;00 So, scheduling again, you know, able to serve any health and safety risks that, you see that the project might face. So, for example, a high-risk activity might be working on tight. So, you do want to schedule another activity and, what, work on tight activity. So, when someone is working at a scaffold at a height in the event scheduling and you us just below it because that is a ready and safe for their work.

00;15;08;09 - 00;15;33;26 So, with B6, you want to know, and you want to tell this and schedule it appropriately. And then things would be like, vehicle movement on time, you know, and teenagers where it's not safe working on a particular road, for example, at eight on the construction site. So, you could do lead to when there are no deliveries on site, for example.

00;15;34;20 - 00;16;03;02 So, it's more of a scheduling, thing that serves the risks of the project, helps you identify the risks and be able to come up with mitigation measures. The other thing I wanted to talk about is how because you can get customizable components from P6 so that to you want to present presented, in meetings. And you're able to make decisions so you can just track the project as you go along.

00;16;03;04 - 00;16;46;18 Yeah. Just quick mention about a mode that are driven decision making for even for the part of the resource. When you are allocating resources to activities, P6 is able to be somewhere you can be able to actually view this resource is actually over utilized. And you cannot assign another, another, another task. They're not assign this resource to another task at this moment, even in in in the in the concept of portfolio management, you can be running a project and say you need to accompany running three projects that I will and the assignment be shared services that a company uses to it's able to detect tell you that this resource is seems to

00;16;46;18 - 00;17;12;13 be available, but it is overly utilized in order to able to even be able to allocate resources. Space means able to know anything. You need to add more resources without issue. So, you have enough and, and also the aspect of collaboration and teamwork. When you look at, other scheduling software. It's such a feature that is widely available.

00;17;12;13 - 00;17;33;08 And then when it comes to P6 especially, you know, with the adverse mix to what happens in other cloud, you're able to work as a team if you're working on the same file but different people. Construction project is all about stakeholders. You have the design team, you know, the quality control team. You have those guys executing the tasks in the field.

00;17;33;13 - 00;18;00;16 But these people have to work on the same sort of one affects the job. So having a schedule in a centralized place where all these people get to play, but access is given depending on the level. And rather than having a file that is locally saved in the, in the, in the, in my computer where I need it, if I need some input from another person, I share it with him.

00;18;00;18 - 00;18;26;22 Then he does his own things. She has. It would be it's kind of an outdated thing now, which comes to an end to get we find out. You find like now it's kind of a beam environment. We are all working together, working on the same platform, scheduling. There, happy anything out there and information is readily available. It's something which is a practical and you, I'm using it.

00;18;26;22 - 00;18;57;03 I'm using about P6 joints. I feel like you have one additional point. Yes. How P6 helps in contact management. So, you find that, when multiple projects, they be in need of creating and integrated skills. And so, it would be important to tell all the other conductors at the, beginning of the project that the P6 selected by the integrated program created by P6 is the main point of reference.

00;18;57;10 - 00;19;26;09 So, if any contractor deviates from whatever it's in the scheduling, then they would, do they billable on that on, issues that they may have raised there. So, any notices can be tracked, notices can be tracked. And also considering the dependencies that you create using the notebooks where you actually do the activities to, be carried out at the same time or one after the other.

00;19;26;10 - 00;20;05;18 That's a very great tool with P6. So, with that being clean so you can manage big claims. Well and it helps in contact management, music and sort thinking. Thank you, Joyce Lewis. When, when we come to predicting what will happen in the future. This is something known as what if analysis. See, we are doing, a projection of we would like to bring these resources, and we would like to move in this direction, but we don't actually know what the impact of it would be to like we need to take this direction.

00;20;05;20 - 00;20;29;21 But now we want to know what the impact of will be taking this direction, something that somebody could analyze for many weeks. But when it comes to P6, because that that's what the analysis feature, we, if you have what was asked to tell you, you said they're going to complete in three months, but now he wants you to complete it in two months.

00;20;30;01 - 00;20;55;10 The big question is what you want me to do for you to complete in three months? It's a big question. Which is? Which has an answer. But now you need to analyze and know what needs to happen for you to calculate. Do they have so in P6 you can basically put us in that scenario or without creating a different file, you can be able to do this line.

00;20;55;13 - 00;21;15;05 You, schedule say and now create a create a scenario of if I add these resources, what will be the impact in the original stage, you'll be able to visualize each and even printed as I thought. So. So we know you can start. You say I need you to add meetings and this you can give me that, report generated from these for deep analysis.

00;21;15;10 - 00;21;37;21 You tell me that you can even answer like from a meeting. So, if you said I need you to add me, like, say it. If this plot and these plans to be to be added to my project, or I need these number of parcels and given to me for me to complete something, you've only done it. The what if analysis have seen these will be the impact on the project.

00;21;37;25 - 00;22;04;24 Something that is really amazing in in P6 and you're able to even create as many of this as you want. It's not limited on this. It is just so impressive. To hear how you gave a speaking, you know, and how conversant you are, with P6 and maybe I should just ask you guys when you graduated because, you, you studied, like, professionals who have been in the field for quite a while.

00;22;06;04 - 00;22;31;27 You know, is when did you graduate? Actually, I graduated the last year. September. That is 2020. Well, thank you, thank you. So that is September 2023. And, Joyce, what about you that did you graduate at the same time? Thanks to me, actually. Let me see also benefited in 2020 3rd September. We blend the experience how in the field.

00;22;31;29 - 00;22;54;12 That's really amazing. Thank you. Thank you all. And now, just moving over to the final question. If you could give one piece of advice, to faculty or even to your fellow students or, you know, I know you now graduates. So, it could be advice to faculty, students, or recent graduates, what would it be? Think you know what I'm really advice, advice.

00;22;54;12 - 00;23;22;11 My fellow students. Okay. My former students behind me who are still in school and who would really want to be in the industry, there's an analogy that goes on around people saying they are not jobs in the market. It's something which is not really true. What is really lacking the market is competent people who can actually do what the industry demands they do, and it is what will teach you the duty, but it's going to teach you.

00;23;22;14 - 00;23;54;16 So, what needs to be done? But now you need the practical bit of it. You need to understand Oracle is in the industry. They are offering so many solutions widely in it in, in in construction all over the they are offering solutions, and they are going and explain why Oracle Academy that is now willing to give resources to students, teach them about the solutions that are being offered in the construction in the aid industry.

00;23;54;18 - 00;24;16;26 So, it is an opportunity that students should take and run, and the University of Nairobi has, I mean by a country, but I don't I know there are other universities that do have it. So those listening to me or those students, well, who really wants to be in this industry, they should take it. Sign up to Oracle student.

00;24;16;26 - 00;24;43;12 Have get access to these materials. But that is how about an interaction. You know so yeah. And for those who made some not have it in their school, it is upon you as a student to take it up. As I have told you, Oracle feels like. So, it is people who are willing to say, yeah and you need to engage with you.

00;24;43;14 - 00;25;07;18 Yeah, they are even ready to give you resources free on this platform to be able to learn. So, students should really universities and faculty should really take up this opportunity to give students in these games and I think they will not be a better place even now if you as a student. Yeah, they will learn these things as teachers.

00;25;07;21 - 00;25;31;10 And so, this this student will be able to access the student tab. And that is through the institutions, just like you did through, the University of Nairobi and being available to you through your faculty members. Right? Yes. And so, as part of our final question, I would like us to touch on breaking, gender stereotypes in construction.

00;25;31;24 - 00;25;59;20 Joyce, as a woman in the construction industry, how has acquiring technical skills like chemotherapy six influenced your confidence and opportunities? In a traditionally male dominated field? And if you could give one piece of advice to aspiring, female students who would like to work in the construction industry, what would it be? Thank you. Nana.

00;25;59;22 - 00;26;26;03 So, acquiring the P6 skills has been a game changer for me. So, this create the skills as equip me with the ability to manage complex projects as I had mentioned. So, with multiple contractors, you would be scared to win the progress integral to get risks. So, it has been a game changer. And I think skills, especially being a male dominated, field.

00;26;26;06 - 00;26;59;29 So, it has helped me stand out proving that you just require the right skills and knowledge, regardless of gender. And additionally, to that, as, work as I said, coordinator, I'm also missing my second degree at the University of Nairobi, being Master of Arts in construction management. And that the university has also provided me an opportunity to assist in next hiring and, able to monitor my, the arrested identity that I'm currently working with.

00;27;00;04 - 00;27;27;07 So, I Shamli insights from the industry. I share my experience and, able to inform the students to build their confidence with the abilities that they have. They should not shy away being a male dominated field. They should, pursue more technical courses, acquire more skills on the technical bits of their industry. And there's also room for everyone in the industry.

00;27;27;07 - 00;27;54;03 So, guys should come join us in the construction industry then, which in my way, I think, improve your skills and definitely trying to thrive in the construction field. Yes. Thank. All right. Thank you both so much. Honestly, this has been, you know, we've had a very interesting discussion, on just real-world applications of P6, in the construction industry.

00;27;54;20 - 00;28;26;28 You know, to our listeners, I encourage you to visit our website, academy.oracle.com to learn more about Oracle Academy's, you know, learning resources for faculty members as well. We have teaching, resources available to you as well. So, I also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. Feel free to share this with your friends as well. And also, please follow Oracle Academy on X, Instagram and Facebook just to keep up, with all our activities, with our members.

00;28;27;00 - 00;28;35;17 Thank you so much. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Lorna Juma speaks with Dr. Lawrence Nderu on Unpacking the Database-AI Connection and Why It Matters. If you're an educator, student, or tech enthusiast curious about the backbone of artificial intelligence systems, this episode is your gateway to understanding the vital role of databases in artificial intelligence and machine learning. ----------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;02 - 00;00;35;04 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's Laplace.

00;00;35;06 - 00;01;08;10 I'm your host, Lorna Juma. In this episode, I am joined by Doctor Laurence Darrow, a lecturer and research fellow in the Department of Computing at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Today, we're uncovering how databases, power artificial intelligence and machine learning, two of the most transformative forces in the tech world. If you're an educator, student, and tech enthusiast curious about the backbone of AI systems, this episode is your gateway to understanding the vital role of databases in AI and machine learning.

00;01;08;12 - 00;01;35;11 To start off, Doctor Lawrence, thank you so much for joining us. Can you give me a bit about your background and the classes you teach? Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really think that this is a very important conversation and happy and, to work with you guys to promote the use of these solutions and these technologies for the purpose of making sure that, we have a generation that is well informed and ready for work.

00;01;35;13 - 00;02;06;07 So to start with, I am a lecturer and also the chairman, Department of Computing at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. I'm also the founder of Jacob Moffett, which is a digital innovation hub that is based at the University of Jomo Kenyatta in Gloucester. Work and culture. In technology. I currently I do teach units that relates to AI and machine learning and also applied machine learning.

00;02;06;10 - 00;02;34;01 I also do supervise the students at the level of BHB and Masters. While working on areas of AI and machine learning. And those are the areas that that that the working on. I also read research teams that are working on innovations and I Jacob, in terms of building solutions that are using AI as the basis for, solving some problems and also others that are using AI to improve the operations.

00;02;34;03 - 00;03;00;17 Thank you, doctor Larry Entwistle. Glad to have you join us as an expert to discuss this important topic. Now, could you break down the fundamental relationship between databases and AI? Why are robust databases critical for building effective AI models? Thank you. So the first thing is that the data is the food for AI. And we have had the same being said every now and then.

00;03;00;17 - 00;03;29;18 That data is the new oil. And I think that also means that we need these data to be data that is accessible in a way that is use that work. I mean, and efficient manner. So, it means that AI is being powered by data and whether this data is structured data or unstructured data. We need data to be know about is accessible and also accessible in an efficient manner.

00;03;29;20 - 00;04;01;18 So the connection really is the fact that traditionally when we dealt with the data, we were looking at it like say more or less data that was relational based databases. Now we know that data is found in many other formats. We have data, of course, in structured. We have data in semi-structured. We have data in unstructured formats. All these data needs to be stored in ways that it can be consumed, be consumed by AI, systems.

00;04;01;21 - 00;04;28;27 And that's where now the connection comes. Because the better the data, the better you are able to create models in the AI that are effective. And they are also able to answer very many questions that that one would want. So to answer that question is that the connection is clear, that we need, data to power AI systems, and we need systems that can be able to store these data in a way that that, that I can consume it in a better way.

00;04;28;27 - 00;04;54;06 And we have the pipeline. We need that pipeline that provides data and then feeds into the, AI models or AI systems so that they can be able to make decisions and improve our ability. And now, as an educator and researcher, how do you recommend teachers and institutions incorporate database hands on teaching into their AI and machine learning curricula?

00;04;54;09 - 00;05;25;13 What approaches or tools have you found most effective for engaging student in this critical area? Number one is that if I may just mention something about as a Jomo Kenyatta, we reviewed our curriculum and one of the things that we did, in the reading of the curriculum that is currently being used is that we are very keen to make sure that we retain and then and force the aspect of covering database systems.

00;05;25;16 - 00;05;57;22 So there is and you cover sections in database systems in detail, looking at how to design them to the extent of looking at the advanced concept in databases, which of course goes to the extent of talking about considering security and such aspect in databases. So, it is a very important component to when you are teaching databases, one has to consider, number one, the fact that these are the people who then go ahead and now come on.

