The spotlight is on Scott Stroz, MySQL Developer Advocate, Oracle, United States.

“I read the news today oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade…” No, not academic grades, nor will everyone know the Beatles song, ‘A Day in the Life.’ Yet when Scott Stroz tells college students about the ‘Day in the Life’ of a SQL developer — or a database administrator (DBA) — he creates enthusiasm and interest around the careers that stem from mastering the MySQL database.

Scott Stroz, whose job title is MySQL Developer Advocate, is a software engineer who, before joining Oracle in 2022, spent 20 years as a software developer, designing, coding, testing and maintaining web applications. Though versed in multiple database systems and programming languages, the only constant for Stroz over the past two decades has been MySQL, the world’s most popular open source database management system. Having fallen for MySQL lock, stock and barrel right from his first developer job, today his goal is to share his experience and knowledge as a developer advocate… and as an Oracle Academy Ambassador.

As an ambassador and evangelist, he provides guest lectures to faculty and students, delivers Tech Chat Podcasts, and contributes to Oracle Academy teaching and learning resources. Stroz has a passion for sharing MySQL skills through ‘Day in the Life’ talks and other ambassadorial functions.

Oracle Academy: What’s a day like for a MySQL Developer Advocate?

Scott Stroz: Basically, on the road or online, my job is to help developers be successful with the MySQL database. It’s about sharing and helping others, people who build and deploy applications to production environment. I am part of the MySQL Community Team, a group to help MySQL developers/DBAs expand their expertise and develop better applications. We publish a series of daily blog posts and MySQL Shorts on a variety of MySQL-related topics, join customer calls, give talks and spread the word about this amazing database that celebrates its 30th birthday this year.

My developer advocate role has taken me to every time zone in the United States, and I have made several visits to Europe, most recently to Belgium. Up until recently I mostly presented at conferences, but after being dubbed Ambassador, I also address university and high school classes, face to face or online. One of my focus areas is outreach to new or younger would-be developers. Before travelling to a conference or event, I ask Oracle Academy if there are any member schools in the area, and I am more than happy to give talks when the opportunity arises. Recently, for example, I addressed Clarksburg High School, Maryland, which invites tech speakers twice a month.

Oracle Academy: Terrific. What prompted you to join the ranks of Oracle Academy Ambassadors?

Scott Stroz: You could say being an envoy is in my job title. It’s also in my DNA. Before becoming a developer, I was an instructor for paramedics and emergency medical technicians, pillars of emergency medical services. I enjoyed teaching people just starting out — how to pass exams and how to succeed once they became an EMT or paramedic. When I left EMS, I missed that piece. But I picked it up again in my developer career, speaking at local conferences, sharing knowledge, helping people learn from my experience rather than making the same mistakes that I made.

But, what most influenced me to become an Ambassador for Oracle Academy was that, in every single developer job I had, there was one person who made it their mission to help me become a better developer, helped me to grow and learn. What I am doing now is paying that forward, and in Oracle I can do that on a much larger scale than before.

Oracle Academy: And you do so with Day in the Life talks. What do they cover?

Scott Stroz: In those sessions, I walk students through the things they will likely do in the course of a day as a DBA or developer, breaking down typical tasks and processes. In my previous developer encounters with graduate students or summer interns, I frequently came across a mindset such as I’m going to write all this code, everyone will think it’s great, and they’re going to carry me out on their shoulders because I saved their day. But in fact they had no idea of what working on a development project is really like. I would explain that on any given project you are not going to be writing code 100% of the day, you’re lucky if it’s 50%, because of internal meetings, processes and so on.

And so when I talk to students at Oracle Academy member institutions such as John Hopkins Unversity or University of Maryland, Baltimore, I give them the lowdown on what goes on in the daily life of a DBA or developer, what the expectations are, but I try to do so in a way that gets them enthusiastic, excited. The talks have been very well received because the students get a glimpse of something that academia really cannot teach them, the nitty gritty. Naturally the teachers equip them with database and programming skills through the well thought-out Oracle Academy curriculum. But visitors like me add a little spice.

Dr. Michael Brown from University of Maryland, Baltimore, said to me “You reiterated a lot of the things I’ve been saying this semester. But you, coming from outside and from Oracle itself, should make them more likely to listen and to pay attention in the future.”

Oracle Academy: And what about student feedback?

Scott Stroz: Seeing how eager some of these students are makes it really cool to talk with them, and they ask such insightful questions during lively Q&A sessions. At Florida International University, I used MySQL to illustrate the topic of AI and data. It was a high level talk on how AI uses data, ingests and stores data. The questions kept flowing, asking me if AI is going to take a developer’s job, and is all this study worth it. And the answer is no, AI won’t take your job, but somebody using AI probably will. These are all tools that we need to learn how to fit into our current work routine. AI can’t write some of the apps that developers write — but it will help make those systems better and get them developed faster. AI, of course, is now hard wired into MySQL HeatWave, which is now available through the Oracle Academy Cloud Program.

Oracle Academy: What would you say is the secret sauce of connecting with these young people?

Scott Stroz: Enthusiasm. I love writing code, love being an author, love tinkering, and I think that enthusiasm comes across in my talks. Myself, I get enthused by people who are enthusiastic in their talks. It’s less about instruction, more of a performance. If you can make it entertaining and interesting, they will be more engaged and remember more. I often finish by encouraging students to continue learning, even after they graduate, with words such as, “When you are wearing your cap and gown and holding that piece of parchment, don’t think it is the end of your learning, because when it comes to technology, it’s just the beginning.”

The ‘Day in the Life’ construct appears to go down well. And as mentioned, I am really paying forward for everything people have done for me in my career — and if you do it with brio, then there’s a strong payoff. If I can help students in the room have a little bit more success, because they listened to what I said and took it to heart, there’s no greater reward in the world.

Oracle Academy: Do you get involved in the Oracle Academy materials covering MySQL?

Scott Stroz: Yes, I have authored three Oracle Academy Education Bytes. One is about how to install the database; another is an intro to MySQL JSON Document store; and the third is about connecting to a HeatWave MySQL instance in Oracle Cloud, as part of the Always Free Tier. This one is important to students and instructors because now they can spin up their own instances of MySQL in the cloud and it’s not going to cost them anything. Cloud computing is just awesome, opening up so many doors to people who didn’t even know the doors existed.

Oracle Academy: What would you say is the value of the Ambassador Program?

Scott Stroz: I would say the value of the Ambassador Program is the idea of having people who are experts in certain technologies being available to speak to students and instructors. From a student perspective, it reinforces what they have learned to have someone out in the world, working for a company like Oracle, saying the same things as their instructors.

And for instructors, such as Dr. Brown from Maryland, Baltimore, or Dr. Changmi Jung, Academic Program Director at John Hopkins University, that same reinforcement plays in their favor.

Oracle Academy: Thank you. Finally, what are your outside interests?

Scott Stroz: Let’s see — I’m a 50-year follower of American football and 40 years a golfer. I’m a diehard New York Giants fan and have been since I was a teenager. And I am an avid golfer, playing twice a week, teeing off at 5:30 pm for a nine-hole course. By the way, in a recent MySQL Shorts that focused on machine learning features available in MySQL HeatWave, I used a dataset generated from golfing information to train a model that could predict a golfer’s score based on their previous scores and the course they were playing. Well, with my handicap I can foresee next week’s score without AI!

Otherwise, my wife and I celebrate our 28th anniversary this year, and we have two sons, one an author, and one in computer engineering grad school in New York City.

Thank you, Scott Stroz, for volunteering to be an Oracle Academy Ambassador.