The spotlight is on Carlos Sedano de la Torre, Senior Software Developer, Oracle, Ireland

Oracle’s Mexico Development Center (MDC) in Guadalajara is at the forefront of innovation in software development, cloud engineering, artificial intelligence, and technical analytics. Its staff of 3,000 and growing includes an abundant supply of qualified talent recruited from top Mexican universities, including Guadalajara University.

One such graduate, Carlos Sedano de la Torre, spent three years in MDC as a software engineer before relocating to Dublin, Ireland, where he is a senior software developer in the Oracle Database Tools group.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Universidad de Guadalajara and is certified in a multitude of technologies including Oracle Database, Java, Scala programming, Linux, Kubernetes, Python, and more. With eight years of software development experience, he has recently volunteered for an additional role, that of Oracle Academy Ambassador — mentoring students in Mexico!

Oracle Academy: Please tell us what brought you from Mexico to Ireland?

Carlos Sedano: It was during the pandemic that I began to get itchy feet. Already in 2016, I had spent a year in an international exchange with a college in Tarragona, Spain. I loved it, met people from different parts of the world, and wanted to explore living abroad. During the lockdown I thought, much as I love my country, if I don’t make a move now it might be too late. I got the ok to relocate from my manager, went through the Oracle job marketplace, applied for a position in Dublin, passed a couple of interviews and, in 2022, found myself here. It’s been a fantastic journey so far — despite the weather which, for someone coming from Mexico, is...!

Oracle Academy: But as an Oracle Academy Ambassador for Mexico, you are tightly connected to your roots….

Carlos Sedano: Very true, and I am communicating in my mother tongue every week with students who, like me some years back, are starting out on their technology career paths. With my Ambassador hat on, I mentor them, guiding career choices, staging mock interviews, explaining what major tech companies are truly looking for, fine tuning their LinkedIn sites and resumés. Often, they don’t know what the world outside is going to be like after graduating. I review with each one the many fields open to them: cybersecurity, AI, software development, testing, quality and assurance — a ton of possibilities. That’s where my mentoring comes in to play.

In addition, I am sometimes asked to give talks to larger groups of students, recently addressing a Mexican university online to showcase the various SQL-based database tools used to connect to Oracle databases.

Oracle Academy: How did you get into mentoring?

Carlos Sedano: It started in 2018 when I joined Oracle in Guadalajara. I came across Oracle Volunteers, a program that included mentoring university students looking for careers in big tech, such as inside Oracle itself. Since then, throughout the pandemic and into my current role in Dublin, I have mentored students from universities in the large cities of Monterrey, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. Currently I have two mentees at different universities in Aguascalientes state, a young man pursuing data science, and a young woman more into Python and programming.

Oracle Academy: Why mentoring?

Carlos Sedano: When I was at Guadalajara University taking computer science, I had a particularly good mentor who guided me through the problems I had at the time. It was a rich experience to have access to someone more experienced than me, someone who could advise on my next steps to take. I wanted to pay that forward. I believe in sharing knowledge and experience with others who need it. Mentoring is very fulfilling; you get to see students growing and gaining confidence, making decisions on their career paths.

Oracle Academy: And that’s why Oracle Academy appointed you as Ambassador.

Carlos Sedano: So I believe. They saw the feedback posted on LinkedIn and elsewhere, students appreciating my dedication to each one’s career search, professional development and success. For me, mentoring is enjoyable because I consider myself an extroverted person with a high level of flexibility, commitment, and sense of humor — I’m a big team player, “we’re in this to win”.

Oracle Academy: You certainly get glowing feedback from what we have seen. In what way does your software developer job impact your mentoring?

Carlos Sedano: The great thing about Oracle Academy is that it covers the whole spectrum of database design, SQL programming, Java, cloud computing, and AI. My focus on SQL Developer ties in strongly. In fact, Oracle Academy member institution students already are using the software that I am coding, which brings us even closer.

SQL Developer is really cool, and I like to highlight it because it’s state-of-the-art technology, which nowadays is all about AI. Developers or students using this tool can take advantage of Oracle database while using AI at the same time. There’s a technology called MCP, Model Context Protocol, which enables you to communicate through a large language model (LLM) and ask questions about your database — like, how many students are using Oracle Academy resources. The LLM will go to the database, gather the information, and share the answers in natural language. It’s fascinating.