00;05;57;24 - 00;06;26;28 I introduction to AI and also machine learning. And they will be consuming these, these databases. So what we have done is that we, able to provide this background and then when it comes to no coverage tools like Oracle databases, the country AI, which of course, I found very important because it uses AI in vector search, for data retrieval, analysis of AI driven applications.

00;06;26;28 - 00;06;52;14 It's a very well thought up idea in terms of trying to integrate advanced AI, capabilities directly to the database engine. The idea behind this is because we, we would want smart data handling capability to be ingrained in the data. We would want to have advanced analytics to be also, ingrained within these, these kind of databases.

00;06;52;17 - 00;07;20;04 And also if you think about known going to the industry, we would be the industries would work to get, insights from their data on what they can be able to do with that. So what I would say is that when you are now teaching and you look at, you have taught concept in databases, and now when you go to teaching things like machine learning or AI, you are able to show that compute the students or even the runners.

00;07;20;06 - 00;07;42;05 The connection between having a good foundation in databases and using various tools and understanding how to make use of, various, tools that are coming up. Like I mentioned, data restrict the I was at points that I needed, making the process of, being able to, to get insights from your data are very important.

00;07;42;10 - 00;08;11;12 So it means that these people, when they go in the industry, they have skills and practical skills that they can be able now to demonstrate in the industry that whatever they are, brand has value and they can and value to the businesses. So it is very relevant that as we teach, first of all, the thinking through about the curriculum, the way it is designed in such a way that it allows for students to do practical concept that leads them to be applicable to the industry.

00;08;11;15 - 00;08;52;00 It's very important and includes that exist within for or instructor for instructors that that are already online that that they can be able to use some of the courses that that are being designed for them, that they can be able to use the event for, programing, databases, that exist today at PL SQL. Like I mentioned one, we have a database programing with SQL itself to be able to give a foundation and then going to things like, artificial intelligence so that the concept in artificial intelligence, we don't just think that they can only be implemented in Python, we can implement them in Java, we can implement them in other things.

00;08;52;02 - 00;09;14;11 We just need to understand the concept. And then we are able to do that practically. That's that. That it empowers that person, empowers the students, that eventually we are able to get our, you know, our system, having done those practical's. And now for students interested in pursuing a career in, I do think they should start by building a strong foundation in database skills.

00;09;14;14 - 00;09;39;08 How does database knowledge empower their journey in AI and machine learning? Well, I think that what I would say is, number one is that if you look at the Oracle Academy, which, is a tool that is really very valuable, to teach and also, demonstrate some of the tools that also exist and also provision of software tools, cloud and also software tools.

00;09;39;10 - 00;10;00;18 And we also have BigQuery. But you can download content that you can download. And it also provides assessment that you can use in class. The idea is that you don't have to use it the way it is. You can take it and then you add or even subtract the items that you want to do it. So it's content that is ready and you can use it as it is.

00;10;00;18 - 00;10;34;23 Or you can be to, custom it the way you would want. It allows for, researchers to be able to focus on being able to improve and having something that we can start with. So, there is a point that exists, especially the library. The EDI, and power, even students we are talking about, even students logging in and cutting out some of the practical aspects like, say, they can be able to make use of the Oracle Cloud or Oracle Cloud Academy apex.

00;10;34;25 - 00;11;02;20 They can also use Oracle Academy license software that I wanted to say that again this available to on the member hub. Those are codes that to make sure that you are able to get us to that being able to do practical aspect important we also mentioned and I think this is in this day and age is very important for the students is that they can also be able to, get certificates, which of course, can enrich their profiles.

00;11;02;20 - 00;11;28;23 You can be able to get, a badge, you can be able to get some certificate that you can be able to, display and writing in terms of where you use it or where you, you are able to, to, to, to make use of that. I would also say that because databases have their role, and really we are talking about, tools that the initially I say more the focus was on relational database.

00;11;28;24 - 00;12;01;12 We have moved from there to No SQL databases and Oracle provides and the NoSQL databases, which, provides very good there for organization or for application. It provides capability for scalability for distributed key value databases, because of course, no SQL databases can be a use that approach where you have key writing databases, they provide high veracity, they provide high volume workloads that that's something that is very attractive for that.

00;12;01;15 - 00;12;26;10 We also have the, ideal, Oracle database. IBM, which is more or less built to optimize and automated solutions, but you can deploy and manage. I see that because the reason why I'm talking about that is because of the fact that it integrates within the database. 23 I which of course it helps you in implementing.

00;12;26;10 - 00;13;10;01 In a vector search, which we already know, walking the AI how vector search has been used to even in other. I gave a domain to be able to help improve the branding of, AI systems. I also would want to mention that another very important one is the database or cloud services which is Oracle Database Cloud Services. They exactly which provides some level when autonomous databases and this services that you, you can be able to deploy there with varying levels of control and automation so that users can be what can be that the organization can be able to work with that having different levels of control.

00;13;10;06 - 00;13;42;18 So all those tools are available to the instructors or to their actors, and we can try them out. Because students have the ability. When you go to the Oracle Academy, you have both tools available within the member tools. And I very of course, you also have the cloud and software services, as I've said, and those are very important tools that today, make an instructor be able to provide, real practical world, applications for whatever you are teaching.

00;13;42;20 - 00;14;03;02 And just now moving on to the final question. And maybe you have covered this, but maybe if you have anything additional, if you could give, what a piece of advice to, to your students, what would it be? So, number one, I would say that, it's very, good time now to be a student.

00;14;03;02 - 00;14;34;09 I would say that because even organization or companies that like Oracle that are building software and all that, they are also thinking about empowering you at a bit class level. So it is very important that as a student, one tries to be able to take advantage of these tools that have been provided. The idea is that when you work with the crowd from the university, even if you go out to the business, you will find yourself being able to fit into better.

00;14;34;09 - 00;14;57;04 Well. So my advice is that all these companies are now closer to us. Closer to us means that, even universities that are in developing countries like we are, we are able to get, these software as we are able to get, these tools, we are able to get to this curriculum. So whatever is being taught. Yeah, is something that you can say is globally be covered elsewhere.

00;14;57;11 - 00;15;24;29 So why not take advantage of that? Why not get as many certificates as you can? You don't be need to be the most clear on what is covered in class. Because think about, what certificates that exist, how well they tried to make sure that you are where you want and when you go for interviews, even for job application for those ones who are looking at that, you will be different.

00;15;25;05 - 00;15;50;06 And you can only be different if you take those steps. Thank you. Wow. Thank you so much, Doctor Lawrence. And thank you so much for, you know, just your time and sharing your expertise with us, for this enlightening and engaging discussion. You know, this is a complex topic and you have broken it down into small, digestible bits, for our listeners who are especially our students.

00;15;50;06 - 00;16;16;07 So thank you so much. And for our listeners, visit our website, academy.oracle.com to learn more about Oracle Academy's, teaching and learning resources, subscribe to our podcast. Feel free to share with your friends. You can also follow Oracle Academy on Instagram and Facebook. Just to keep up with our activities. Thank you so much. That wraps up this episode.

00;16;16;13 - 00;16;21;12 Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Scott Stroz, MySQL evangelist about how Data and AI work together. ----------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;02 - 00;00;34;16 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce.

00;00;34;18 - 00;01;01;19 I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. In this episode, I speak with Oracle, my SQL developer advocate Scott Stroz, about how AI uses data, and the database skills students need to have as they work with AI. So, Scott, you're a returning guest for me. Can you give me a little bit about your background and role at Oracle? For those who may not have listened to our previous podcasts.

00;01;01;22 - 00;01;24;27 Sure. So, first and foremost, I consider myself a full stack developer and I've been a full stack developer for longer than the term full stack developer has actually been in existence. And in that time, the only technology in my stack that has remained constant is MySQL. I used it on my first job as a web developer, and I still use it today, and I've used it pretty much every day in between.

00;01;25;00 - 00;01;47;09 A lot of people, even people in the tech industry, they frequently ask, what does it mean that you're a developer advocate? And there's a lot of people I'm friends with and, I've met in developer relations, where we each kind of have like our own elevator pitch, like a quick, you know, 1 or 2 sit ins answer to basically get people to understand what it is that we do.

00;01;47;11 - 00;02;10;12 And the one that I've come up with is my job is to help developers be better at their jobs and I accomplish, or I hope I accomplish this in, different ways by producing content for developers through blog posts or, videos or podcasts such as this. I also, speak at conferences and I do a guest lectures for colleges and schools.

00;02;10;15 - 00;02;29;26 You are such a wonderful resource. And I we work together quite a bit, and I, I think it's good because I think that a lot of times developers don't understand what they're getting into or the different ways that they can develop and change codes. And I love that. I've got an expert that we can call on, and especially about this new topic.

00;02;29;28 - 00;03;00;18 So, kind of segue into that new topic. How does a I use data to learn SQL? It's a kind of a complicated answer, but it's also probably simpler than some people might think. With the recent release of Heat Wave, which is an AI solution in, Heat Wave that's available on Oracle Cloud, I've started playing around a little bit more than I had been, but it hasn't been with like the front end where I asked, I can I chat by questions, and it would give me answers.

00;03;00;21 - 00;03;22;07 It's been more feeding data into an AI engine, which in this case was heat wave Gen I. And while I was tinkering, I came to the realization that AI is not some black magic that just can pull answers out of thin air when you ask the question. It's just all based on math, and it's not even a new kind of math.

00;03;22;07 - 00;03;41;28 The math has actually been around for a long time, and I gotta say, I was a little a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping for some black magic, but for a genuine AI solution to be able to find pertinent data. So, if you ask a question, I put a chat bot the way it needs to find the answers.

00;03;41;28 - 00;04;14;16 And the first thing we need to do is we need to make sure that we get what are called embeddings of the source data. And this is basically what we use to feed in AI. And if we want it to say get embeddings for a collection of PDFs in any solution, we can actually use heat wave AI to run a stored procedure that will fetch the documents out of a bucket, a storage bucket in Oracle Cloud, and then it breaks down each document into a series of tokens.

00;04;14;18 - 00;04;43;24 Now, in the AI world, a token is a small series of a small set of characters. It can be a single word. It can be multiple words, or sometimes it can actually just be a small part of a longer word. And then using some mathematical algorithms, these tokens are converted into what we call a vector. And a vector is nothing more than an array of hexadecimal data, hexadecimal values that represent that token.

00;04;43;27 - 00;05;11;01 And this is our embedding. And those are stored typically in a database. There are other systems. This isn't just unique. The heat wave Gemini, other Gemini systems have a very similar process for ingesting the source data. And one of the most popular uses of AI solutions is what's called a retrieval augmented generation, or RAC, or what we would know as like an AI chat bot.

00;05;11;07 - 00;05;33;29 So, you open up a chat window when you start asking questions, and the AI spits back answers based off of the source data, and it's using the way it gets the answers to the questions is it actually takes the question. And using those same algorithms that you used with the source data, it actually gets embeddings for the question itself.

00;05;34;01 - 00;06;04;13 And then using some built in database functions. And in the case of heatwave and AI uses, a function that determines how far the tokens in the question are from the tokens in the source data. And again, that's some mathematical algorithm that I haven't even begun to try and understand. And with heat wave genAI, when you ask the questions, there's actually another stored procedure you can run to actually run like a chat bot.

00;06;04;25 - 00;06;41;06 And it will take the embeddings that matched in the source data and send that to the large language model that resides in the database. Or Liam is what people more commonly known as that. And it takes those that information those embeddings that matched and it generates a more human sounding response to the question. I've noticed when I've gone through and I've asked, and I a question like you can still tell it's a computer when they respond, but they are getting better and better and better, and the information coming back is excellent.

00;06;41;09 - 00;07;15;05 And it is really, really good information. They still don't have the human and the human inflection, the human tone. And you can tell when you're right, but it's getting really good. And so, then on to my next question. How can I use data to improve performance? So, because the entire process, which you know, from ingesting the data to actually retrieving relevant data from the embeddings, is based on math, the results can actually be incredibly accurate.

00;07;15;05 - 00;07;37;29 Like you just said, it's it gets better and better almost every day, and AI systems can process large amounts of data and make that the data and available. That tends to be more accurate than if you did like a database, like search, in a SQL query, or even a full text search in a database, or even better than what you get in some search engines.

00;07;38;02 - 00;08;13;02 Why does the quality of data impact the results AI provides? Well, it's funny that even in a new technology like AI in old adage is still true. And that is garbage in, garbage out. And all this really means is if you input bad or inaccurate data, your results are not going to be accurate. When you feed data into an AI system, you need to make sure that it's high quality and it's accurate because if it's not, then any results you get are not going to be high quality and they're not going to be accurate.

00;08;13;04 - 00;08;34;24 What are some of the skills that database professionals should have when they work with AI? Something a lot of people may not be aware of is that every AI solution, whether it's a chat bot or something else, it uses some kind of storage, usually a database, on the back end to store the embeddings for the data.

00;08;34;27 - 00;09;04;09 And while there's nothing particularly special or different about how we store vector data compared to other data types such as strings or dates, it's something that database professionals need to keep in mind when ingesting that data. Can I back up here? Let's go back to the. While there's nothing particularly different or special about how this data is stored compared to other data such as strings and dates, there is one thing database professionals need to keep in mind when ingesting this data.

