Debra Cerda Blog Posts

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2023, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Meet Dave Stokes, Technology Evangelist for Percona. Dave Stokes is the author of MySQL & JSON - A Practical Programming Guide. He resides in Texas with the mandated pickup truck, hound dog, and guitars.

Read what Dave has to say about Postgres and why to attend his sessions which include "MERGE() - A Quick Introduction" and "PostgreSQL High Availability: The Considerations and the Candidates."

Why Postgres? Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community. (How long have you been involved? How have you contributed? How else would you want to contribute?)

I have been mainly involved in the MySQL Community for a long time but am now exploring PostgreSQL. I have started a series on PostgreSQL for MySQL DBAs that is very popular

What new features of PostgreSQL 15 are you most excited about?

Merge()!

What features do you believe should be developed/improved and released in the next major upgrade?

JSON_TABLE()!! Please, please, pretty please!!

Why should attendees come to your talk at Postgres Conference Silicon Valley 2023? What would you like for them to take away from your session?

From the Merge() talk, I hope they will go away understanding how transaction log processing works. For the HA talk, I do not expect them to walk away as they will be so filled with brain energy that they sort of levitate away!

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?

The people.

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres and other open source technologies?

Open source !- free. It provides a flexibility to innovate.

What's your top suggested readings for 2023?

Anything by Tim Dorsey.

What do you believe are the major achievements of open source and Postgres over the last decade?

Open-source software has proven that good code comes from more than just semi-benevolent corporations. And PostgreSQL has proven the power of the mailing list!

Check out the full schedule for Postgres Conference Silicon Valley 2023, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2023, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Meet Ry Walker, Founder and CEO of CoreDB, which is currently in private beta. CoreDB "provides provides a fully-managed, secure, scalable Postgres cluster with access to an ecosystem of extensions, expanding the capabilities of a database." Ry is a long-time coder, founder investor and champion of open source. He enjoys nature, science, art, tennis, platform tennis, golf, basketball, fishing and indie game development.

Read what he has to say about Postgres and why to attend his keynote session "The Growing Postgres Ecosystem" on Thursday, April 20th:

Why Postgres? Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community.

I've been a user since the beginning, recently started CoreDB which will provide a managed Postgres SaaS.

Why should attendees come to your talk at PostgresConf US 2023?  What would you like for them to take away from your session?

Learn about exciting Postgres extensions and what CoreDB is planning to contribute to the ecosystem

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?

I'm a first timer :)

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres?

Blog about your journey.

 What's your top suggested readings for 2023?  Books, blogs -- from fiction to non-fiction to technical, anything you enjoy?

The Hobbit :)

What do you believe are the major achievements of open source and Postgres over the last decade?

The rise of open source and open core companies is exciting!

Check out the full schedule for Postgres Conference Silicon Valley 2023, and buy your tickets soon!

In support of our theme of "People, Postgres, Data", the Postgres Conference 2019 hosts its 3rd Annual Talent Exchange & Career Fair on Friday, March 22, from 11am - 2pm, in the Metropolitan Ballroom at the Sheraton New York Times Square. Featuring hiring managers and recruiters from several of our Postgres Conference sponsor companies, this event is free for job seekers and open to the public.

Companies represented include:

• 2nd Quadrant
• Amazon
• Credativ
• Cybertec
• DataDog
• DBeaver
• Google
• HighGo
• Microsoft
• Percona
• Pivotal
• TimeScaleDB (440 Labs)

With PostgreSQL winning the title of DBMS of the Year for the second year in a row from DB-Engines, talent with PostgreSQL related skills is in high demand. The Career Fair brings together employers and candidates in one of the hottest career options available today -- Postgres developers and DBAs -- as well as Solution Engineers, Customer Success Managers, Developer Advocates, Global Migration Practice Consultant, and many more!

We will also have Postgres professionals of varied backgrounds volunteering as career mentors from 11 am - 1:30 pm. Be sure to bring copies of your resume to share with employers and for feedback from our mentors.

New for this year -- Stop by the Postgres Conference 2019 Photo Booth on Friday between 11 am – 1pm for a free professional headshot! A professional image can often be a first impression for a hiring manager or recruiter and help you stand out amongst other job applicants.

