Volunteering is more than just giving time—it’s about making an impact. Recently, one of our Oracle colleagues, Valentin Robu, Manager, CSS Tech Delivery, Global Expertise Center, demonstrated this spirit by volunteering at a university in Iasi.
This year, Valentin repeated what he has been doing for several years: participating as a volunteer at special events for students. At the invitation of Professor Simona Varlan, Faculty of Computer Science, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, he participated for three hours in an online workshop for faculty and students. The professor was already prepared from the beginning of the event with a list of questions received from the students specially for this event.
Thus, Valentin was invited to answer questions about his career and how his career began, the advantages and benefits of the Oracle products, the differences and trends between the relational database model and NoSQL ones, collaboration/teamwork in a company, challenges that he has encountered throughout his career with concrete examples, and work and collaboration with clients in general. Additionally he addressed trends in the IT field, expectations, possible upcoming changes, and how to better prepare students for the future.
After answering the series of questions, he showed them how to work with the Oracle APEX application.
“I sincerely thank Mr. Valentin Robu for delivering an insightful online workshop to the students of the Faculty of Computer Science at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, generously sharing his professional journey and expertise in the field of databases as a manager at Oracle. His presentation covered a broad range of valuable topics, from the start of his career and why he chose the database sector, to practical guidance on interview preparation, certifications, and key differences between relational and NoSQL models,” said Professor Simona Varlan. “We deeply appreciate the technical knowledge he shared, including the advantages of Oracle technologies, methods for preventing SQL Injection attacks, and valuable advice for students on how to present themselves in interviews. Students greatly benefited from the live demonstration of Oracle APEX via LiveSQL and the use of the HR sample database, which made the workshop both interactive and hands-on.”
“Thank you, Mr. Robu, for your time, your openness in sharing real-world experiences, including challenges in teamwork and client collaboration and for inspiring the next generation of IT professionals; we truly hope for future collaborations with you and Oracle Romania.”
The professor also sent us the opinion of a former student, who graduated in July 2024 and who also had guidance during her degree from Valentin Robu:
“Valentin Robu has been an exceptional mentor throughout my thesis journey. His patience and expertise played a crucial role in my success, as he guided me step by step in building a robust database foundation. He not only provided insightful advice but also conducted hands-on training in database software, which proved invaluable. Thanks to his support, I was able to design an efficient CRM database that catered to the needs of various companies, ensuring that it became a key component in my application. Professor Robu’s contribution greatly influenced my final grade of 10, and he was instrumental in deepening my understanding of how to develop an optimized and efficient database, both in terms of memory management and performance,” said Briulung Bianca Ioana, former student.
We want to say again a big thank you to Valentin for his involvement in Oracle Academy and for guiding students to personal and career growth.
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