00;09;04;12 - 00;09;31;18 Embeddings can take up a lot of space. So, for example, I was working on a demo for Heat Wave AI, and I used a PDF that was just a few megabytes in size, and it generated over 55,000 rows of embeddings. Now, the process of creating and retrieving embeddings can also be resource intensive.

00;09;31;21 - 00;09;53;02 So, there might not be special skills needed to store and retrieve the embeddings in the AI data. But we need to make sure that the system has enough resources so that the CPU and Ram is adequate, as well as having storage space. So those are probably the three things that database administrators or people who work in databases need to concentrate on.

00;09;53;02 - 00;10;11;29 More than anything else when working with the AI system. So, Scott, one final question then if you could give one piece of advice to faculty, your students, what would it be? All right, so I'm going to cheat here. I'm going to give two pieces of advice. So, the first piece of advice will be to learn as much as you can about AI.

00;10;12;01 - 00;10;32;22 AI is everywhere, probably even in places it doesn't belong. And while I think the fad is going to die down, I also think AI is here to stay. There won't be a single area in the IT field that won't be influenced by AI in some way. So, the more you know about different AI solutions, the more value you valuable you're going to be.

00;10;32;22 - 00;11;01;07 Not just your current employer, but to future employers as well. My second, this second piece of advice would be not to fear AI. I talked to a lot of developers, and I often get questions at conferences from younger developers concerned that AI is going to take their jobs and while AI tools, especially those that are designed to help write code, are impressive, they are far from perfect.

00;11;01;09 - 00;11;22;20 I have a personal project that I work on, and I use AI tools when I'm coding to try to cut down on some of the boilerplate code that I that I might need to write, and I'll ask for snippets of code given a specific language and tasks I need to achieve. And I have never gotten a response where I could just plug the code in, and it worked.

00;11;22;22 - 00;11;43;18 It's never happened. I'd say probably the best I got was about 90%. I'd say probably in the area of about 85% would be the average. So even though the AI chat bot is helping me write the code, I still have to know how the what the code is supposed to do. I always I've always needed to tweak it and so that's a nice adjunct.

00;11;43;19 - 00;12;11;22 It saves me time from, you know, not having to write everything, but you still need somebody to look at the code to see be like, oh, this, this is wrong. That's, you know, I told what I wanted in the note, but it's for some reason it's giving me in Java notation is, is one thing that actually happened when and again, I hear people, you know, they, you know, when I talk to people and they say they're concerned about, I think I'm afraid I'm going to lose my job.

00;12;11;22 - 00;12;41;11 I, I tell them something that I heard at a keynote talk about AI, and it's, it's about two years ago. And the interesting topic of the keynote was, is AI going to take your job? And the answer to that question, which the presenter gave on the last slide, was, no, as a developer, AI is not going to take your job, but a person using AI will.

00;12;41;13 - 00;13;00;08 I think that's very poignant advice that. And so, it's almost like you've got to be a developer. You've got to understand so you know how to use it so you can maintain your job. I think that's a really good piece of advice to all those faculty and students out there that are really wondering what the impact of AI is going to be.

00;13;00;21 - 00;13;22;25 A big thank you to Scott for speaking with me today about data and AI. It was really insightful. Please visit academy.oracle.com to learn more about Oracle Academy and the resources we offer to faculty and students and subscribe to our podcast. Thanks for listening. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Win Chang, Director Cloud Engineering, Susan Poser, NACI Director of Partner Engagement, and Susan Miller, Sr. Director, Global Product Security about working as a women in tech and how women can find their voice.

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Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;02 - 00;00;34;25 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce.

00;00;34;27 - 00;01;01;00 I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. In this episode, I speak with Win Chang, director, cloud engineering, Susan Poser, director of partner engagement. And Susan Miller, senior director, Global Product Security, about working as a woman in tech and how women can find their voice. A little bit about my guests. Susan Miller graduated at Santa Clara University with a bachelor's in computer science and started her career as a software engineer.

00;01;01;02 - 00;01;26;26 She quickly obtained a master's in computer science and artificial intelligence and an MBA. She then moved into technical program management, overseeing program managers, release engineers, doc writers labs, and then security was added on. Now Susan is in a corporate oversight role for security assurance for products and services across all Oracle. Susan Poser has held a variety of roles during her 40-year career.

00;01;26;29 - 00;01;55;14 Susan has two Bachelors of Science, one in business and another in journalism, and then earned her MBA and finance from San Diego State University. She has held roles in finance, accounting, marketing, business operations, solution engineering, culture and employee engagement and now partner ecosystem, all for high tech companies Unisys, Teradata and Oracle. Outside of Oracle, Susan is the board chair for Athena, a global women's advisory organization.

00;01;55;17 - 00;02;25;09 When Chang majored in computer science with a minor in business at University of Houston, she started her career in software development and has held numerous roles, including technical support, education marketing, pre-sales manager, Cloud Acceleration Director and VP of Customer Experience. She is currently the Solution Engineering Director for Higher Education. She is the founder of Oracle Professional Asian Leadership and Employee Resource Group focused on raising culture awareness and providing leadership development.

00;02;25;11 - 00;02;46;07 She is also on the board for Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, an organization committed to protect the historic site and celebrate immigrant contribution that define the strength of the United States. Thank you, Susan, Susan and Win, for joining me today. So, my first question to all of you, can you give me a bit about your background and your role at Oracle?

00;02;46;11 - 00;03;20;13 Susan Miller, do you want to go ahead and start? Yeah, sure. Thank you, chair, and thanks for having us today. I'm a senior director of global product security. I get the chance to work with all the security leaders across all our Oracle divisions, and I get to ensure that teams are adhering to the security assurance standards. So, one of my strengths then is to the ability to share best practices from other divisions and allow all at Oracle to learn from the best of the best, and then that eases their adoption and the flow of information across all the divisions.

00;03;20;15 - 00;03;45;09 Winner Susan Poser, do either of you want to jump in? Sure, I can jump in. This is Susan Poser, and I pretty much worked on the sales side of my whole career at Oracle, starting in pre-sales and then value selling to employee programs for resellers. So, when my last position was eliminated, the leader of the partner organization and the sales team asked me to join his team to help transform our culture to be more partner friendly, partner forward.

00;03;45;11 - 00;04;12;23 So now I work very closely with our sales and operations teams, as well as our sales leaders, to embed partner content, and processes into our business as usual so that our sellers will embrace and leverage our partners more as we move forward in this cloud world. And finally, when what about you as a cloud engineering director, I managed to be a cloud architect and support our sales team for higher education.

00;04;12;25 - 00;04;48;14 We cover the entire territory of the United States. Our role is to provide technical assistance to the field sales team. And a typical day for me would be participating on, calls with my direct reports, delivering presentations at a conference or, participating in customer meetings and also assisting our, customers. One of the best parts of this job, this is to be able to talk to our customers and share how or our Oracle solutions can provide and solve their most important problems.

00;04;48;16 - 00;05;08;27 I love all the diverse background that all of you wonderful women come from, and all of the different, paths you took to get to where you're at. So, leading on to my next question. Can you share a proud moment or a major accomplishment from your career so far? And this time? Susan Poser, I'd like to start with you.

00;05;08;29 - 00;05;25;20 I've had a few, but one that had the biggest impact to Oracle as well as, I think to our customers, is with my role and our value selling team, which was called Oracle Insight. A matter of fact, that's how I met win was we had done, an engagement with our customer and that she had worked with.

00;05;25;22 - 00;05;46;24 But when you think of, our value selling team or Oracle Insight, it's, you think about, like, management consultants. We hired a lot of excuse Allen McKinsey types of folks, and we would go in and work with our customers to understand how, understand what their priorities were and how technology could help enable some of their, you know, 3-to-5-year goals.

00;05;46;27 - 00;06;17;19 I was responsible for the systems and the processes and the internal and external communications, as well as the marketing. We were the longest running sales program at Oracle, and we scaled from nine people when we started the program to over 500, impacting billions of dollars in revenue. And, you know, one of the key things that enabled us to do that was because of the knowledge management, the processes and the systems that I had put together that allowed us to scale and make this impact for both Oracle and our global customers.

00;06;17;21 - 00;06;55;09 And then Susan Miller, what about you? Well, with the onset of the and quick adoption of I machine learning, that's the reason to be able to participate in many executive forums representing security and besides ensuring regulatory and privacy coverage, we're also making sure that security assurance is paramount. So, I've been able to gain adoption now of new process flows, new guidelines, practices, and I've now expanded our interactions with data scientists and other security architects and of course, others corporate oversight groups as well.

00;06;55;11 - 00;07;16;02 It's been successful, and I'm very proud of it. I can't even imagine with how AI is coming to the forefront, especially within Oracle and in the tech industry. I think that is so amazing. And then when finally, over to you again. So, when I was the key account director for a large health care company, we grew our Oracle footprint by over 1,500%.

00;07;16;05 - 00;07;45;23 And that was done by a combination of team collaboration and developing this deep, trusted customer relationship. We earned the Presidential Award for Account Management three years in a row, and it was a defining, time for me, to see how our customers, succeeded with Oracle products and solution. And then secondly, I just wanted to add that being the founder of the Oracle Professional Asian Leadership, has been a real highlight for me.

00;07;45;23 - 00;08;14;11 Today. We have over 700, members globally, and that is been something that I'm very proud about. Well, and you should be. That was the second time Win, and I engaged was with Opal and it was one of the fastest growing employee resource groups in Oracle. So, she should be very proud of that. Absolutely. I think when you and I met back when you covered that healthcare company years ago with, Java one for kids, I think that that's when we first came into contact all those many years ago.

00;08;14;14 - 00;08;34;14 You're right. So next question. How were you able to find your voice and to advocate for yourself as a woman in tech? And when this time I'm actually going to start with you. That's a great question. And I have to say that earlier in my career, I really struggled with trying to find my voice. I didn't have a mentor.

00;08;34;15 - 00;09;02;27 Matter of fact, I probably didn't even know what a mentor was. And, once I found my advocates, that made a big difference. I have to say that my I created this personal board of directors that actually two of my personal board of directors were on this call. Susan. So, they are just amazing. And, I'd say that to this personal board of directors is kind of like a baseball team where you have all different types of coaches.

00;09;03;00 - 00;09;28;18 You know, like a first base coach or a third base coach. So, I'm assembled my own board of directors, and they've been a game changer. I leverage these resources, but I have difficult tasks or proactively ask them for advice, what I needed. And I think that, really helps me to keep my head. You know, I used to think that if I just kept my head down and did hard work and everybody would know what I'm doing.

00;09;28;18 - 00;09;52;12 But the truth is that, only you know what you do best. So, it's really important that you learn to advocate for yourself. I think that that is so important, advocating for yourself. And I love how you call it your personal board of directors. So, Susan Poser, over to you. I would agree it was challenging giving, given how male dominated the organization.

00;09;52;12 - 00;10;11;16 So, I've been a part of have been. I'm sure both Susan and Win would say the same. But I've had some great male advocates and mentors, as well as some strong female leaders that provided me guidance and were really good role models. I found that if you don't know your value and don't advocate for yourself, no one else will.

00;10;11;18 - 00;10;29;08 And I learned this the hard way. Early on I thought like when said right, that my good work would speak for itself, and I missed an opportunity to be promoted because I didn't advocate and understand my value. So now I kind of keep a folder of kudos, you know, emails that I get from people, you know, thanking me or, or, you know, recognition that I received.

00;10;29;13 - 00;10;52;26 So, when I'm up for a promotion or when I'm requesting a raise or when I'm requesting, you know, a level change, I review all these to remind me that I'm not a closer right. And I use this to keep firm on my request to get promoted. You know, and so that's actually helped me get promoted to VP when I was actually getting pushback that, you know, it was a new role that nobody had done it before.

00;10;53;01 - 00;11;21;04 And I had to prove it out first. And I just stand firm because I knew the value that I was going to bring to the table. So don't shortchange yourself. Know your value and stick firm on your, what you believe in. Honestly, I think that's great advice that I'm going to use for the next promotion. Like, I love that you started keeping track of your kudos and all of the mentions that you got because I and all the emails, I think that is such wonderful advice that I'm honestly going to use for myself next time.

00;11;21;11 - 00;11;35;23 It gives you confidence, right? Like when you read all that and you think, wow, look what I did, right? It builds your confidence. And I think as we're going back through a year, we don't realize everything we accomplished in a year or two years or three years. We just know what we're doing in that last month or that last six weeks.

00;11;35;25 - 00;11;52;28 We don't realize some of these longer-term projects or where you started and now where you ended up are in such different places. And I think that is valuable advice that I'm going to take for myself next time. So, and Susan Miller, finally over to you. Just like a win and Susan were saying, it's so important to advocate for yourself.

00;11;52;28 - 00;12;11;19 And I came across a five-part process that I'll let you know about. So first of all, tell your story. How did you get to where you are today? It's in be. Maybe there was some kind of diversity that happened, some kind of problem, you know, that you overcame. And the challenge that drove you to in a particular career direction.

00;12;11;20 - 00;12;31;18 So be able to tell that story. Secondly is, you know, what do you want to be known for? What topics align with your skills and your strengths as well as the role that you want? So, create a statement that sets you apart from others. And the third part of the process is maybe identifying a few key words.