Looking to increase your Postgres related knowledge and skills? Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2019, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to Postgres Conference 2024, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Baji Shaik is a Sr. Lead Consultant at AWS ProServe, GCC AMER, and is a seasoned expert in SQL/NoSQL databases, specializing in database migration and optimization. With a wealth of experience spanning various technologies, he's authored multiple books on PostgreSQL and actively contributes to the AWS blog community.

Baji will present “Beyond Boundaries: Mastering 2-Level Encryption Migration in PostgreSQL”. Read what Baji has to say about Postgres and why to attend his session:

Why should attendees come to your talk at Postgres Conference 2024? What would you like for them to take away from your session?
Learn about encryption in Oracle, its pros and cons. Discover PostgreSQL's encryption methods. Choose and migrate to the right encryption method without compromising security or performance.

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?
I actively participate in PostgreSQL Conferences to expand my knowledge base and forge valuable connections within the community.

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who is interested in learning and engaging with Postgres and other open source technologies?
My advice would be to start by exploring online resources, joining community forums, and actively participating in relevant conferences and workshops to gain practical experience and network with industry professionals.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?
I envision open-source technologies playing an increasingly vital role across various industries, driving innovation, collaboration, and cost-efficiency while fostering a more inclusive and accessible digital ecosystem.

What considerations should be taken for the adoption and use of Postgres and related open source technologies?
Considerations for adopting and using Postgres and related open-source technologies include evaluating compatibility with existing systems, assessing scalability and performance requirements, ensuring adequate support and expertise, and considering factors like security, community support, and long-term sustainability.

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2024. Learn more about our conference here and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf US 2018, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Les McMonagle is the VP of Security Strategy, at BlueTalon Inc. He will be presenting "Achieving Data Privacy Compliance in Postgres or Greenplum" on Friday, April 20, at 10:50 am. Attend his session to learn  the difference between Data Protection versus Data Access Control – and why you should care, and read what he has to say about PostgreSQL and Greenplum:

Why PostgreSQL?

BlueTalon's Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) technology has been developed to fully support PostgreSQL and Greenplum because these are broadly implemented data analytics platforms used for storing and processing of sensitive or regulated data across industries.    

Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community.

PostgreSQL was one of the first platforms BlueTalon developed an Enforcement Point (EP) for to provide centrally managed, consistently applied fine-grained data access controls, audit trail and accountability for all access to sensitive or regulated data stored in PostgreSQL database platforms. 

What new features of PostgreSQL 10 are you most excited about?

BlueTalon ensures full compatibility with each new release and corresponding new features or functionality for PostgreSQL as part of our standard certification process. 

Why should attendees come to your talk at PostgresConf US 2018? What would you like for them to take away from your session?

To learn about next generation data access controls for relational databases and  other data repository platforms and how this ABAC technology integrates seamlessly with PostgresSQL and other database technologies.

What sessions are you most excited about attending at PostgresConf US 2018?

Any data security related sessions.

What is your favorite aspect of PostgresConf US?

Firsthand contact and interaction with technology thought leaders at global corporations. 

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres?

Consider all aspects of designing and implementing any data analytics platform including data protection and access control.  "Privacy by Design" should be a core component of any requirements gathering and system design process.  Data security is an order of magnitude easier and less expensive to build in than it is to try and bolt on later.   

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2018, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf US 2018, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Tom Limoncelli is the SRE Manager at StackOverflow.com and author of Time Management for System Administrators (O'Reilly). He is co-author of The Practice of System and Network Administration (3rd edition just released) and The Practice of Cloud System Administration.  

Tom will be presenting a half-day training on Monday, April 16 on "Personal Time Management: The Basics for Overloaded People." Read what he has to say about Postgres and why to attend his session:

Why PostgreSQL? What got you into it, and made you stick with it?

The startup I was at in 2003 needed a database. Since we did a lot of work with IP and network addresses, we picked PostgreSQL because it supports those as native types.

Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community. 

I'm new to the greater Postgres community. I've been a system administrator since 1988 and often speak on related topics.

What features should be developed/improved and released in the next major upgrade?

Anything that makes replication and failovers easier and more reliable. 

Why should attendees come to your talk at PostgresConf US 2018? What would you like for them to take away from your session?

Time management: you will gain an additional day out of every week. Radical ideas: you'll learn how modern software ("distributed computing") is radically changing how we build systems and do operations. I'd like to give them hope for the future.

