Back when “You’ve got mail” was a thing, I was building apps. In fact, I’m referring to around 1995 when I had been programming computers for over 10 years by that time! Naturally there was no “cloud” back then and we barely had dial-up connectivity to the internet – but still, the world was learning that it needed apps: Tools and solutions that were needed to solve data-centric business problems!
I really got my start building some of the early stepping stones of social media – bulletin board systems, aka B-B-S-es in the mid 80’s. From there I got my first teaching/instructor job in 1991, where, as a barely 20-year-old, I taught computer applications to classrooms of adults. During that time, I moonlighted as a software engineer and I eventually built several Point of Sale/inventory management/cash register type tools that worked only on PCs.
Fast forward to today (over 30 years!) and wow have things changed in the IT world! We now have high-speed internet (that everyone takes for granted) and many various cloud options, with big juicy cherries on top that we call A.I. – and just this past year has been a whirlwind of advancements to try and keep up with!
Where does APEX come into my picture? 2006 – it was back then when I was a Java and dot Net developer, and a work colleague shared that they had learned about an upcoming release of Oracle Application Express 3.0 – and sure enough, I was amazed and impressed (even with 2.5!). Why would I (or anyone else) want to continue to use high-code? I became hooked on APEX almost instantly!
I am now into my 8th year at Oracle and pushing 5 years as an Oracle APEX Product Manager – it has a been a crazy fun ride – from hosting webinars to presenting sessions and bootcamps in-person at world-renowned conferences, I really am feeling the success of our customers, and I love it! It is almost mind boggling to think that I started teaching IT concepts to adults almost 35 years ago and that I am still teaching “students” of all ages today!
As we all dive into this AI-train of excitement and new capabilities, I do feel somewhat nostalgic for the “simpler” way of things as they used to be – but I think it’s clear that the goal of our Human-AI symbiosis will lead to future success, as it continues to be rooted in distilling complex things into the “more simple” – and with APEX we are continuing to see this trend – by being able to build apps that we can trust that are also easy to maintain!
Jayson Hanes, APEX Senior Principal Product Manager