00;12;31;18 - 00;12;59;25 You know, come up with 3 to 4 words that describe you. For instance, I feel like I'm driven, supportive. Challenging myself and upbeat. And you use these words to basically create your brand. So, use them, when you're talking to others until it sticks. And then fourth is to craft your pitch. You know, be ready with 3 to 4 sentences and have in your back pocket which describe you.

00;12;59;28 - 00;13;25;19 So instead of saying, oh, you know, I'm really, really busy, maybe you can just explain what you've just accomplished or what you're working towards next. And fifth and finally be able to showcase your capabilities and skills. You know, get creative, insert yourself and specialize. Be visible. Perhaps there's an article for a newsletter you'd like to write or presentation that you want to submit for a conference.

00;13;25;22 - 00;13;55;01 So, or engage with a volunteer group or an employee resource group. Maybe you'd like to learn from another. Have coffee or lunch outside your organization. So, learn by growing and getting it out there and presenting yourself in a positive way. I love that as to and I especially love what you said about identifying your keywords. I always talk about the one superpower I have, which is I may not know the answer to the question, but I always know or can find somebody who has the answer to the question.

00;13;55;01 - 00;14;17;20 So, I really, I really identify with identifying your keywords because I use that as myself. Susan Posner, I'm gonna have you start with this one. Two throughout your career, I'm sure some things have not gone according to plan. How have you learned from your failures and why is failure important? Well, I think failure is a great way to remember and learn.

00;14;17;23 - 00;14;36;22 I mean, I don't know about you guys, but when I fail at something, I seem to remember it better than when I succeed. I have a few failures, and hopefully I've learned a few things, but I'll just share one. I was presenting to a very senior executive and she could make grown men cry, I'm sure. When knows who I'm talking about.

00;14;36;24 - 00;15;01;03 I relied on some information from a colleague on what she thought I should present, and when I did, it totally backfired on me. I didn't call up my colleague, and. And he didn't defend me. He was sitting there in the room and saw this whole thing blow up on me. Right? But I did learn that I need to trust my gut and do my own research and push back when I don't agree, rather than thinking that others know better than me.

00;15;01;03 - 00;15;24;03 So, I have learned that, and I have not forgotten that. That is honestly quite the story. I don't know if I've got wind quite like that, but I have a couple in my in my back pocket too, and I just can't even imagine going through that. So, win over to you. I've got a failure story. I mean, bloody hell.

00;15;24;03 - 00;15;46;18 Who doesn't have a failure? But I remember once when I was supporting this health care company, they ran into a software bug, and it caused their system not to generate a specific report. The owner of the, this particular job at the health and health care company built that, because this job did not run, he was really worried that his job was in jeopardy.

00;15;46;20 - 00;16;06;17 And he came to me very upset and wanted an explanation on what happened. And at first, I brought the, you know, issue up to an internal team. I brought them all together to analyze the problem. Eventually, we discovered that a trigger that should have been labeled failure didn't get labeled a failure, just said a warning.

00;16;06;22 - 00;16;37;21 And so, I got the team actually to come together and not just take a, you know, take a look at this problem, but review all the triggers to ensure that moving forward that they're all labeled correctly. And so I went back to the customer, a humble pie and, and explained to him what had happened. And because of this failure and how I addressed it directly with the customer, the customer and our relationship actually became better because they saw that.

00;16;37;21 - 00;17;07;05 We took his feedback, we took care, remedied the problem, and what was a horrible situation actually ended up coming, you know, back in. And it really changed his view of Oracle as a company because we took care of the problem and didn't just brush it under the, you know, brushes under the carpet. So even though it started out very ugly and not a lot of fun, we were able to make, lemons into lemonade.

00;17;07;08 - 00;17;28;02 I love that, one of my biggest failures, one of my most monumental failures, led to one of my biggest successes and led me on to greater projects. And so, I totally understand exactly what that was like. Like, you've got to eat your humble pie, you've got to go in. And as I say, take your lumps and you learn from it.

00;17;28;02 - 00;17;47;16 I, I, I really think that there's this huge wisdom in learning from failures. And, and I think that's how we grow is as women, as managers, as leaders, as we always we know we're not going to be perfect, and we're willing to change from and use our failures as lessons. Okay. Susan Miller, over to you. Oh, yeah.

00;17;47;16 - 00;18;09;20 So yeah, just like when and Susan, you know, failure is become an important learning opportunity for me. And just recently I was able to make a change that I was so excited about. It was an efficiency change, important step in our security approval process. And I gained support with those in my meeting, and I was able to convince the sister team to make the change.

00;18;09;20 - 00;18;31;16 I was so excited about it. And then I eagerly sent it out to the team and sent it out to the executives. But there were some on my distribution list that didn't participate in the meetings, but they were stakeholders, nonetheless. And so, when it got escalated, they pushed back on it after I thought I gained approval on it.

00;18;31;19 - 00;18;57;18 And so, I had to have several side meetings to get those inform, and they just grasped on to it and didn't fully understand. So, I learned that, you know, it was considered a failure. But I learned to ensure alignment with everyone, even those that aren't participating or might be quiet on a call and get their approval before making an official announcement.

00;18;57;20 - 00;19;17;06 But live and learn, right? Honestly, I think that's such great advice. I think that, as we go through, we get approvals for things as we like, talk about things. I think building consensus, that is something that I've had to learn throughout my career. And if I haven't built, built consensus on something, it's led him to some failures, too.

00;19;17;06 - 00;19;41;03 And so, I think that that is also amazing advice. So, the next question, and I'm sure we've all experienced this, I know I've experienced it myself. Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? If so, how were you able to navigate your way through it? And Susan Miller, I'm going to actually stick with you on this one now, sir. Oh, yes.

00;19;41;06 - 00;20;02;28 Probably every time I initially take on a role, I have imposter syndrome. You know, just start, you know, you need to go back and reflect on the key strengths that you have in order to get you to that position. And then, you know, if you don't know enough or you feel that you need to learn in some areas, then you go out and get some training in that area.

00;20;02;28 - 00;20;29;28 Don't just feel helpless. Like, for instance, in my role with global product security, I did have some security background, but I went forward and gained several additional security certifications to back me up and make me feel a little bit more, aware so that I could work with all those across Oracle. I love that, I love talking about lifelong learning and being able to kind of advocate for yourself and to say, hey, I'm not going to get stuck.

00;20;30;00 - 00;20;52;25 I'm going to go in and learn more to get where I need to be. I think that is such, such valuable advice. Okay. Susan Poser, over to you. Well, definitely, most of the roles I've had, other than finance and marketing, were roles that didn't exist before. I think that's why, you know, so my story that I was talking about earlier, that I trust my colleague versus my instinct and presenting to the senior executive was because I had imposter syndrome.

00;20;52;25 - 00;21;11;23 Right. And I didn't really feel like this was something I was really confident in. You know, so when I was a VP for customer and employee experience, you know, I created that role based on some projects I worked on before and, you know, where I thought the organization could benefit, but I didn't really have any experience in this area.

00;21;11;26 - 00;21;27;21 So, here's where that kudo piles that I talked about, you know, that helps build up your confidence. But in addition, you got to do like what Susan said. I did a lot of reading and listening to podcasts and talking to others to try to figure out what to do and when. I didn't know something, you know, I would just acknowledge it, and I figure it out.

00;21;27;22 - 00;21;46;22 That was one of the things I was known for. You know, when Susan talked about, know what you're you know, know what you're known for, you know, or its really getting stuff done. So, no matter what it was, I always found a way to figure out how to get it done. I love that both of you have talked about being self-starters and figuring out how to get it done, and I think that is something that helps us get through imposter syndrome.

00;21;46;22 - 00;22;08;16 Just kind of feeling your way through it and learning how to do it and just kind of taking that initiative. So, when finally, over to you. Sure. So early in my career, I was, working for this, company called Concilium. They were a, a shopfloor control, system company and, primarily in the semiconductor business.

00;22;08;16 - 00;22;35;14 And I was asked to teach the next administration class. And to be honest with you, I did not feel prepared to take this on, but I said yes to it. Anyway, I was familiar with this topic, but I never dreamt of, teaching the class. And the class was, it was actually located in Singapore. And so, I spent my time studying, getting ready for it.

00;22;35;16 - 00;23;02;28 However, I still felt woefully unprepared. And the worst-case scenario happened when I traveled out to Singapore. They lost my suitcase. And all back in those days, we didn't have PowerPoint. We had what they called boils. They're like this plastic. They're paper that you can print on the. And you put it on an overhead projector.

00;23;03;00 - 00;23;25;00 I'm pretty sure a lot of these students have no idea what I'm talking about, but they were in this binder with all of each one-off what would be like a slide. And that was in my suitcase that did not arrive. So, I pretty much had to wing it. And as it turned out, all the prep work that I had done did make me feel more confident.

00;23;25;03 - 00;23;48;12 And the class actually had a combination of people from Japan, from China and Korea. Most of them spoke very limited, English. And so, I do speak a little bit of Chinese, but not enough to converse. But we were able to get through the class. And the great thing is that I got extremely high ratings in the class.

00;23;48;14 - 00;24;09;07 And now, as I think back about it, I think often we judge ourselves too harshly and that if you do all the prep work, you are ready, so you need to believe in yourself. I think that's also really great advice. Do the prep work and believe in yourself. So, I've got two more questions. My first one is what does mentorship?

00;24;09;07 - 00;24;40;07 And I'm sure all of you lovely women are great mentors. But I want to ask you, what does mentorship, what does mentorship mean to you and how? And what has it looked like in your career? Suzanne Miller, I actually want to start with you this time. I really haven't had too many designated mentors per se. However, you know, there have been several successful women and men who then the time they take the time to be there and guide me in the right direction, perhaps having some words of wisdom at the time that I needed the support.

00;24;40;10 - 00;25;07;13 And I think it's just listening and caring about the other person and really just providing what they need. For instance, I have a mentorship with, women that are wanting to get on boards of companies, and I share my wisdom with them, thinking that they might not actually use it, or it might not be that much, but several of them have thanked me and have gotten positions afterwards.

00;25;07;18 - 00;25;30;28 So, I think taking the time and caring a little bit really means a lot to people. I think that's super. I think that's super valuable to talk about how it's not necessarily formalized, but just to be able to take the time and to listen to people. Okay. When over to you. Well, two of my mentors are right here, Susan Poser and Susan Miller, and they are both just incredible.

00;25;31;00 - 00;25;54;29 But earlier in my career, I think I'd mentioned I didn't even know that I should be looking for a mentor. But as I explained earlier, I've now created that board of directors who are truly my mentors. And I also think that it's important to find a sponsor and a sponsor is, you know, that they use their power of influence and advocate for a person's career and advancement.

00;25;55;01 - 00;26;25;10 Sponsors can introduce the person to their network, speak about them when they're not around, and recommend them for promotions. And so I wanted to mention that because this is really important, and I'd say that back in 2008, when I had, Oracle had actually acquired the company I was working for, and I told the program manager that instead of assigning me to a brand new account, I wanted just to take care of our existing logical lapsed customers through this transition.

00;26;25;10 - 00;26;54;09 So, for the next six months, I was, working with just our existing customers to make sure that they were successful transitioning over to Oracle. And when I was ready to take on a new role, the program executive was so appreciative of my customer centricity that she recommends me to take care of one of Oracle's top accounts, and I would have never been considered for that role had that not had the sponsor not made the recommendation on my behalf.

00;26;54;09 - 00;27;12;11 So, it's so important to find yourself a sponsor, but it's not something that you can say, hey, I'm going to tap you on the shoulder and said, do you think you can sponsor me? It's actually something because they see the work that you do and value what you brought to the table, that they want to do it for you.

00;27;12;13 - 00;27;34;03 I think the kind of what I'm hearing is this thread is going through and is developing relationship chips and the importance of having good relationships with the people you work with and creating a network and not necessarily going out and like tapping someone on the shoulder and say, hey, I need you to mentor me. But just like looking for the opportunities where they're at, where you're located and things along those lines.

00;27;34;03 - 00;27;53;24 So, Susan Poser, finally over to you. Well, I think it's just like you said, it is all about relationships because I haven't really had any formal mentors either. Kind of like when and Susan, although I've mentioned a lot of people at Oracle as well as San Diego State over the years. For me, just like Win's board of directors, I have what I call a panel of advisors.

00;27;53;24 - 00;28;14;14 So, depending on, you know, what I'm struggling with, you know, if it's a career decision I might call a lot of on or Laura, it's around a specific business issue. I might call Win or Gaylene if it's around board work or women in Stem, I might call Susan Miller. It really depends on the issue and who I think might be most helpful in helping me at that time.

00;28;14;16 - 00;28;41;18 But yes, I think you're right. It is all around building relationships and, you know, not necessarily creating a formal mentorship program, but just having people that, but yeah, you can call on, you know, and I feel like I'm really blessed and lucky to have such a wide variety of, of very smart women and a handful of men that, have been on my panel advisors for years.

00;28;41;20 - 00;28;59;26 I love that. I love how talking about knowing who to go to for a particular question. I think that is so important because like you talked about earlier, getting advice from the person that may not have been the best person to give you advice. So, looking, for your presentation. So now looking for the best people to talk to you for the for the situation.

00;28;59;27 - 00;29;24;28 And I think that is such valuable advice as well that I'm also going to really start taking the next question I have is how has the tech industry changed since you started your career, especially in terms of gender inclusivity? And Susan Posner, I actually want to start with you this time. Well, it's really funny because, you know, I, I mentioned I only work in tech companies.

