Yey! Another year of UKOUG

 I had to 'use up' my SIG day that I get with my Bronze UKOUG membership and I'd missed all the good ones (just kidding!) so I went to the RAC Cloud Infrastructure and Availability SIG (they have to get a decent acronym for that!)

One of the main reasons for choosing it was actually because it was a late starter/finisher: 2:30pm to 8pm

It meant I could get a later train to London, without battling the crowds of commuters and yet still be able to get a train home at a reasonable time.

In fact I had a few hours to myself first which I made the most of here and here

I love the comradery of the SIGs.  It is so motivating to talk to people doing similar jobs, with similar issues in similar companies.  It is quite therapeutic to hear of other big companies having virtualisation battles, big and small companies having design problems, communication issues etc.

It's great to talk to people in companies that have actually bought the big Exadatas and are using them.  If nothing else it starts you wondering whether a company switch might be worth considering for the star studded infrastructure or not, when you realise a lot of the things that make a work day have a sigh happen at many other places in the same way.

These few hours always provide amazing training.  This time for me, the winners were the changes to ASM in 12c, particularly flex ASM.  Trace File Analyser - which is more than it says on the tin! And using Linux control groups to manage virtualised resources.

(That and getting a chance to spend some time with @ChanderDBA and @MDWidlake - thank you both.  There was food and beer - I know, what's not to love!)

Before I arrived I had resigned myself to it being my last ever, thinking it was just too much money to renew membership.  Within 30 minutes of being there I knew I was going to renew again.  It seriously makes that much difference to my motivation to be a great DBA.

I went back to the office the next day stuffed to the gills with renewed drive and decided to ask, yet again, if my company would pay the membership.  And yes, yes they have. It's at least 6 weeks since the bossman said yes and I'm still hopping happy and actually doing more (if that is possible) and volunteering for extras.

It's a win-win for me and the company.

My company gain from my renewed motivation, the extra knowledge I've picked up and that I am keener at work because them renewing my membership makes me feel valued.

I gain from my renewed motivation, I am happier, I feel like I am part of a community still and it makes me want to share more with the DBA community.

The UKOUG is a positive thing.  There are no losers.