Debra Cerda Blog Posts

Call for Speakers: Join Us at Postgres Conference Seattle 2024!

We are excited to announce that the Postgres Conference Seattle 2024 is accepting speaker submissions! This is your chance to share your knowledge, insights, and experiences with the global PostgreSQL community in one of the world’s most innovative tech hubs. Whether you're a seasoned PostgreSQL expert or have unique insights on emerging trends, this is the perfect stage to amplify your voice and make an impact.

Why Speak at Postgres Conference: Seattle

As the largest PostgreSQL gathering in the U.S., Postgres Conference: Seattle 2024 brings together users, developers, DBAs, and thought leaders from diverse industries including FinTech, HealthTech, EdTech, and more! Here’s why you should consider submitting a proposal:

  1. Expand Your Reach: Presenting at the conference will allow you to connect with hundreds of like-minded professionals, influencers, and companies shaping the future of data management.
  2. Share Your Expertise: Whether you're a PostgreSQL guru or a curious learner with unique insights, your contribution can help others grow in their own Postgres journey.
  3. Professional Recognition: Gain visibility and recognition within the Postgres community and broader tech industry. Being a speaker enhances your profile and can open doors for future collaborations, partnerships, or even job opportunities.
  4. Contribute to the PostgreSQL Ecosystem: PostgreSQL continues to evolve rapidly. By sharing your experiences, you contribute to the collective growth and innovation of this incredible open-source database system.

Tracks for Every Interest

We’re looking for speakers across various areas of expertise. If you work in development, operations, or the essential aspects of PostgreSQL usage, we want to hear from you! Here’s a quick overview of our three main tracks:

Development (Dev) Track

Do you have cutting-edge insights on PostgreSQL development? This track is for talks focused on building, optimizing, and scaling applications using PostgreSQL. Some of the topics you could cover include:

  • Query optimization and performance tuning
  • Building and deploying PostgreSQL-based applications
  • Best practices in database schema design
  • Case studies of innovative solutions using PostgreSQL

Whether you're diving into PL/pgSQL, extending Postgres with custom functions, or exploring advanced indexing techniques, this is the perfect platform to share your expertise with fellow developers.

Operations (Ops) Track

If you’re working behind the scenes, ensuring that PostgreSQL environments are secure, scalable, and high-performing, the Ops track is for you. This track seeks submissions from database administrators, SREs, DevOps engineers, and anyone involved in the operational side of PostgreSQL, such as:

  • Scaling PostgreSQL for high-traffic applications
  • Backup and recovery strategies
  • Monitoring and observability tools
  • Managing multi-region or cloud-based Postgres instances

Share your experience on how to keep PostgreSQL running smoothly, even under the most demanding conditions.

Essentials Track

The Essentials track is perfect for those who want to speak about the core foundational aspects of PostgreSQL. It’s an ideal opportunity to present content geared toward people who are new to PostgreSQL or seeking to deepen their understanding of its key concepts. Suggested topics might include:

  • Introduction to PostgreSQL for beginners
  • SQL best practices and optimization
  • Setting up a robust PostgreSQL environment
  • Security fundamentals for database management

This track encourages first-time speakers and practitioners who want to help others navigate the essentials of working with PostgreSQL.

How to Submit Your Proposal

Submitting a proposal is easy! Simply prepare an abstract that describes your talk, its relevance to the conference tracks, and what attendees will take away from it. We encourage submissions from individuals of all backgrounds and levels of experience. Diversity of thought and experience enriches the conversation, and we welcome fresh perspectives.

Create a user account and submit your abstract, title, and description for review consideration.

Take this opportunity to shine as a thought leader in the Postgres world. Share your journey, inspire innovation, and connect with a vibrant community that’s as passionate about Postgres as you are. Submit your proposal today and join us in Seattle for an unforgettable experience!

Important Dates:

Submission Deadline: Monday, September 30th, midnight Pacific Time/ 3 am ET

Event Dates: November 6 - 7, 2024

Ready to Submit?

To submit your proposal and find more details, head to our submission page. Questions can be directed to organizers@postgresconf.org. We look forward to seeing you in Seattle!

We can’t wait to hear from you. Let’s shape the future of Postgres together!

Debra Cerda     September 26, 2024     seattle postgres open source conference

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

Relevant Logic President/CEO Guyren Howe is a web developer, trainer, database expert, technical writer, and more specializing in PostgreSQL, Flutter, and Rails. Guyren will present “Postgres’s Type System” at Postgres Conference 2024. Read what Guyren 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 the important details of Postgres's type system: the built-in types, extension types, domains, arrays and custom types.

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?

My talk :)

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?

Follow the pgsql-general list. Learn relational theory. Don't listen to the database haters.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?

I foresee an open source boom as AI technologies can work with open source much better than closed.

 

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

 

Pavan Deolasse is a PostgreSQL consultant for 2ndQuadrant, one of our Platinum Sponsors for PostgresConf US 2018. Learn more about Pavan in this Community Profile:

Pavan Deolasee is a contributor to the development of PostgreSQL and related technologies. He holds a Masters of Technology in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and has several publications to his credit.