00;29;24;29 - 00;29;43;00 I started my career at Unisys, and I went to Teradata and then at Oracle. And my very first job out of college was in finance at Unisys. And the managers for both finance and accounting were females. And our admin or our office manager was an ex-Marine male. And I thought, wow, this is so progressive. But that was the last of that.

00;29;43;02 - 00;29;59;29 And as I moved around, I found that, women actually were not as dominating as it was in that first role when I first started working on the value selling team, which was the insight team, I was actually the only female. And then as the organization grew, there were three women. But I was the only one in leadership.

00;30;00;01 - 00;30;30;18 I do think it's a lot harder for women to get promoted and be recognized, because we tend not to do a lot of the shameless self-promotion, early in my career. You know, I think I mentioned I was overlooked for the role, that I thought I was way more qualified than the man that they put into the role, only because the hiring manager didn't know I had experience in marketing, and only after he hired the other person did I find out, and I told him that I have a degree in marketing and have run marketing several times in my career, and he just had no idea because I wasn't out there talking about it.

00;30;30;20 - 00;30;50;24 So, well, you know, I think we've made great strides in having more women, as well as people of color in leadership positions. I think there's an opportunity for more, you know, but I do think that inclusiveness is really big. And I do think there's a lot of focus on that, as well as acceptance of different backgrounds and cultures now more than ever.

00;30;50;26 - 00;31;15;13 I think that is so interesting. I actually, when I first started my very first job out of college, was very, very male dominated. And I would say it's only been the last like 4 or 5 years that I've been over into a role that has had more females and female leadership, since I came out of product development, which has a very it has a very male dominated, gender and different roles.

00;31;15;13 - 00;31;34;22 And I think that as we are starting to see more parity, not complete paired, because when you see that as well. Susan Miller, over to you. Yeah, sure. So just like Susan Poser said, you know, with a 40-year career and lengthy time in tech, and initially when I first got my job as a software engineer, I didn't really feel any gender gap.

00;31;34;25 - 00;31;55;27 There was a lot of women that were hired in as well as men. And I feel like somewhere along the line, you know, with this influx of some tech movies, they depicted men as hackers, and it was basically shown as more of a geeky career, if you will, and not necessarily feminine. And so, it became more and more male dominated over the years.

00;31;55;27 - 00;32;18;17 But now I think, just like Susan Poser was saying, I think we've changed back to embracing diversity and bringing a whole wide range of thoughts and ideas to the table. And so again, I think now we're seeing more inclusiveness and acceptance of all these different backgrounds and everybody coming together, bringing their point of view. I think it's well respected these days.

00;32;18;19 - 00;32;42;00 I agree, I always think of the I ran a panel at a conference many years ago and they're talking they're talking about design thinking and how having more voices at the table improves the design of software or any product that you're looking at. And I, I think that that's exactly right. What you just said about having that, bringing more voices to table to having more, more people represented has been very helpful as well.

00;32;42;01 - 00;33;04;17 Okay. Win over to you. So, I've been in this industry for a really long time too, and I've certainly seen a lot of changes. Matter of fact, I remember my very first interview with the recruiter and at the end of the conversation this man says, wow, you really mastered the English language. And I'm just thinking, well, I came to the United States when I was three.

00;33;04;17 - 00;33;25;24 But of course, they did say that it and, however, you know, what he sees is this Chinese looking woman. I think he expected me to have a Chinese accent. And I kind of feel like we've come a long way. And in my career, I've never I've never really felt discriminated. But I've definitely felt like it's a man's world.

00;33;26;01 - 00;33;51;15 And in most of the meetings, I would be the one, you know, the one minority Chinese woman with a table filled with men and even the team that I lead to, the team that I lead today, I've got one other woman that's on my team. So, you know, with today's, today. Sorry, I have to say that again today.

00;33;51;15 - 00;34;16;10 However, the diversity is so much more apparent. Part of the reason why I started the Oracle Professional Asian Leadership and volunteer as a leader for the Oracle women's leadership is because I wanted to see women and Asians create a more diversified, inclusive environment and to be able to support them and their leadership development skills. And I really wanted to be part of the team to make a difference.

00;34;16;10 - 00;34;41;16 So, I think that I think that there's, you know, in terms of the gender inclusivity, I'm certainly seeing it more now. I agree, I'm seeing it more now as well as we have more and more of these students go into their careers. We're starting I'm starting to see more of it on our team and other teams that I work with, or even as students are majoring in, in Stem careers like computer science or in information systems and places.

00;34;41;16 - 00;35;04;24 We didn't see it before. So, I have one last question, and I'm going to ask it. And then I think when I'm going to start with you this time, if you could give one piece of advice to faculty or students, what would it be? My advice would be to be bold and share those brilliant ideas. It's just waiting to be heard.

00;35;05;01 - 00;35;26;19 Lastly, I really wanted to say is don't be afraid to fail. We never get that. You know it. Let me say it again. Lastly, don't be afraid to fail. We never get it perfect the first time. And in Chinese, there's the word crisis, which is actually made up of two words. The first is danger, and the other is opportunity.

00;35;26;22 - 00;35;45;26 So, make your impact, be bold, and take that opportunity to share your brilliance. I love that, I love, sharing what the word crisis means, that it's danger and opportunity. I kind of look at it in that way as well, is when we fail. Yeah, there's a danger, but there's also an opportunity. So, Susan Miller, over to you.

00;35;46;02 - 00;36;14;02 Well, when I came out of college and started my career, you know, I felt that if you worked really hard, just like you did in school, you know, then you'd be rewarded for your contributions. And you get compensation. You get promotions for all those efforts. And that did work for a while. But what I didn't realize is that how much networking and knowing others across the division would actually help you more as you move up the ladder.

00;36;14;04 - 00;36;46;12 So, who you know and keeping, you know, top of mind, starts becoming even more valuable, for additional opportunities. So, my advice would be then to just look up and see what else you can do to interact with your company. Now, maybe you can, you know, join a volunteer group or, you know, women's leadership group or, just meet for coffee or lunch with some others and get to learn from them in other groups, other divisions, and grow in that way.

00;36;46;14 - 00;37;04;12 I'm telling my daughters about that now. It's something I think we all should learn more. Networking. I, I wholeheartedly agree, and I think that's why I love my roles. I get to interact with people all across Oracle, and I think that that is sometimes it's really hard because you don't know what to say or how to say to people.

00;37;04;12 - 00;37;24;23 But I do think that that is so, so, so important. Okay. Susan Poser, finally over to you. Well, and I couldn't agree with both you and Susan more in terms of, you know, your network is your net worth, right? I mean, it really couldn't be truer. So, I would say cast your net wide, by participating in ERGs!

00;37;24;25 - 00;37;42;24 I say that only because early on I didn't. I made my whole network revolve around the insight team. The value selling group that I was a part of. We were all very close, very close-knit group, you know, worked together for ten years or more. And when that whole, you know what? We were a force to be reckoned with.

00;37;42;27 - 00;38;02;11 It didn't help when that group got dissolved. And so I was really lucky that when tapped me on the shoulder that, you know, as she was starting Opal to get engaged and, and Susan Miller, you know, I worked with her on the owl here in San Diego and it was great to kind of get more involved in the employee resource groups and really get to broaden my network.

00;38;02;11 - 00;38;20;17 So don't be afraid to take chances. And I would also say volunteer, raise your hand for things that you may not have a lot of experience in. And those are the opportunities to really grow and build those skills. I raised my hand a lot to do a lot of special projects that I had no idea. What they were about.

00;38;20;17 - 00;38;48;19 And I learned a lot. So, I would say passionate wide get involved and raise your hand. I love all of that advice. It's very validating that we as women need to take risks and it's okay to do it. It's okay to fail and just to kind of be yourself and be able to take risks. I think that is so important and just learn and look for support with others in your in your community and in your, in your network.

00;38;48;21 - 00;39;08;23 So, I'd like to thank all of my guests for Susan Posner, Susan Miller, and Win Chang for speaking with me today about their careers in tech. It was very insightful. Please visit academy.oracle.com to learn more about Oracle Academy and the resources we offer to faculty and students and subscribe to our podcast. Thanks for listening. That wraps up this episode.

00;39;08;28 - 00;39;13;28 Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode, host Tyra Crockett Peirce speaks with Wei Jiang, an Oracle AI researcher and former university professor, about the privacy impacts of AI.

