Every Techie under 35 has has used MySQL in one way or another

Sun's 2008 Customer Engineering Conference (CEC) is an opportunity for Sun engineers to get in depth training. So over 2,000 Sun engineers are kept indoors at Paris Las Vegas from eight in the morning to eight or ten at night to get up to speed on new subjects.  This year MySQL is one of tracks and over eighty engineers are being trained by George Trujillo.  This is also a record class size for a MySQL training class.  And at the end of the week they will take a MySQL Certification exam.

Rather than a standard DBA class, George has opened up some time to other to teach.  Cliff Conklin brought up valuable insights on storage engines.  Anders "Make ZFS GPL" Karlsson provided the students a view into how MySQL is integrated into organizations, clustering and database performance.  We even had the SVP Marten Mickos take some time out of his heavy schedule to discuss a high level view of where MySQL came from and where it is going.  Later in the week there are other speakers scheduled.

The quote I am using to title this entry 'Every techie under 35 has used  MySQL in one way or another' caught me by surprise.  Marten made this statement and I noticed that very few people in the room jumped when they heard that.  The engineers in attendance are working hard to understand how to best fit MySQL to support their customers.  A good number of them have DBA level experience with other DBMSes. Many have confessed they have been getting queries from customers about MySQL since the January purchase.  George is providing the heavy technical training and the cameo appearances are filling the other gaps. And the attendees are really soaking up the material.

Many are cramming with the MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide for the certification exam on Friday.  That is a lot of dedication considering the many available 'distractions' in Las Vegas.  And it gives a good feeling for the customers of these engineers after seeing their dedication.