In this episode of Grey Beards [recorded 28-Jun-2023] the hosts Rob Lockard and Roger Cornejo welcome our guest, expert Oracle storyteller and evangelist, Sean Stacey, an Outbound Product Manager at Oracle.
Recording here on YouTube: Grey Beards #12 with Sean Stacy, we cover everything oracle, sailing, analytics, AI, and mistakes. - YouTube
With an impressive background in the Oracle Database, Sean brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to providing technical advisory services and education to Oracle customers and partners. Sean's expertise extends beyond his role as an Outbound Product Manager, as he has also authored numerous white papers and blog articles, delving deep into the intricacies of the Oracle ecosystem.
Sean's passion for sharing his expertise doesn't stop there. He frequently graces the stage at Oracle user conferences, captivating audiences with his insights and experiences. Before joining Oracle, Sean's journey in the tech world began as a software developer, and he later transitioned into the role of an Oracle Database Administrator, working in various countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Currently calling Raleigh, North Carolina home, Sean Stacey is an integral part of the Oracle community, continuously pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. We were thrilled to have him join us and share his war stories and experiences from the technical trenches.
During our chat with Sean Stacey on the Grey Beards podcast, we couldn't resist chatting about his recent sailing trip from South Carolina to Connecticut, where he and the sailing team had to weather gale force winds and seek shelter due to a small craft advisory. Sean even grew out his grey beard for the occasion, adding a touch of authenticity to both his seafaring adventure and the Grey Beards podcast.
Screenshot of seafaring Sean with his temporary grey beard.
After Sean issued his 'safe harbor' statement** (pun intended, given his recent experience of needing to bail and find safe harbor in Norfolk, VA) [**Sean declared his “all views are mine” statement], we eagerly took a head-first sailors dive into the world of technical topics.
Once we delved into the technical realm, the conversation took an exciting turn as we explored recent advances in the tech industry. We discussed AI innovations, including Oracle's Autonomous Database and Automated Machine Learning, which can analyze data characteristics and suggest ML models tailored to specific datasets. Sean's insights into the digital economy, Web3, and graph analytics highlighted the growing need for industries to embrace these capabilities to solve business problems. Interestingly we are also seeing the rise of the "citizen data scientist" where it no longer takes a PhD data scientist to make effective use of advanced analytics and machine learning models, and the person who knows the data and how to get at it is becoming more valuable.
Sean pointed out that we currently stand at a crossroads in the technology market, with the power to influence and shape the use of these emerging technologies. Unless one is in the sunset of their career, he encouraged us to seize this opportune moment and embrace transformative technologies such as Oracle's AI capabilities and analytics engine. He assured us that rather than fearing job replacement, developing a deep understanding of business data and the analytical capabilities built into cloud infrastructures will prove beneficial.
We couldn't help but dive into Oracle's offerings, such as their high-performance NVIDIA GPU clusters for training ML models, which are considered best-in-class infrastructure for AI workloads among cloud providers. Sean emphasized that businesses prioritize privacy and security for their analytics, and this is where Oracle Cloud Infrastructure excels.
The conversation further veered towards the convergence of infrastructure for AI and databases. Sean emphasized that these elements can no longer be considered separately, and Oracle has successfully achieved a solid converged database offering. Their solution encompasses structured, unstructured, file, and Data Lakehouse data, irrespective of where it resides, even spanning multiple clouds. By leveraging data sharing and open-source technologies, Oracle integrates these capabilities seamlessly with OCI's Data Catalog, providing metadata for the data from various sources.
Overall, our conversation with Sean Stacey was a captivating exploration of cutting-edge technologies and Oracle's advancements in the field. We not only gained insights into the industry but also enjoyed Sean's witty remarks and his impressive grey beard, a testament to his adventurous spirit both on land and at sea.