After the most memorable MySQL community event, #MySQLBelgianDays2024, and earning legendary recognition from the MySQL Community team, I have decided to share some thoughts about the importance of a community. 

Previously in life

As a former enterprise DBA, I have been part of other communities strictly focused on monetary and entitlement of accomplishments. I had a chance to work on world-leading enterprises and had ability access to the most advanced technologies for both software and hardware. This journey was fun, fruitful, and rewarding for me.

In the latter half of my career, I entered the open-source community of MySQL by shifting my prior decade and a half of experience into it. 

Entry to the open-source community

When I entered this community full-time, there were several controversial discussions and assumptions about Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL, the separation of MariaDB, etc. While some of those claims had some reality, most turned out to be baseless without knowing the intentions and future. 

The importance of Percona Live events and the Oracle MySQL team’s contributions to this community, which several other open-source contributors surrounded, was my entry point. There was a significant influence from hyper-scalers, known as initially social media companies, followed by SAAS and cloud vendors.  

I have watched, followed, and strictly learned from community leaders, including influencers like Peter Zaitsev. Although open-source communities feel and look like closed-circuit groups of geeks having fun, they are very open to newcomers. But remember, communities accept contributors, not watchers. What I mean by contributors is not just coming to a company-paid trip to the event once in a blue moon. Even if you attend an event as a visitor, you can still help by promoting and getting the word out through social media and other networks. 

Where to start?

One can share ideas, code tools, and software and become a speaker. If you aren’t the type of person who can speak and present, you can help others by providing content and ideas and having them review them. Let me help you get there and recognitions will follow.

How do I start helping and becoming a part of the community?

1. Create a public repository of the tools and code you spend time on. 
2. Start writing blogs about your experiences and sharing content. 
3. Become a speaker or co-speaker with the same or similar subject.
4. Conduct webinars and post-speaking events for those who were not able to attend. Include feedback and corrections to your talk. 
5. Create training content on recorded videos and training sites. 
6. Coordinate or help with local meetups. 
7. Help sponsoring events. 
8. Encourage to send co-workers to events. 
9. Introduce newcomers to community veterans. 
10. Author or co-author books and booklets. 
11. Act as an event committee member. 
12. Help to answer questions via GitHub issues or Slack channels. 
13. Always spread the word through social channels.

If you still can’t do any of those, help marketing colleagues carry boxes of swag and give away materials, and set up and clean up booths for the events. You can always help sales and pre-sales folks by connecting your network. 

I have to credit Laine Campbell for introducing me to and allowing me to meet the most influential leaders of the MySQL community. 

Many thanks to Peter Zaitsev for all the help, support, and openness in accepting me into the MySQL community. 

I would also like to thank the past, current, and future MySQL Community team for their hard work.  The rest of the list is too long to mention here, but they know who they are.

Congratulations to all previous MySQL Rockstars and 2023 winners.