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Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;03 - 00;00;35;11 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders. Of the Future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce. 00;00;35;13 - 00;01;05;09 I'm your host, Tara Pierce. In this episode, I speak with Wade Young, an oracle, an AI researcher, about the privacy impacts of A.I. To start off, can you give me a bit about your background and your role at Oracle? Sure. Thank you for inviting me today. So, before we join Oracle for 2022, I had been a computer science faculty member within the University of Missouri System for over 14 years. 00;01;05;12 - 00;01;38;03 My maintaining your background is privacy, preserving data analytics and applied cryptography currently. Hamer Research scientist at Oracle Labs East, working on privacy, preserving machine learning solutions, using secure multi-party computation techniques. We investigate price preserving solutions for both traditional machine learning tasks and fine-tuning language models as all around us. What are some of the AI impacts on personal privacy? 00;01;38;05 - 00;02;17;27 This is a great question. There are a few factors I can think of. One, from the data management perspective, requires a larger deal a large amount of data. Training data and the increasing amount of training data makes the data protection more and more challenging, especially when data come from multiple sources and contains sensitive information. The second factor I can think of is regarding the memorization capability of AI as reasoning become more accurate and use memory capability can potentially leak sensitive information. 00;02;17;29 - 00;02;48;05 For example, it happened in the past that a large language model response contains a real security number. Another issue is the fake image and news generated by A.I. So, AI generated images and attacks are very difficult to distinguish from the real ones. These fake images and news can cause a lot of harm to individuals during mutations and invading their privacy. 00;02;48;07 - 00;03;18;17 Another point is also enabling the development of smart aerosol layers and the email spams that could bypass the current malware detection systems. Why isn't a person, computer or mobile device these compromised the invasion of privacy as an agreed risk? Honestly, that is terrifying to hear. And it's so given everything is going on today that is a really terrifying thing to hear that we just can't tell the differences anymore. 00;03;18;17 - 00;03;52;02 And so, with AI, algorithms require large amounts of data to operate. How is data managed to maintain privacy? So why Burden thing to do is to really minimize the information flow so we can set up proper access control policies to eliminate unnecessary access to the data share only what is needed and keep data within their own silos. Secondly, we can apply data, anonymization, technique to hide a private information. 00;03;52;05 - 00;04;25;26 For example, we can suppress and generalize direct or indirect identifying information in front of data such as share security number, address, personal name, zip code, diagnosis. And we can also protect inundated by adding some random noise. Another tool we can use is called the encryption. So, a dating option as another layer of protection by ensuring only the party encoding the decryption key can access the original data. 00;04;25;28 - 00;04;59;23 We also need to use pricey scene technology to train a machine learning model. So, by applying different price sequencing technology, we can prevent the disclosure of training data train model, use inquiry and forensic results. A.I. combines various pieces of data about a person to make inferences, creating risks of privacy, invasion. Are these inferences subject to privacy risks as information can be used in new, unintended ways? 00;04;59;25 - 00;05;32;06 Yes, and definitely so. These inferences allow attackers to carry out certain attacks and they can potentially leak sensitive information. So, for example, membership first in attack determines if especially information was used to train machine learning models. This attack can be used to infer sensitive information about any individual who stay. There might be use theory training, which clearly pose a privacy threat to the individual. 00;05;32;08 - 00;06;13;25 Another kind of attack called the modern-day version of that modeling version of that. So, which allows Tiger here to learn the training data was some pretty soon the training data which could reveal private information. Another attack is called a model iteration attack. Which enables Tiger to derive is a similar model of the heat hidden competition model by repeatedly querying the hidden model and obtaining the information without an attacker can reproduce a highly similar model with a fraction of the cost for training the Asian model. 00;06;13;27 - 00;06;43;27 The learned model can be subsequently used to initiate model invasion and membership fee for attack. What is the commonly used privacy enhancing technologies for machine learning and what are their pros and cons? So traditionally there are a lot of crazy enhancing technologies. So, for now, the most popular ones, I would talk about a few popular ones these days. 00;06;44;00 - 00;07;11;25 First one is called the Internet of Data Generation. So basically, since any data can be generated based on certain properties of the real data in general, since other data generation are reasoned efficient, and the resulting data are effective for machine learning tasks. However, it is hard to analyze and approve their privacy preserving properties. Another thing is called the key enemy. 00;07;11;27 - 00;07;45;18 It is one the data anonymization technique. So, to make a data set anonymous, the original attribute values are suppressed and generalized, such that a data recurring in the resulting dataset is indistinguishable from at least K minus one other data writer. So, although this technique offers a far more security guarantee, it may be difficult to determine. The right amount is for K, and it is often reducing model accuracy. 00;07;45;20 - 00;08;20;22 Another very popular technique called differential privacy. So differential privacy as carefully calibrated noises to the original data model vendors overall results to prevent him for his attacks. The technique offers a formal security guarantee with a good efficiency, but it is often challenging to know the right amount of noise to use and model accuracy can be adversely affected. Another popular technique called the Fader learning. 00;08;20;24 - 00;08;47;01 So, he is learning during training. They remain in their own silos and the model learn locally and then combine to derive a global model which can be shared among the participating parties. So though federated learning is efficient, and effective, local model parameters can still be really information about sensitive training data. 00;08;47;04 - 00;09;21;02 The technique I am most familiar race is called the secure multiparty competition. That's kind of, you know, my maybe grant to Disney's a cryptography technique allow us to train machine learning models without directly accessing sensitive training data. You can also keep the train mono use inquiry and every result private as well as guaranteed moderate accuracy. However, secure multi-party computation partygoers work hard to design and implement. 00;09;21;04 - 00;09;43;19 They are computationally expensive and do not scale well. That's a lot of information about different ways to train, and it's so entirely fascinating on all of the things that are coming up that everybody's going to need to start learning about how we secure our data more effectively. When we when we enter this new era of artificial intelligence. 00;09;43;21 - 00;10;13;29 My last question, if you could give one piece of advice to faculty or students, what would it be? I said this on my working experience of the in both academia and industry. I believe collaboration is essential to find the right person to work with and achieve a highly effective collaboration. We need to be as part of our own technical domain and knowledgeable about technology and tools to the first quality. 00;10;13;29 - 00;10;34;28 Allow us to be the go-to person. Right? When I read a problem comes up the organization related to you, to your technical domain. The second quality them to find the go to person for guidance and help you there to solve a problem at hand. The side of overall high spirits. So, I would like to end this question. 00;10;34;28 - 00;10;54;27 We still coach knowing something for everything and everything. And this one thing I think that is a really wonderful piece of advice because teamwork is so essential, especially as we're going into this next phase of technology with AI and making sure that, you know, we become an expert on one thing and that we can find people to help us. 00;10;54;27 - 00;11;15;06 I think that's always a really important, important skill to have been being able to work effectively with others. So, thank you two ways for speaking with me today about AI privacy, who is very insightful. Please visit Academy dot Oracle dot com to learn more about Oracle Academy and the resources we offer to faculty and students. And please subscribe to our podcast. 00;11;15;11 - 00;11;22;25 Thanks. Way. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Professor Matthew Wheelwright from Brigham Young University and his former students Cade Bleazard and Nolan Stirling on how learning Primavera Cloud has helped prepare them for careers in construction management. --------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00;00;00;00 - 00;00;34;19 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders. Of the Future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce. 00;00;34;22 - 00;01;02;22 I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. In this episode, I speak with Matthew Wheelwright from Brigham Young University and his former students, Nolan Sterling and Cade Bleazard, about their experience with Primavera Cloud in the classroom. Primavera Cloud is available through Oracle Academy for Teaching and learning to select faculty who meet certain criteria and are selected through an extensive application process. 00;01;02;24 - 00;01;28;23 We're going to talk about how Primavera Cloud has helped prepare them for careers in construction management. Thank you, Matt, Cade and Nolan for joining me today. First question, can you give me a bit about your background and the class at BYU? Yeah, I'm Matt Wheelwright. I'm a professor at Brigham Young University in Civil and Construction Engineering, specializing in construction management. 00;01;28;26 - 00;02;07;19 My background is in residential homebuilding, mostly in California and Utah, and I teach CFM for 12, which is our scheduling class, and also a few other classes Construction safety, real estate development and anywhere else that kind of need me. And in the class, we tend to focus on critical path methods, CPM and balancing and leveling resources. We've recently introduced tact planning or flow and pull planning and OBC. 00;02;07;22 - 00;02;25;01 Oracle Primavera Cloud is a great opportunity for our students to get hands on experience with software and it makes a big difference. So that's a little bit about me. I'm Nolan Sterling. I'm from Cave Creek, Arizona. 00;02;25;03 - 00;03;06;05 I am. I just recently graduated from Brigham Young University in 2023 and now currently just working full time for BHP. I graduated from the construction management program and absolutely loved it and I really kind of got into construction. The at least the program construction management just kind of by chance. But I have loved it. I love the opportunity as it gives you to not only work on the office side, but also be out in the field with the guys and work with your hands and truly just solving puzzles all day. 00;03;06;07 - 00;03;28;05 So my name is Cade Bleazard, similar to Noah, and I'm also from Arizona. I'm from kind of a Chandler Gilbert area and kind of from a young age. I always knew I wanted to be in construction. I've always known I wanted to build homes, but how to get there was never really clear in my mind. My dad is a civil engineer. 00;03;28;07 - 00;03;45;03 We grew up with a lot of woodworking tools and saw stuff at our house, and so I kind of grew up around it. And then when I was 18 years old, my dad actually brought it up that BYU had a construction management program and thought it'd be a good idea to take the intro class. And from there I was. 00;03;45;03 - 00;04;07;15 I was sold on it and have loved every second of it. I just graduated in April of this year and I currently work for Hawthorne Homes, a local custom home builder here. It's been a great time and I am super grateful for my time at BYU and especially in this program. 00;04;07;18 - 00;04;46;27 So how has using OPC in the classroom improved the student experience? Yeah, I think it's great preparation for their future. In fact, one of the and it's not necessarily because they all go out and use OPC from day one because realistically that's not quite possible yet and maybe someday. But I read this quote from our textbook every semester when we get to the point of using the software and it's " Once a manager has mastered one project management software program, it is easier to learn another". 00;04;46;29 - 00;05;23;16 So I really emphasize that, hey, once you've really gotten into OPC, which is, you know, maybe the big leader of the bunch, you can really go off and do almost anything. But to be able to put it on your resumé. To get that real hands-on experience. And it's so much better than past approaches in terms of being able to use it on the cloud and use it on their own laptops at home and in the classroom just makes a huge difference in the ease of class and the ease of I mean, it's hard enough to learn a new software. 00;05;23;20 - 00;06;03;11 They don't need all of the kind of technical difficulties that go along with the computer if they can avoid it. So it's really been great to get them into it and give them the chance to kind of go by trial and error a little bit at times and work their way through for their future. Looking at it from both angles of when I took the class as a student and then the couple of semesters that I had the privilege of being a T.A. scheduling as a whole and construction can be a hard topic and skill to master for sure, and especially so many of us in in the Construction management program, this is the first time that we're being exposed to it and really understanding how it operates. I found that OPC really made difficult content more digestible. I found myself as a student. I was able to see these skills of planning ahead of allocating costs and seeing who's on what job, at what times that OPC was able to make that easier to understand. 00;06;26;10 - 00;06;53;18 But it also gave each of the students the opportunity just to kind of tinker to mess around with it, to see how these changes can affect the project further down the line. Yeah, I think it was a great opportunity, really just kind of buttoning up what we'll write and what kids said. OPC allowed you to not only coordinate with other students, but work on your own projects better than any other software that I had used. 00;06;53;20 - 00;07;23;27 I had the opportunity to also use P6 in my college career and in Microsoft Project. Asked a little bit and OPC really made it easiest for me to work with my professors and work with other students and it was kind of hard at the time seeing how applicable it would be out in the real world, but it was very streamlined and it made it easy to work to stay with Nolan and Cade. 00;07;23;27 - 00;07;55;19 What are some of the skills that you learned using OPC? OPC You know, going back to kind of the main reason of scheduling is kind of just putting order in, you know, aspects of your life. And when it comes to a job, you know, putting order to the different parts of a project, the preconstruction, the construction and the closeout phases of projects are all easily done in OPC. 00;07;55;21 - 00;08;35;19 But I also found that getting more familiar with OPC made it easier to kind of coordinate and schedule my life. And that does sound pretty cliche, but, you know, dedicating time and resources to one thing opposed to another really helps teach me how to do it the same thing in my personal life. Funny you should mention that I'm actually using OPC for some projects that I manage at work, and I'm finding that I am seeing that as well, that I'm breaking more tasks down, I'm getting it into a particular place and then being able to collaborate more effectively with my team as well. 00;08;35;21 - 00;09;05;22 So I totally get and I totally understand. And and Cade, what about you? What would you like to add? I think one of the biggest skills and just kind of life lessons that I learned while learning OPC and teaching OPC is that the more time you spend on the front end of a project, whether it be a construction project or any big event in life, really understanding your scope, understanding your project, and then planning it out and plugging those details in the smoother it's going to run. 00;09;05;25 - 00;09;29;08 And that's something that in class we would emphasize is that the more time we spend in the early stages of OPC or in pre-construction understand the details, plugging it in and in in an organized manner, it's going to help everything else be easier to understand. It's going to run smoother. And I think similar to Nolan and what he explained is that it really does carry into life. 00;09;29;11 - 00;09;49;10 You just kind of learn that flying by the seat of your pants doesn't really work. But if you can spend time on the front end, planning things out, ironing it out, everything is just going to run a lot smoother. I really love that and I feel I feel the same way like it is. If you learn how to plan, you learn how to schedule, you get more done, you accomplish more things. 00;09;49;12 - 00;10;16;10 And that's kind of segueing into my next question and math. This one is going to be to start off with you. So why is knowing OPC important for students preparing for a career in construction management? I think it's very clear that modern construction practice, facilities management, real estate, you know, you go down the list of the components of our industry and scheduling is the big emphasis. 00;10;16;10 - 00;11;00;08 It's a part of the contract, it's part of the legal documents. If we're not spending the time I just mentioned in the pre-construction getting the schedule right, well, we're never going to earn bids. We're never going to complete projects on time under budget with the quality that we want. And scheduling is just a key part of that. And I would add further that one of the aspects that I really harp on with my students is I think about financing and the time value of money that is directly linked to being as successful schedule manager, that if you're capable of creating the schedule and managing the schedule well, then the finances will follow. 00;11;00;08 - 00;11;25;05 And the value of the money and the flow of the costs and the revenues will keep up with what you need it to is as you planned it to. But if you're failing at scheduling, if you're falling down as a whether because of subcontractor trades or whatever, the reason that you're getting stuck, you don't have a plan, well then, the finances will come back and bite you pretty hard. 00;11;25;08 - 00;11;54;07 Yeah, I mean, just as it were. Wright said. His time really is money and the skill that you'll learn in OPC is how to better manage your time. This has become a lesson that's very it's been very important for me to learn in my career as I've as I'm in the early stages of it, but that when you're building for a client and you're being entrusted with managing their money and managing their project, that the time aspect becomes very, very important. 00;11;54;12 - 00;12;18;13 Nolan Yeah, I'll, I'll touch on more of the personal side of, of how this is applied to me and just how OPC has, has kind of prepared me. I recently started my, my full-time job and I believe it was, it was no later than the first or second day. And my supervisor came to me and said, You, wouldn't happen to know any rescheduling, would you? 00;12;18;13 - 00;12;47;29 And I said, Actually, I do. And at this time the company I started with was transitioning from Microsoft Project over to OPC. And so, my supervisor then asked me, do you happen to know any OPC? And I'm like, Actually, it's your lucky day. I know that. I know that even better. And so since then, I've kind of been the main instrument within this, you know, smaller company. 00;12;47;29 - 00;13;25;24 But in helping guys in the field and in the superintendents and then the project team, the operations team, and getting to know kind of the ins and outs of OPC and how to use and how to really save money. I honestly love that. I love how what you learned in your classroom as the course over whenever I've I'm forgetting when you took it when you took the class and then added to is actually helping you in your job now I love that direct outcome is they asked you can you schedule and then they asked you if you knew OPC and you do know OPC and you have that ability to learn that. 00;13;25;24 - 00;13;58;22 I think that is so amazing. So I guess that's going to kind of segue into that next question. How has knowing OPC helped you and then, Matt, for your students in your internship or job search and No. One, you have anything else to add or do you anything else you want to elaborate on with that? Scheduling is kind of been a big part of my college career especially, and I kind of got into it really by just finding the need of a position. 00;13;58;24 - 00;14;25;11 There was a competition team at our university and I wanted to be on the team, but I was still kind of on the outside and I just decided had to find a way to just to be that guy on the team. And there was, there was a need for a scheduler on the team. And so I, I started looking into, you know, what I can do and how I can be better at scheduling and especially in OPC. 00;14;25;11 - 00;14;55;20 And since then I was able to get on the team and really be an effective instrument and in great success with the team. And then, Cade, what about you? Yeah, as I got closer to graduating from college and needed to start figuring out what the plan was post-graduation, I spent time interviewing around and really looking for what was going to be the best fit and looking back on it. 00;14;55;20 - 00;15;23;28 And each and every one of my interviews, my experience with scheduling, especially with OPC, with the different certificates and experience being a teaching assistant, came up and it was a great opportunity to first of all explain kind of what I know how comfortable I am with it, but also explain why I chose it to to for it, why I enjoyed it and and I do believe that it was it played a very large role in getting me the position that I currently hold. 00;15;23;28 - 00;15;49;20 And it's one that I really enjoy and it's one that I was excited to have been extended and it's been a really fun transition. And looking back on it, it really does kind of stem from learning. OPC Diving into it, really getting those skills of project management and the scheduling side that anything to add? Well, scheduling got me my job to. 00;15;49;22 - 00;16;18;04 I mean, I spent a lot of years scheduling homes and sometimes I was Excel, sometimes I was Microsoft Project. But now to be able to use OPC with the students just as the smooth, easy way of getting them comfortable with software, applying the principles, we spend a lot of time talking about activity. I know diagrams and we call it scheduling Sudoku, where we're actually doing the math that OPC does seamlessly. 00;16;18;06 - 00;16;43;29 But the more they understand the principles, the better it is for them to actually be able to use the software effectively. And then someday, you know, be able to apply it in the field and hold people responsible and accountable for what's trying to get done on the project. I think that's really important to be able to go in and know that this can help you get a job or to be able to have that accountability that that OPC provides. 00;16;43;29 - 00;17;05;10 And then also the fact that it is in the cloud, I think it makes it so much easier for access purposes and equity and making it available to all students. So one final question that I ask all my podcast guests. So if you could give one piece of advice to faculty or students, what would it be? And Matt, I'm going to start with you. 00;17;05;13 - 00;17;36;06 Well, clearly, the first is to have TA'ss like Nolan and Cate. That's pretty awesome. They've been great for many semesters. So it was said, you know, bittersweet as a professor to see them graduate. But I'd also add that, you know, scheduling is such a fundamental skill and ability in kind of modern practice and it underpins so many of the other principles that we talk about across the board and construction management and all of our classes. 00;17;36;06 - 00;17;58;24 And the students feel this. They appreciate it. I've had many students come up to me at the end of the class or even semesters after to say, Brother, we'll write a professor. We'll write that such that scheduling class was so great, it mattered. It made everything else clear. It helped me understand not only my own time management, but all the other things that I was talking about. 00;17;58;24 - 00;18;18;09 It just kind of connects and overlaps and all of these things. So I would guess, I guess my advice would be lean into it. Like I tend to ask my students many times leading up to when we actually go into the software say, Hey, are you nervous? What are you feeling or are you excited? Where's your head at? 00;18;18;11 - 00;18;41;17 And I'm trying to get them just lean in. It's going to be great. You need it. They know the principles. And now let's use the software and see it at work. And so that really helps. They've they've before they even touch the computer, they've learned a lot of the scheduling kind of administration. And then when they get in the software, you can just see these light bulbs kind of launching. 00;18;41;19 - 00;19;11;27 I go, that's what you I just constantly and that's really rewarding and it's super fun. And the students do appreciate it. So lean in hard, make it great and it'll pay off. I think that's really, really good advice. Kate, what about you? Yeah. As a recent graduate, I would say I have the unique perspective of being able to give maybe some advice to both students and faculty. 00;19;11;29 - 00;19;38;15 I think first on the student side, I'd say just dive in. I really do think that the best way to learn is, is to fully immerse yourself and being a student. You have a lot of privileges. And one of those is that on different assignments and different in class activities, you have the opportunity to make mistakes and it's not going to cost you a cent. 00;19;38;18 - 00;20;16;29 The penalty is a lot, a lot smaller. And so I would say dive in this, immerse yourself in the learning process in the program, make the mistakes and you'll find that you learn the program a lot quicker that way. And on that on the second half, just kind of the faculty is looking back on my college career, the scheduling class really was my favorite class that I took in my in my entire college career because I felt that it it finally tied everything in construction together where I was taking a framing class and concrete classes and different management classes. 00;20;17;01 - 00;20;38;25 And those were great. I was learning a lot, but scheduling was the first time where it finally clicked in my head of, this is how this is all related. This is this is how a whole project is run. And so I would just say, let your students get into the program quick. As Brother Wheelwright explained, obviously teach them what they need to know. 00;20;38;25 - 00;20;58;18 Teach them the basics of scheduling and set them up for success. But as soon as you can get students kind of tinkering with the program, using OPC again, as we're as I said, those lightbulbs will start to go off. And so I would just say, let them get into it. Let them start seeing how everything is all tied together. 00;20;58;21 - 00;21;29;08 I think that's really I think that's really sage advice to Tinker. I'm a tinkerer myself. Like I, I learned by playing with the PS software. And so the more you tinker, the more you explore it, the better it is. And then, Nolan, what about you? Too close this out? Yeah, I completely agree with Cade. OPEC has really helped me see beyond my college experience how I'm going to apply what I learned in my career. 00;21;29;11 - 00;22;00;11 I would say the one big piece of advice that I would give is, you know, it's frustrating learning new things and not only learning them, but mastering them. But, you know, sometimes you just got to put your head down and work. And I would also say that just find the need, you know, ask around, ask your professors, look for the need and where you could be used and you will you will find it. 00;22;00;13 - 00;22;29;13 I love that. I love I love that. Going ask where you can help, where you can serve, how you can be a problem solver. I think that's so important. Just finding that niche and finding out where you can break in assists because I think it benefits the people that you're helping and it benefits you as well. So a big thanks to Professor Will Wright and Caden Nolan for for giving me some information about the Oracle Academy usage of pro-Mubarak cloud at Brigham Young University. 00;22;29;16 - 00;22;51;01 To learn more about Oracle Academy and the resources we provide, please visit Academy dot, Oracle dot com and subscribe to our podcast. Thanks for listening. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

