The spotlight is on Geison Fernandes da Silva, Senior Cloud & Systems Tech Consultant, Oracle, Brazil.

Around the globe, Oracle Solution Centers help customers and prospects to select the right solutions for their business requirements, quickly validating architecture and enhancing performance for workloads that span across on-premises, hybrid, and in the cloud.

Geison Fernandes da Silva is a Senior Cloud & Systems Tech Consultant at the Oracle Solution Center in São Paulo, Brazil, Oracle’s headquarters in that immense country of 212 million. He plays a pivotal role in supporting Oracle customers and partners, allowing them to architect, customize, and test solutions with Oracle Cloud, Cloud@Customer, on-premises, hybrid, AI and multicloud in a secure, scalable and interoperable environment for all deployment models.

Not only does he receive customers on average twice a week, but as an Oracle Academy Ambassador, he also hosts students and teachers from universities and technical colleges across São Paulo state.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Technology from Sumaré College, São Paulo, and has embarked on a postgraduate degree at Estácio, Brazil’s largest university.

Oracle Academy: Can you tell us about the workings of the Oracle Solution Center in São Paulo?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: Oracle Solution Center has a complete infrastructure that allows our customers and partners to touch Oracle technologies and test or prove them before investing. This infrastructure goes from on-premises and OCI, to cloud at customer, hybrid, AI and multicloud. I´m part of a global organization with around 80 people and we have two centers in Latin America, one in Sao Paulo and another one in Mexico. We are also inaugurating our Satellite Solution Centers in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Costa Rica.

Customers come from all over Brazil and Latin America — corporations, public sector, small and medium industry — to learn about the very latest Oracle releases. Recently we hosted a contingent from the Brazilian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense who were interested in OCI, VM Ware, Oracle Roving Edge, and other cloud components. When necessary, I travel to a customer site — last week to discuss OCI with a company in Campo Mourão on the border with Paraguay.

Oracle Academy: And on top of that you are an Ambassador for Oracle Academy. How did that come about?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: Some of the Oracle Academy institutions have visited the Oracle offices in São Paulo in Brazil. The highlight of these visits is a tour of the Oracle Solution Center, a presentation, and a Q&A session. My involvement began three years ago when a colleague asked me to host a group of students because he was tied up with a client presentation. I said yes, found that I really liked doing so, and from then on, I have worked hand in hand with the Oracle Academy team. Meeting university students is not that different from presenting to customers, even if one is educational and the other commercial. Every visitor, business or academic, wants to learn about Oracle technologies, and I enjoy being able to expound on the richness of Oracle Cloud.

Oracle Academy: What kind of student visits do you have?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: They come from all over São Paulo city, São Paulo state, and from neighboring states Minas Gerais to the north and Paraná to the south. On average we have two visits per week. Quite a few are students in technical colleges run by the state government, known as FATEC and ETEC, with a combined 312,000 students, many of them following Oracle Academy-based courses.

Recently 30 students from the private Anhembi Morumbi University traveled 400 kilometers overland from the city of Palmital, where they follow Systems Analysis and Development, a course 100% based on Oracle Academy curriculum. That university encourages students to seek professional certification in Oracle database, Java, and OCI.

Oracle Academy: You must get a lot of questions…

Geison Fernandes da Silva: They ask about my career, the job market, how can one work for Oracle; a frequent one is the cost of the data center! Coming myself from a modest state school education and simple childhood, I relate to these young people and I can talk to those from poor districts as well as those who are better off. I summarize my career, and emphasize the value of Oracle certifications, of which I have all those associated with OCI.

Naturally, AI lately has become a hot topic and so I tell them about Oracle’s AI capabilities and I physically show them the Nvidia GPU Rack which we use with AI applications. They are knocked out. Student and teacher email feedback categorize the visit as ‘mind expanding’ or ‘a turning point in student development.’ Witnessing the enthusiasm and increased motivation of these young people is truly a wonderful thing.

Oracle Academy: That’s terrific. How do you see the benefits of these Oracle Academy member organization visits?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: Obviously, using the database, Java, and cloud curriculum from Oracle Academy gives them a strong edge in the job stakes. But where the solution center plays a key role is that they can actually see the hardware managing the technology they are hearing about. In normal classwork students do not have any contact — touch and feel — with the components that make the cloud work. I show them an actual fiber optic cable, real servers that process email or run the public cloud that their school uses. The solution center equipment is cutting edge, and I see their eyes shine whilst taking photos and videos. For faculty members it’s the same — they cannot touch, see, or configure the technology they teach. For many instructors, the visit is also the first contact with the machine room, so to speak.

Oracle Academy: And what do you get out of it?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: It is fantastically rewarding to be an Oracle Academy Ambassador. From my point of view, all knowledge should be shared, and I see them as younger versions of the 41-year-old Geison who is talking to them! I tell them not to be shy, encourage them to ask about anything, because there are no dumb questions. When I first talked to customers, I was shy, almost terrified of speaking in public. Not so anymore. This solution center role has made me a better communicator. Every visit is a learning experience — for the teachers and students — and for me too! When you explain and demonstrate technology, you drill deeper into it all the time.

One other thing that helped me was learning English. In 2019 I took a career break, went to Vancouver for seven months, and did a crash course in English, which now I use daily in interacting with Oracle product development in the United States, or with English-speaking customers based in Latin America. Every visit is a lesson in communication, in how to simplify complexity, to convey intricate technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Oracle Academy: We understand that you speak outside of the center as well.

Geison Fernandes da Silva: That’s right. I spoke at the Oracle Cloud World Tour last year, both here and in Mexico City, showcasing Oracle's Roving Edge Device. That was challenging because Roving Edge is an innovative technology that represents the future of distributed and mobile computing. I am honored to have had the chance to highlight its capabilities and potential applications.

There are also a number of events to which I get invited, such as one last month covering the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, designed for companies looking to migrate their workloads to the cloud and modernize their infrastructure. Or the recent Oracle Defense Technology Summit, where again I presented Oracle Edge technologies.

Oracle Academy: Super. Finally, what about your interests outside of the Oracle environment?

Geison Fernandes da Silva: I like to exercise and do regular runs on weekends, and twice a week I work out in a local gym. Also, my wife and I enjoy going on long walks with our two dachshunds.

But my main hobby is radio-controlled model car racing. I compete regularly against others, racing these miniature cars at 80 kph off-road and on-road. Great fun!

Thank you, Geison Fernandes da Silva, for volunteering to be an Oracle Academy Ambassador.