Two members of our Oracle ACE community – Kevin Thyssen and Jim Czuprynski – just got back from nlOUG APEX World 2025 that took place in Ede, Netherlands. Kevin and Jim both found extraordinary value in attending this renowned conference series – now in its 15th year! – but realized they learned new APEX techniques from their own unique personal perspectives, while networking with nearly 300 fellow attendees.

The Apprentice and the Master

Jim: I was really excited to attend my very first nlOUG APEX World event, as I’d heard so much about it from fellow ACEs over the years. I’ve been attending, speaking at, and training at various Oracle events since Oracle OpenWorld 2009, but honestly this was one of the best mid-sized conferences I’ve ever attended, and at a fantastic venue to boot.

I led a hands-on lab on implementing generative AI concepts within APEX and then presented on that same topic the next day, but I was also looking for ways to expand my own APEX knowledge. I wasn’t disappointed, because our colleagues dove even deeper than I had on advanced generative AI feature sets within APEX. I also expanded my understanding of better APEX application development techniques like advanced debugging. It was a challenge to find time to attend every must-see session I felt I couldn’t miss each day.

Kevin: I don’t exactly remember how many times I’ve been to APEX World, but it must be around ten. For me, it all started many years ago on the SS Rotterdam, an ocean liner and cruise ship, which was transformed into a hotel ship in 2010. The conference took place there for many years.

After relocating to Zeist for a few years, and Amersfoort last year, it was time for a brand new location in Ede. On top of that, APEX World was celebrating their 15th anniversary! This conference will always be special to me, because I started here as a speaker three years ago. There are plenty of technical sessions, which, being a developer, really is an added value for me.

APEX World Truly Spans the World

With 289 people attending from 14 different countries, there were over 40 sessions spread across four simultaneous tracks, plus a separate student track for “newbies” to the world of Oracle APEX. What stood out for both of us were the keynote sessions: in contrast to events we’ve both attended over the past 15 years, these keynotes actually imparted meaningful knowledge and actionable intelligence.

Mike Hichwa, Oracle SVP, Software Development, Simon Hunt, Oracle APEX Software Architect and Toon Koppelaars, Oracle Architect offered real-world advice and prepared the APEX community for the next frontier of development opportunities. 

During the opening keynote, Mike Hichwa introduced APEX Lang, a new domain specific language which you can use to define Oracle APEX applications. This highly human readable file format will allow us to build and manage applications faster. Without a doubt, it’s going to be the biggest feature of the new APEX release. When is it coming? Nobody really knows, but to use Joel Kallman’s famous quote from an earlier edition of APEX World: “The cake is in the oven!”.

SQL Assertions are coming to the Oracle database (safe harbour)! Presented by Toon Koppelaars during the closing keynote, this long awaited feature will allow you to define check constraints at a whole new level – read: multiple rows and even multiple tables. Assertions are something the Oracle DevOps community has been hoping would come to fruition for several years; based on what Toon demonstrated, we can finally encode even relatively complex business rules into our database applications without having to mess with object or statement level triggers that often unnecessarily obscure those rules.

The Multilingual Engine for JavaScript is very powerful! MLE allows you to run and store JavaScript directly in the Oracle Database, e.g. through MLE modules or inline JavaScript functions. Tightly integrated with Oracle APEX, this can be beneficial for many developers.

No Matter What They Say, It’s Always the Network

As we expected, our separate learning paths often intersected those of many of our Oracle ACE colleagues from EMEA and America. But we also met dozens of folks from different industries and varying experience levels while we learned more about specific APEX feature sets.

That yielded a deeper appreciation of how modern IT organizations leverage APEX to provide immediate value to their end users. Both of us also realized It yielded significant and new ideas for practical use cases for future presentations on APEX and its ever-growing list of features – especially its usefulness in conjunction with graph DBs, spatial technology, and of course generative AI and RAG.

But what really helped our enthusiasm about APEX World is its unique “vibe.” We’ve both attended large conferences like ODTUG Kaleidoscope (Kscope) over the years, but it helps to take a step back to realize just how important the camaraderie between speakers and attendees is. Speakers thrive on having an interested audience! The time and effort we typically spend to prepare, practice, and present sessions and hands-on labs is rewarded at events like this.

And Since GenAI Is Really All About Probabilities …

… what better way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the conference, with a real casino night? We had a chance to explore permutations and probabilities at the roulette and dice tables with real casino croupiers, but there were also football tables and arcade machines, and a DJ spinning 45 rpm vinyl inside a booth made from (we are not making this up) two classic VW Beetles.

It turned out to be a great evening, full of glitz and glamour, which brought lots of people closer together. Attendees truly enjoyed the event at the mid-conference party and celebrated their user groups’ significance within the Oracle DevOps community. And that’s what conferences like APEX World, aside from acquiring knowledge and gaining new insights, are really all about.

About the Authors

Jim Czuprynski has been an ACE Director since 2014. He leverages 40+ years of professional experience in Information Technology and 20+ years of Oracle DBA experience to conferences and user events around the world. Jim has authored 100+ articles on Oracle Database administration, ML/Analytics, and APEX since 2003 and has co-authored four books on Oracle Database technology. Jim’s blog, Generally … It Depends (https://jimthewhyguy.com/blog), contains his regular observations on all things Oracle and the state of the IT industry.

Kevin Thyssen is an ACE Associate since 2023. He’s a senior Oracle APEX consultant at United Codes with more than 15 years experience. During these years he has worked on several large projects in chemical, pharmaceutical, and financial industries, as well as the public sector. Furthermore, he’s passionate and enthusiastic about new technologies and cycling is one of his passions.