Technology is evolving at a fast pace, as witnessed by Larry Ellison’s announcement at AI World of Oracle AI Database version 26ai — another gamechanger.

I currently am working on an extension to SQL Developer called Oracle SQL Developer for VS Code, which will cater for multiple connections to the Oracle AI Database and any other database, in the cloud or on premises. So, naturally my mentees benefit from my software development experience and from every innovation that Oracle continues to spearhead.

Oracle Academy: So, you mentor students on career choices and the technical skills involved?

Carlos Sedano: Absolutely. I show them the kind of positions available and then we narrow things down. If we establish an interest in working with databases, data and algorithms, then software development might be the best path... in which case we talk about the skills they need, looking at what Oracle Academy has to offer in terms of SQL and Java programming. It’s the same for the many other fields they might enter.

Oracle Academy: How do you organize the mentoring sessions?

Carlos Sedano: Given the time difference with Mexico and our respective schedules, I usually connect on Saturday afternoons. The sessions are roughly 90 minutes long. Initially someone from Oracle Academy introduces me to a group, explains the program, and then I take it away on an individual basis. I spend 4-6 months with each mentee and have steered 25 of them into careers since I began.

Mentoring is not teaching, even though I can talk them through technical problems if asked. Mainly I guide them to find their full potential and be prepared for interviews. I encourage them to take Oracle professional certification and, importantly, to post their final year projects onto LinkedIn and other media. Visibility is important; it shows the world what you have done. It is magical to see how they grow and gain confidence over the months we spend together.

Oracle Academy: Do you stay in touch?

Carlos Sedano: I do. A few weeks ago, a mentee reached out to me for a job referral. Another, a girl from Jalisco state, mailed me that she had moved to Germany after graduation and was finishing her PhD.

Oracle Academy: Are there any plans to extend your mentoring or talks to students in Ireland?

Carlos Sedano: It would be amazing, and it’s been on my mind, even though my ambassadorship is geared to Mexico. But I’m already involved here in monthly Java meetups and maybe Oracle could set up others for sharing technologies around Oracle Cloud, databases, Oracle APEX, and so on. We’ll see if trans-Atlantic mentoring is feasible.

Oracle Academy: Great. Any parting thoughts on Oracle Academy?

Carlos Sedano: I would say it is a fantastic opportunity for a student to have access to the Oracle Academy resources. It is awesome to discover the wealth of materials available. Oracle owns the best database in the world, owns Java, and offers Oracle APEX as a super tool for experimenting with SQL and building apps. And there’s much more. Having all that and more gathered on just one platform where students can search and learn is fantastic. In terms of my home country, where my heart lies despite living in Ireland and having wanderlust, Mexico has two cloud data centers and two development centers employing almost 5,000 people. The development centers are magnetic poles for enthusiastic interns and graduates and are an obvious entry into the real world of technology, just as the MDC in Guadalajara was for me.

Oracle Academy: Resounding words! Lastly, what about your interests outside of work?

Carlos Sedano: There are many. I consider myself to be a geek and have loved computer games since childhood. In fact, that’s why I went into computer science, to be able to develop games. I no longer have time for that, but still play with my trusty Nintendo Switch. Still, apart from my role in Database Tools.

I was also a keen soccer player when young and tried out as goalkeeper at professional level in Mexico but decided on university studies instead. Now I play for fun, five a side on a small pitch on the Oracle campus.

Otherwise, I am recently married and spend time with my wife watching tv series, trying new restaurants, criticizing Mexican food wherever we travel! We share the same spirit of travel fever, this summer visiting Berlin to support a friend running in the marathon and taking in Switzerland afterwards. Later this year we will be in Spain and Portugal before setting foot in Morocco — Marrakech and also Casablanca — where there are Database Tools team members in the Oracle office.

Oh, one other trip scheduled: my wife and I recently won a competition for a weekend at Disneyland Paris. La vie est belle!

Thank you, Carlos Sedano de la Torre, for volunteering to be an Oracle Academy Ambassador.