What is your favorite aspect of PostgresConf US?

That it's in my back yard!  I live 10 miles from here!

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres?

Give yourself projects. Try to break things and then see if you can repair them.  You'll learn more from recovering a failed system than anything else.

Bonus Question: You can invite any three living people from anywhere in the world to dinner. Who do you invite and why?

Obama (because I'd like to thank him), Steve Martin (because he has an amazing life story and is super smart), and Jennifer Lawrence (she also has an interesting life story).  I also think that these three people would get along well.

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2018, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf US 2018, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Abbas Butt is a Software Architect at EnterpriseDB, and he will present a half-day training "Deep dive into PostgreSQL Authentication Methods" on Monday, April 16, at 1 pm. Learn more about Abbas and his involvement in the Postgres community:

Why PostgreSQL?

My company's business revolves around PostgreSQL.

Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community.

I have been involved with PostgreSQL for about 10 years. Over the years I have contributed by reporting bugs and developing various FDWs. I have also worked to make PostgreSQL an XA complaint database by using a modified version of pgBouncer. My next plans are to come up with small programming exercises with solutions to accompany this book http://www.interdb.jp/pg/ ("The Internals of PostgreSQL for database administrators and system developers"  by Hironobu Suzuki). This will give the readers hands on experience.

What new features of PostgreSQL 10 are you most excited about?

Declarative table partitioning & query parallelism

What features should be developed/improved and released in the next major upgrade?

Write Scalability and High Availability

Why should attendees come to your talk at PostgresConf US 2018? What would you like for them to take away from your session?

Attendees should come to have great time learning about PostgreSQL authentication methods. After attending the session the attendees will be better placed to decide which authentication scheme should they use and why.

What sessions are you most excited about attending at PostgresConf US 2018?

"Aurora PostgreSQL Tutorial and Extended Deep Dive" and "Know your meme: Develop a webapp using Google Cloud Kubernetes and Cloud SQL"

What is your favorite aspect of PostgresConf US?

Being able to listen and exchange point of views with other community members.

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres?

Read this book : "The Internals of PostgreSQL for database administrators and system developers"  by Hironobu Suzuki.

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2018, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to PostgresConf US 2018, learn more about about featured Platinum Sponsor 2ndQuadrant, including their commitment to partnering with and contributing to the Postgres community, from Simon Riggs, Chief Technology Officer, of 2ndQuadrant and PostgreSQL Major Developer/Committer:

Tell us about your commitment to the PostgreSQL Community.

The 2ndQuadrant vision is to be the bridge between the database needs of enterprise users and open source contributions to PostgreSQL. We have pursued a joint strategy of providing both working code (available now) and later submitting the features into core PostgreSQL. Over the past 15+ years, our team has widely contributed to the growth and development of the PostgreSQL project; partnering with customers to identify bottlenecks and then contribute towards enterprise features that address them in PostgreSQL, benefiting everyone that uses it. Besides contributing code, all members of the 2ndQuadrant team are very active in the community on an individual and local level, often helping to organize PUG events, conferences, and meetups.

Are there any rising stars in the community you’d like to give props to? 

Marco Nenciarini - located in Prato, Italy - has been a long time supporter and contributor of PostgreSQL. He is an active maintainer of PGDG’s APT repository, maintaining builds and binaries for PostgreSQL and associated tools & extensions, while contributing towards process improvement for sane builds. Marco is the lead developer for Barman, a backup manager and disaster recovery tool for enterprises with high business continuity requirements.  He is the current president of IT.PUG in Italy and a part of the organizing committee for PGDay.IT.

What features would you like to see in v11 and v12?

As PostgreSQL matures, so do the features that come with each release. In the next two release we’re most looking forward to improved Partitioning performance, the implementation of the MERGE SQL command, and procedures that allow server-side transactions.

Are there any features in development from 2ndQuadrant that the community should be looking forward to?

2ndQuadrant is working hard on the development of Bi-Directional Replication (BDR3), containing new architectural features and a wide and deep set of features.

In addition, we continuously work on features for scalability, performance, security and robustness.

What is the number one barrier you see to contributing to the Postgres community?