How students can develop career-ready, hands-on skills within the construction management field

In this episode, Tyra Peirce chats with Dr. Aziz, Associate Professor, University of Washington, a construction management industry expert, who discusses teaching and learning of construction management, including project methods and the benefits a robust software like Oracle Primavera P6 can offer.

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Episode Transcript:

00;00;09;03 - 00;00;34;12 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce. 00;00;34;14 - 00;00;57;07 I'm your host, Tyra Pierce. In this episode, I speak with Dr. Aziz, a professor in construction management at the University of Washington. Dr. Aziz and I speak about how learning P6 is helping prepare his construction students for careers. Welcome, Dr. Aziz. Thank you. To start off, can you give me a bit about your background and the class you teach at University of Washington? 00;00;57;14 - 00;01;17;26 But I thank you for having me again. It's a pleasure to be with you. I have a doctoral degree in civil engineering majoring in construction, engineering and management, and I'm an associate professor with the University of Washington. Before joining the academia, I used to work for a civil infrastructure company in Calgary, Alberta. But I had two roles to do. 00;01;17;26 - 00;01;45;11 A project analyst for mega projects and the project control engineer responsible for the development of construction schedules, for the company of projects which mainly were bridges and highways. So that was my main job with the company. In 2003 I joined the University of Washington to teach and research in construction management. Where now I am an associate professor along with teaching the university. 00;01;45;14 - 00;02;11;12 I prefer that we keep in touch with the industry. And so, to convey the latest information and this knowledge to our students of the classes and that's where I have a little bit side work for consulting and training on construction management training and Primavera and other software applications. I get to know Primavera, you could say, since the 1980s, the late 1900s, it is a very long time. 00;02;11;14 - 00;02;33;15 And that was during my studies in Egypt. And then later I used Primavera for several professional and training jobs. And when I joined UDAP, I started to work with Primavera through the Oracle Academy. I teach a number of classes UDAP. So, my first one is the planning and control, and that's for planning and control and scheduling of construction projects. 00;02;33;17 - 00;03;01;17 This is mainly the principles and practices of the critical Path method, the major method that we use in construction management. I also teach the construction computer applications. It's a hands-on lab for software use in the planning and control of construction. And then I also teach the certificate program classes, which also hands on technology is a software application for planning and construction. 00;03;01;20 - 00;03;24;14 Then I have a set of graduate classes for project economics and risk analysis and for the heavy construction estimating. So, you could see that the university keeps me busy with teaching mainly in the construction management area. So, that is a really interesting and unique background. I like how you are still involved in industry in making sure that you're keeping abreast of what is going on. 00;03;24;16 - 00;03;54;14 And so, which is I think while you're very qualified to give an answer to this next question that I have. What are some essential skills that construction management students need to learn? A great question. Construction management students are practical type of students. They are hands on students or learners. And so, in our department, to try to give them the skills that they need to be qualified was in order to practice and do the job quite well in the industry. 00;03;54;16 - 00;04;21;24 As you could see that there is kind of four essential categories of skills that they need to have. First one is to create cost estimates, construction schedules, safety plans. They should be very well and excellent in communication. The management side of the industry. Another one is to ability to have the ability to analyze construction documents, analyze construction methods and materials and equipment so that you will be able to select the proper ones for construction tasks. 00;04;21;27 - 00;04;47;13 You should be able to apply the electronic based technology to manage construction processes and tasks. And that's where the major software used by the industry. We teach them at the of the art department in our classes. And then finally, to be able to understand the construction accounting project control, risk management, our quality assurance, all these types of work that they will be working with in the industry once they graduate. 00;04;47;15 - 00;05;18;16 And that is so interesting that there's all these different types of skills, whether it's accounting or scheduling or project management or even time management that is just kind of really essential to construction management, which kind of leads onto my next question How does studying software packages and maybe in particular Primavera help to teach students these skills? Well, as I mentioned, the construction management in our program uses in several classes a suite of software applications to teach our students various disciplines. 00;05;18;17 - 00;05;40;01 We have planning and control, we have cost estimating, we have virtual reality. And so, applications like the Revit for BIM on the screen and blue beam for quality take off Comfortline for cost Estimating Primavera and Project for planning control. Several other applications. We have to get them be ready for that. And so, in some of my core classes primavera the focus. 00;05;40;01 - 00;06;13;28 And so, in my undergraduate construction computer applications, the professional certificate classes and in the capstone graduate class, they need to work with the software to do the work of planning, scheduling and so on. The and the CM, the construction management field. The students need tools to help them with hands on practice. And so specifically on the planning and control area, the students need to have software application that can implement the technical rules of the critical path method CPM as the main measure method that we use in the management of project. 00;06;13;28 - 00;06;46;16 And so, they need to be able to work with the software that implement to that. They need to be able to generate construction schedules and reports, facilitates updating of projects, generate progress reports, major performance like using the earn it value analysis method and carry out risk analysis. We also need to have a resilient application that can communicate with other software application such as Excel and Project and many of those other applications that are used by the industry as well are Primavera and the add ins provided that to me as an educator. 00;06;46;18 - 00;07;14;01 And so, since 2005, after two years from joining the university, I started to contact with the Oracle Academy, where I received the 100 of licenses of Primavera. That was like a grace for me to have Primavera where to be used in the classes since I used to work with it in the industry. And so, it becomes very a great opportunity to get them to learn a software that's being used by the industry as an educator. 00;07;14;01 - 00;07;40;10 Also, I then more than the technical, the scheduling capabilities that the students need to know, which is managed by the software itself, but they also get to work with the Enterprise project, the structure and the organizational structure. These are constructs in Primavera I use them to develop a structure for my classes, so I develop work areas for my students who are each student in a class. 00;07;40;10 - 00;08;02;14 I have access to one specific work area to create projects, to create resources separate from all other students. At the same time, I have an instant access to all that the students do in the work areas so I can interactively fix errors that might have in their projects and I keep the integrity of the class so no one would copy the work of others. 00;08;02;20 - 00;08;36;15 And so, the enterprise project, the structure and the OVS allowed me to generate that. It also allowed me to generate and create collaborative areas where multiple students could actually work on the same project. This collaboration is great when we do capstone projects and join a project, and it also allowed me to create quizzes and exam areas. Many are working in an exam setting and then you have your own specific area that you are working in Primavera, and the next students are also working on the same software, but they cannot copy from each other and shoot using the apps and the ops. 00;08;36;15 - 00;09;02;07 I was able to create that environment where everyone is responsible about the project that they do without having to work or to deal with any other student in that class. I think that's really interesting because it's kind of giving them that real world feel that they're actually seeing in their classroom where they're where collaboratively, but then they're working separately and being able to work together, I think is really a unique opportunity, which kind of leads into my next question. 00;09;02;10 - 00;09;33;24 What are some career paths for construction management students? The essential industry for us is the construction industry, and so the serious students can work in a construction and also in related construction industries. The main employer is the construction industry, which include public and private sectors government agencies, private corporations, general contractors, specialty contractors like homebuilders, consulting firms, even real estate developers and construction material suppliers. 00;09;33;26 - 00;09;56;07 Students can also work in the related industries. What do I mean by that? It's like the oil and gas industry, like the aviation and aerospace industry. Many of these companies that work in these industries also use the planning and control software. And so, CM students with the knowledge of this planning and control and these technology-based software can work in these industries. 00;09;56;07 - 00;10;24;21 And in fact, some of my Graduates work at Boeing and in Blue Origin. Many of these mega companies that do aerospace and aviation same students will be seeking positions like field supervision, site engineering, management, construction and schedulers, project controls and so these are the major jobs that they will be searching for. But later on in their career, they will move into construction project management, project managers and senior managers. 00;10;24;21 - 00;10;49;24 And they could also reach the CEO of a company. And in fact, some of our CEO's around in the companies that we have here are based in Seattle and in neighboring states are graduates from our graduates, from our classes in the in the program. And so, it's a career, a career full of position that they have something to look at, some goals to look at, not just to be a site engineer, but they could also reach the top level in a company. 00;10;50;00 - 00;11;15;15 And that's really interesting to see that there's different types of places to work, whether you're working for a homebuilder or for the government or for a big builder, and then they can actually progress on to management levels and even up to the end into the C-suite, which I think is super interesting. So how have knowing software, software packages like P6 or others as well helped your students in their internship or job searches? 00;11;15;17 - 00;11;42;11 Well, thanks. That's a great question. Just to give you a bit of a background, our construction management department has all of its students almost 100% to placement in the industry. So while we are learning our classes, our program, they have to be in an nternship. And so we have almost 100% a placement for our students and most of them, nearly all 100% of them receive return offers after they graduate. 00;11;42;14 - 00;12;06;24 And so, the knowledge of technology-based software application is crucial in the CM practice. As I mentioned, construction management is a hands-on field and that's why we offer our students exposure to several applications, including Primavera. So, they are ready to join the workforce. Primavera is one of the leading applications for planning and control and having it in our in their toolbox over the students is a plus, as is essential. 00;12;06;27 - 00;12;33;11 And so, Primavera again helps all of those students to get to know how to implement planning and control, not just at the school sitting outside again during their internships. It helps them to lay down good jobs as well as the with the industry. Usually, we have interviews coming to be done by the major construction companies as well as from the government. 00;12;33;11 - 00;12;56;18 And so, during these interviews, most of our students gets to be placed with these companies. And then onto my very last question. If you could give one piece of advice to faculty, your students, what would it be? Another good question. Teaching is essential, right? And so, t has an impact on the students learning specific subjects, specifically construction management. 00;12;56;18 - 00;13;27;16 As I mentioned, it's a practice, it's a hands-on environment, discipline. And so, students need to learn by doing. And so, it's imperative that when we teach them planning and control and the use of technology, because the application again, such as Primavera, we use real projects and we use a hands-on approach to learning. We need a small project to allow students to understand the concept, create a project and its activities, dependencies, resources and costs, and generate proper schedules and deliverables. 00;13;27;18 - 00;13;59;20 And so having a large obscure project will not be helpful as the students will be overwhelmed with the details that will obscure the learning and the essential skills that they need to know. And so, showing students menus and commands without practice, without hands on. Will not be sufficient. And so, my advice is for educators and for students is to work with the small size projects and work with a software that allows you to practice how to plan, how to schedule, how to control the project. 00;13;59;25 - 00;14;26;14 It's not just opening menus and see what's going on. You have to practice by your hand using a small project. This has been very successful with me and all of my classes. They have real construction projects. We have the hands-on training for probably over multiple quarters, and so students get to be very much hands on they are becoming very much ready to join a university, join the workforce once they graduate from the program. 00;14;26;14 - 00;14;46;06 And so again, my advice is to use a small-size projects with hands-on approach for learning. I think that is honestly one of the best pieces of advice, as I've heard lately, is to start small, get comfortable with that small set of skills and then increase and get more and more and more knowledge so they're not overwhelmed. 00;14;46;06 - 00;15;07;03 I honestly was sitting there thinking, as you're answering like this is really, really good advice you can take to other aspects of learning as well, not just in construction management or construction scheduling, but any kind of project planning like or any kind of learning in general, like getting comfortable with a small set of skills and then doing more and more and more as you get as you get more proficient. 00;15;07;03 - 00;15;32;10 I really, really like that. That's some of the best advice I think I've heard as going through what I've been talking to educators. So, thank you very much. And thank you to Dr. Aziz for speaking with me about his class, at the University of Washington, and the skills students need to pursue a career in construction management. To learn more about Oracle Academy and our resources, visit Academy dot Oracle dot com and subscribe to the podcast. 00;15;32;11 - 00;15;40;06 Thanks for listening. That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.

