Oracle ACE program: Why you should join it and how to do it

What is the Oracle ACE Program?

The Oracle ACE Program is an Oracle’s initiative designed to recognize and support individuals who demonstrate exceptional expertise and leadership within the Oracle community. These technology leaders are supposed to share their knowledge, experiences, and insights with others via blog posts, prelections, books and other means. They should also organize events (conferences and meet-ups) and engage with the community on forums or social media posts.

The program includes eleven categories (called Focus Expertise): 

• Analytics and BI
• APEX
• Cloud
• Community Leader
• Database
• Fusion Apps
• GraalVM
• Java
• Linux
• Middleware
• MySQL. 

However, there’s a stipulation: the Oracle ACE Director level isn’t eligible for the Community Leader category (so they have to choose a different one).

Speaking of the devil, there are three levels of expertise, with each recognizing varying degrees of involvement and impact within the Oracle ecosystem:

• Oracle ACE Associate: This is the entry-level designation for individuals recognized for their technical skills and willingness to share knowledge – usually by speaking at events, writing articles, or participating in forums. Oracle ACEs.
• Oracle ACE Pro: This level is designed for those who engage with the community on a higher level and share their knowledge in greater depth than developers on the Associate level (there are no other differences between an Oracle ACE Associate and an Oracle ACE Pro).
• Oracle ACE Director: This is the highest level of recognition within the program and is awarded to top-tier community members who have made substantial contributions over time (years of work), including thought leadership in technology discussions, extensive public speaking engagements at major conferences, and mentoring others in the community. Oracle ACE Directors also help shape Oracle solutions by engaging in dialogue with the company and providing feedback.

The benefits of becoming an Oracle ACE

Becoming an Oracle ACE is not just a badge of honor. It enhances your resume, elevates your career and opens doors to great networking opportunities.

In addition to enhancing your resume, being an Oracle ACE helps you cultivate your personal brand (and you pretty much have to do this to keep being one). You position yourself as a thought leader in tech, gaining credibility among peers and industry leaders. This recognition fosters trust and respect, paving the way for new collaborations and projects that can further bolster your career trajectory.

Finally, there’s also a range of specific benefits reserved for ACEs: 

How to become an Oracle ACE?

The main rule is that candidates must demonstrate a deep commitment to sharing knowledge about Oracle technologies. This can be achieved through various means: 

1. Speaking at conferences – Attend technological conferences related to Oracle technologies and apply to present your own prelections. 
2. Writing articles – Start a blog on a platform such as Hashnode (or similar) and write informative tech pieces on APEX or other Oracle technologies.
3. Being active on forums – Connect with users on Cloud Customer Connect, GitHub, Stack Overflow etc. and help them solve their problems
4. Contributing to open-source projects – For example, create and publish Oracle APEX plugins on APEX World or GitHub. 
5. Volunteering in meetups (or even organizing them) – Such events are a great way to meet tech aficionados in your area and network.
6. Mentoring early-career colleagues – Sharing knowledge doesn’t always have to be on a grand scale. Helping junior devs with specific issues is also valuable.

The contributions are scored, and each Oracle ACE level requires a certain point level. The number of points assigned for each activity varies (Oracle doesn’t officially disclose the specific point values on their website, but you’ll get that information when you become an ACE, so you know what to do to keep the title).

There are also additional criteria in some cases:

• ACE Associate and Pro nominees who want to be eligible for the Community category must make contributions in community-oriented areas (organizing events, creating newsletters, taking part in a user group committee, etc.).
• For the ACE Director level, you must also provide a reference from at least one Oracle product manager.

To become an Oracle ACE, you must be at least 18 years old and can’t be an employee of a government, health and life sciences organization (both private and public), or work in the public sector. My Oracle Rewards members and Oracle employees are also excluded. Outside of these exceptions, everyone else is eligible – simply submit a nomination (you can nominate yourself, or someone can do it for you).

The Oracle ACE title is awarded for a year (to be specific, each year-long period starts in June and ends on May 31st). If you don’t have the necessary points by the end of your year as an Oracle ACE, you’ll either be moved to a lower level (from Director to Pro or from Pro to Associate) or become an Oracle ACE Alum (former member) and lose the benefits.

Pretius developer tips: How we joined and used the ACE program to our advantage

As a company with five ACEs (including one Director and a couple of Pros), we are in a unique position to offer some guidance on the matter. Here are some tips from me and my colleagues:

• Conferences are worth a lot of points. Taking part in them is also a great experience and a good way to develop your skills and personal brand. 
• When writing articles, focus on their quality, not on length. Concise but well-written, informative pieces will work just as well and award you just as many points as long articles (books are a different matter, though, and worth a lot more). Of course, if a certain topic works better as one comprehensive piece, present it that way (quality is key, after all). However, in many cases dividing a big article into smaller, easier-to-digest parts focused on specific tasks or issues is both good for the readers (because they don’t need to scan through pages of content to find what they need) and good for you (as you get more publications).
• ACE program isn’t for everyone. You can be a fantastic developer and not have an ACE title. It’s not a certificate that proves your skills. Sure, it’s definitely worth pursuing if you have the right mindset, but don’t treat this initiative as something you absolutely have to do.

Conclusion: Consider joining the Oracle ACE program

How do I look at this program? I won’t repeat what I have heard so many times – that it’s something of a distinction, a sign of appreciation, a way to build a personal brand. You see, for me, the Oracle ACE program is mainly an incentive to act. When a project drags on, when work on documentation seems neverending, it gives me a distraction, a way to avoid falling into a routine. I take a moment to check something, undertake a challenge or learn something new. In such moments, it can be like a breath of fresh winter air. And if I do something to share the knowledge I acquired – such as writing an article, abstract or even a comment – the feeling is even better. 

Moreover, Oracle ACE is also an idea that brings people together. Each of us has a hobby: books, travelling, sports, computer games – you name it. APEX also works this way, and the ACE program gives you the opportunity to meet people who work in it, like it, and specialize in using it in complex projects. All these meetings, events organized for Oracle ACEs, channels on Slack, and hashtags on X create a community that helps us treat work more like a hobby. And that, my friends, can be invaluable.

I hope this article showcased everything important about this program, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to write to me at lcieslik@pretius.com.

Also, check out some of the articles our talented Oracle ACEs wrote recently – there’s plenty of great, informative content on Oracle APEX, Liquibase and more:

1. APEX User Interface Defaults: A deep dive into Table Dictionary and Attribute Dictionary
2. Globalization in APEX: A deep dive into Multi-Language and Locales
3. Oracle Forms migration: 2025 is high time to migrate your software to APEX
4. APEX 24.1 Working Copies – An in-depth look at one of the platform’s coolest features 
5. Oracle SQLcl Project:  The only CI/CD tool for APEX you need?