The Postgres community is one of the easiest communities to become a part of. With an open mindset all around and a common goal of growing open source PostgreSQL, the community is very accepting to anyone looking to learn, contribute, and better the Postgres ecosystem as a whole. Between the helpful tools on postgresql.org and the growing community, comprised of seasoned veterans and fresh faces, there is always helpful information to guide you.

What is the best thing about working with the Postgres community?

PostgreSQL is the most popular database when it comes to new adoption. Even existing users of other databases are flocking towards PostgreSQL - and it’s not just to save money. PostgreSQL has been growing year on year and we’re attracting interest from the largest enterprises, as it is fully capable of securely supporting enterprise database systems. 

There is still competition out there, especially with the current fad of developer-focused NoSQL databases. But the community is big enough and strong enough to quickly adapt to changing times and push forwards. The members of the PostgreSQL community are passionate about their work and the growth of the project.

Tell us why you believe people should attend PostgresConf 2018 in April.

Community conferences expand your knowledge in different areas of the technology, describe practical use cases as well as give sneak previews into cutting edge technologies for future versions of PostgreSQL. 

Simon along with Tom Kincaid, General Manager of 2ndQuadrant, presents "Internet of Things with PostgreSQL - Performance & Security" on Friday, April 20, at 8:50 am. Tom also presents "Postgres -- Past, Present and Future" and will discuss the challenges that may be faced by Postgres in the next 5 years on Thursday, April 19, at 3:20 pm. 

Visit the 2ndQuadrant team in the Exhibit Hall in the Newport Grand Ballroom on Wednesday, April 18, and Thursday, April 19.  

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2018, and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to Postgres Conference 2024, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Tracy Jenkins is a Database Solutions Architect with Amazon Web Services. She enjoys working with databases and helping customers architect performant, highly available, and scalable solutions while making recommendations on reliability, cost, and security.

Tracy Jenkins will present PostgreSQL Architecture Considerations for Application Developers. Read what Tracy has to say about Postgres and why to attend their session:

Why should attendees come to your talk at Postgres Conference 2024? What would you like for them to take away from your session?

It's a session to present and discuss beginning your journey into PostgreSQL and discussing some of the database-specific terms.

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?
The community getting together to network and help others working with the engine.

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry-level developer who is interested in learning and engaging with Postgres and other open source technologies?
If you have any questions, ask.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?
I see its use increasing more and more because for PostgreSQL to be an open source engine, it's very powerful and the world is noticing.

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2024. Learn more about our conference here and buy your tickets soon!

As part of the countdown to Postgres Conference 2024, learn more about the engaging content and our speakers for this year in our Speaker Spotlight Series.

Chandra Pathivada is is a Senior Database Specialist Solutions Architect with Amazon Web Services. He works with the AWS RDS team, focusing on Open Source database engines like RDS PostgreSQL, Aurora PostgreSQL, and Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL.

Chandra will present “Why PostgreSQL Isn't Utilizing Indexes: Diagnosing and Solving Performance Issues" and "Behind the Scenes: Demystifying Transaction Isolation in App Development". Read what Chandra has to say about Postgres and why to attend their session:

Why should attendees come to your talk at Postgres Conference 2024? What would you like for them to take away from your session?
This talk dives into the core concepts, shedding light on the real-world implications of different isolation levels on performance and integrity. Through interactive examples and case studies, attendees will learn how to navigate common pitfalls and optimize application performance, balancing concurrency with isolation effectively. Gain the knowledge and best practices necessary to implement error-free database-backed applications, making it an invaluable opportunity for anyone looking to enhance their expertise in database management and application development.

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?
Engage with the PostgreSQL community. This conference offers a rich tapestry of learning, sharing, and networking. It's where boundaries of knowledge expand through collaboration and where every attendee, regardless of expertise, finds value and inspiration.

What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres and other open source technologies?
Start with fundamentals through hands-on practice, engage with the community through forums and meetups, and contribute to projects. Expand your knowledge through tutorials and start building your own projects. Have a mentor and network with professionals specializing in areas of interest.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?
In the next five years, open-source technologies are set to play a pivotal role in innovation, with a growing preference among developers and organizations to initiate their projects or migrate from commercial to open-source solutions. The community-driven nature of these technologies will fuel the addition of new features, enhancing their value and appeal.

Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2024. Learn more about our conference here and buy your tickets soon!