In this episode Tyra Peirce speaks with Oracle Principal Architect and adjunct professor Victor Statchura about teaching cloud computing in the classroom, and some of the specific things that faculty should think about when they embark on teaching students in the cloud.   ----------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;09;03 - 00;00;35;10 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders. Of the Future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce.   00;00;35;11 - 00;01;06;09 I'm your host here appears in this episode. I'm joined by Oracle Principal Solution architect and adjunct University of Buffalo instructor Victor Stachura. In this episode, Victor and I speak about setting up cloud software and how it differs from setting up on premise software. Welcome, Victor. Thanks, Tyra. Glad to be here. So, to start off, can you give me a little bit about your background, your role at Oracle and the class you teach at University of Buffalo?   00;01;06;13 - 00;01;30;10 Sure, I can do that. I've got a long history, which means I've got a lot of experience. I've been working for a long time. I've been with Oracle for about just over three years. I've been teaching at the University of Buffalo for over ten years. I'm always in an adjunct role. Right now, I'm a principal solution architect, so I'm in a pre-sale's tactical role.   00;01;30;12 - 00;02;01;12 Prior to that, at other companies, I was director of Enterprise architecture, software engineer, presales consultant, all kinds of different things. So, the courses I teach one is called Enterprise Models, which is basically a consulting solution architect type course, and the other one, which is more applicable to this podcast was called Big Data Technologies. So, students learned about concepts of big data, and they were hands on with Hadoop.   00;02;01;14 - 00;02;28;00 So, for someone who's interested in using cloud in their classroom, what is a key difference between cloud and on prem software? Well, when I started this course and I've been working with Oracle University, I was very excited to find out that they offer OCI credits to students. I was very concerned about installing Hadoop on each student's laptop because they all don't have laptops.   00;02;28;02 - 00;02;52;26 Some have Windows, different operating systems, some have, you know, Mac, you know, laptops. Some are using tablets. Some are using their phone. So, the previous instructor had a lot of problems with all the students and all the devices and trying to get software loaded up saying, great, let's use OCI. Everyone's working off from the same platform no matter what device they have.   00;02;52;29 - 00;03;20;21 They can access the cloud, and they can go from there. So that was really kind of the idea and the genesis of this whole thing. I wanted to eliminate a whole boatload of problems installing in different devices. So, what are some particular things that you think about when you set up a cloud environment, particularly for the classroom? Yeah, that's a really good question because these students, they were undergraduates, so they had very limited cloud experience.   00;03;20;23 - 00;03;42;11 I think there's a lot of people in industry, even to this day, even though cloud is a multibillion-dollar business for us and other companies, all they know is the marketing literature. I get out a credit card. I can go create an account. I go spin up a compute instance. I can move along. They don't realize all the details that have to go into that.   00;03;42;13 - 00;04;06;17 These kids, I had to give them instructions, too. You had to create private and public keys. What are keys? What are the tools you use to create these keys? They don't know anything about that. Yeah, you can speed up your spin up your environment. Well, you need an Internet gateway so you can access it. You need to use things, you know, different access tools to get into that environment.   00;04;06;19 - 00;04;27;10 You got to change network settings. There are security lists. There's, you know, security on the network cards, storage. You want to use block storage. There's a whole other set of commands you have to do to attach that. So, you need to understand the basics of cloud infrastructure, networking. If you're actually going to go and use some of these things.   00;04;27;10 - 00;04;52;13 It's not just a platform as a service. How to set up a cloud instance differ from setting up an on prem instance? Yeah, it's really understanding. In the cloud instance, you have to understand all that networking. You have to touch all those different parts of OCI and get used to using a lot of new tools. If I'm going to install software on my laptop, I'm going to download IT installer, let it run and away I go.   00;04;52;16 - 00;05;13;22 Okay, so in some respects it might be simple to do that. But again, when you're in a classroom environment, you got 50 kids or 40 kids and they all have different versions of hardware and software, it becomes complicated really quick. I think that's really interesting because we're all operating on different operating systems. I know I have a mac and some of my coworkers have PCs.   00;05;13;24 - 00;05;30;19 And so, when we go in and we're putting things in like our mail programs and we're trying to do share mailboxes, things like that, the commands that they use are different than the commands that I use based on operating system. And I think that, you know, it's cool that once you're in the cloud, that kind of levels, that playing field and everybody's the same.   00;05;30;27 - 00;05;50;15 Exactly. I gave these students very detailed instructions, typed this command, typed that command. I only had to do one set of instructions if I had Mac and Windows at least two. And then there's probably some other variants in there. If somebody throws in Linux or Unix or something else, even like you've got another set of instructions on top of that.   00;05;50;15 - 00;06;12;28 Exactly. Exactly. And these students, some of them are using iPads. They write on their iPads. A lot of them are using their phones. They're Yeah, I know there's tiny little screens, even though iPhone or a galaxy really large, they're using their phones. So how they interact in the classroom is very different than you and I or what we would think or how we.   00;06;13;00 - 00;06;31;28 However, we were back in school, we brought our computers, or we had our just taking notes in our in our notebooks and then going into the computer like that is crazy that they're starting to use their phones now to run their databases and things on the that's just actually several of them had the laptops that they're trying to OCI.   00;06;32;05 - 00;06;55;01 The instructions are on their phone and it's, you know, flipping back and forth. They can barely read it. No one is. They're skipping steps. It wasn't very efficient. I literally said to the class, we may go old school, and I may print these out for your paper because they were missing steps. But I digress. So, what are some key skills that students learn when they set up a cloud instance?   00;06;55;03 - 00;07;16;25 Well, they are going to learn about cloud infrastructure and what needs to be set up for that. They're going to learn about some of the networking infrastructure that needs to be set up. So, they're going to get some hands on with that and they may not have any experience to that. You know, getting that set up the security lists and block storage and those things that I mentioned previous.   00;07;16;27 - 00;07;45;07 The other skill is a soft skill that some students can do well, and others couldn't, meaning figure things out if it didn't work well. Okay, maybe they made a typo in the instructions or in the commands. Maybe they skipped a step. Okay. Or maybe is permission wasn't set up right. Some were very good, and they would do, you know, do a Google search and they would find it or ask a gen.   00;07;45;12 - 00;08;07;13 I know the question and they would solve it on their own. Other kids would say it didn't work. I don't know what to do. So, their lack of problem-solving skills is something I'm going to have to address going forward because I'm going to teach this again. Okay. They will learn some basic even UNIX or Linux commands. Okay.   00;08;07;13 - 00;08;29;27 Because look, there was the operating system we use at our compute instance, Ubuntu Linux. So that was something they're going to learn too. I think it's very interesting you talk about problem solving skills. I think of back in my development days when I had you have to do debugging or testing. I think that that's such an important skill that no matter if you're going to be a programmer or if you're writing instructions or any time you're working in tech.   00;08;29;27 - 00;08;55;07 I think debugging and learning how to figure out what went wrong is always a really, really important skill for everybody to learn. Absolutely. And the thing is, all of us in that class, when I when I taught it, we were not the first ones to encounter any of these problems. Somewhere in the world they found it out and they put it somewhere YouTube or all these tech sites that are out there, Slashdot or whatever.   00;08;55;09 - 00;09;15;16 And there was one group of students that were very good at, I'm going to Google, I'm going to research, I'm going to read the and that's what I was doing, Yeah, okay. Because this is the first time, I had to teach this course, and I had to learn it too. So, I'm doing that research. And then there was other students that I had a talk with, and I says, look, you need to learn to problem solve.   00;09;15;19 - 00;09;41;11 And no, what's going to give you the answer when you're out in the real world? They're going to give you general direction and you have to figure it out. Internet search engines are your best friend. There's so many things, whether it's like fixing a sink, you know, fixing the garbage disposal under my sink or like figuring out how to debug my email software or like figuring out why Apex or Excel is not working for me.   00;09;41;11 - 00;10;03;05 Like, there's so many, so many ways that even in not just our computer science and programing classes, but in everyday life, the learning how to problem solve is a really essential skill for students to have. Absolutely even in your jobs, you get it. Bring something to the table. And I give them an example myself. I got hired at a bank here in western New York.   00;10;03;08 - 00;10;22;28 I was the head of the strategy for the integration platforms. Okay, So I come in, I find out where the coffee urn is and all that type of stuff, and I go to my new boss. This is where do you want me to start? He goes, Learn and form an opinion. Okay, can I have a couple of names to start with?   00;10;22;28 - 00;10;45;05 And he gives me a couple names. So, I basically started an interview process, and those people gave me more names and I had to learn, figure out the questions to ask, and then come back in a month. And here's my opinion. You know what's more nebulous than that? No one said, Vic, go do this, okay? And so, you have to you're going to be expected to bring something to the table.   00;10;45;07 - 00;11;12;17 I 100% agree. And so on to my last question. If you could give one piece of advice to faculty, your students, what would it be? Well, I came up with quite a list of what I'm going to do differently but review the basics. Okay. Because there is a large variability in skills. In my class, some people were very well versed in basic Linux commands, others weren't.   00;11;12;18 - 00;11;37;12 So, I have to go through that, provide some teaching for them and refuse to talk about the problem solving, how to go about do that. Here's some websites you can use. Okay, I'm going to go over an architecture diagram of a basic cloud environment because they have no pictorial concept in their mind what it should look like.   00;11;37;14 - 00;11;59;08 It's very nebulous. Okay, I have this virtual machine that's my computer and I have a there's a virtual network card and virtual storage and security lists and gateways and service gateways and internet gateways and all this type of stuff. So, I'm going to kind of go through all these basics with them before we actually get into the instructions.   00;11;59;10 - 00;12;16;12 I think that's really important to be able to go back to basics. So, you know, when you're an instructor, you're going in your teaching aside, go back to basics depending on the class of your teaching. So just kind of level set for everybody. I think that's such an important such an important piece of information is, hey, these are basics.   00;12;16;12 - 00;12;37;13 We're going to start here, and then we'll build upon those basics once everybody's comfortable. I think that's such a such a great piece of advice. So, a big thank you to Victor for joining me on the podcast today. If you're a student learning more about Oracle Academy, please check out our website and subscribe to the podcast. Thanks for listening.   00;12;37;16 - 00;12;44;04 That wraps up this episode. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next Oracle Academy Tech Chat podcast.