Pavan was introduced to PostgreSQL in the year 2006 when he started working for a PostgreSQL company. Hacking PostgreSQL was a completely new experience, but by accepting help from the community -- especially Simon Riggs, his mentor -- he began working through the code and was soon working on a very important project (Heap-Only-Tuple aka HOT). It was a very complicated piece of work, yet one of the landmark features in PostgreSQL and to this day remains one of his most important contributions to the project. Pavan has since contributed several patches to PostgreSQL. 

HOT was committed to PostgreSQL in 2008 and Pavan has continued to stay fully engaged with the project. In 2009/2010, alongside other colleagues, Pavan started work on Postgres-XC, a distributed, shared-nothing, clustering solution based on PostgreSQL. He was involved in designing the high-level architecture of the solution, and later wrote many important pieces of the code such as the GTM, the GTM Proxy, the 2PC transaction controller at the coordinator, changes required to guarantee global consistency of the data, and many distributed planner and executor pieces.

When Postgres-XL, a fork of Postgres-XC, was released to the public in 2014, Pavan once again became involved with the project and has been leading the development of Postgres-XL ever since. 

Pavan joined 2ndQuadrant not long after in April 2015, and once again started working with long time colleagues and friends; he and 2ndQuadrant have continued to actively work on the development of Postgres-XL. The focus area of development has been stability and performance of the product while keeping the fork as close to open source PostgreSQL as possible. The most recent release (Postgres-XL 10) supports intra-datanode query parallelism, thus taking distributed query processing to the next level.

In 2013, Pavan and two of his colleagues started the India PostgreSQL User Group. They started conducting small meet-ups, in order to promote the technology in India and bring the local community together. These small gatherings have now expanded with a membership of over 600 members, and into a full scale conference: PGConf India, Asia's largest PostgreSQL conference with more than 250 people in attendance each day in 2018. 

As part of the 2ndQuadrant team of PostgreSQL developers, Pavan continues to work on many interesting new features. He is an active part of the production support team and also has the opportunity to investigate interesting customer problems, often leading to important and critical bug fixes to the open source project.

Pavan had this to say about his involvement with the project:

“I love PostgreSQL and the PostgreSQL community, so you will continue to see me around.”

 

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!

Debra Cerda     April 12, 2023     speaker spotlight postgres

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.

Robert Bernier is senior PostgreSQL consultant at Percona.

Robert will present Working With The Citus Extension. Read what Robert 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?
For people who have heard about Citus but know nothing about it.
What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?
Meeting my peers
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?
Data eats the world. Focus on learning about your data and how it's used.
How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?
PostgreSQL is a General Purpose Management System. It will come to dominate the DBMS world.
What considerations should be taken for the adoption and use of Postgres and related open source technologies?
Three talents:
- know your SQL
- know your OS (linux)
- know a programming language

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

Debra Cerda     April 18, 2024     speaker spotlight

The month of January is just about over and we are coming up on the end of our Early Bird registration window for PostgresConf US 2018, which takes place in Jersey City, New Jersey from April 16th to April 20st at The Westin Jersey City Newport.

You have until tomorrow to purchase your tickets for $200 off for the largest PostgreSQL conference in the world. Early Bird tickets are on sale here through January 31.

We are excited to announce that we received over 170 proposals for PostgresConf US 2018, with an impressive range of high quality content and speakers. On April 16th and 17th, we are pleased to offer a choice of 15 different training sessions so you are sure to have the chance to dig deep into a topic that interests you. Some of our training classes are:

  • Mastering PostgreSQL Administration
  • Tutorial on Modern PostgreSQL High Availability
  • Deep Dive into PostgreSQL Authentication Methods
  • Digging into Advanced SQL
  • The postgresql.conf from A-Z: Includes Postgres Performance and Maintenance

For a complete list, check out the events page for all of our training classes. 

Also during PostgresConf, you will also have an opportunity to meet our great sponsors, including:

  • Diamond: Amazon Web Services, Pivotal
  • Platinum: Compose, OpenSCG, 2ndQuadrant, Microsoft
  • Gold: Cybertec, JetBrains, Citus Data, EnterpriseDB, Linode, Timescale, Cockroach Labs

At the Westin Jersey City Newport, we have negotiated a discounted conference room rate of $260/night + applicable taxes for attendees. Be sure to book prior to March 26, 2018 - the conference rate is not guaranteed after this date. Rooms may be booked via our dedicated Westin booking page, or via telephone (888) 627-7148. If booking via telephone please mention "PostgresConf US 2018" to receive the group rate.

For more information, please visit the PostgresConf US 2018 website

Stay tuned for our presentation and breakout sessions announcement. We look forward to seeing you in April!

P.S. Looking for a discount code? Check your local Postgres User Group mailing list.

Debra Cerda     January 30, 2018     postgres

The Postgres Conference 2025 is set to take place in Orlando, Florida, from March 18 to 21, 2025. This year's conference features an expanded lineup of tracks, including the Dev Track, which is tailored for developers seeking to deepen their expertise in PostgreSQL. This track offers sessions to enhance your development skills, explore new tools, and provide practical insights into PostgreSQL's capabilities.

What to Expect

The Dev Track is curated to address the diverse needs of developers working with PostgreSQL. Attendees can look forward to:

  • In-Depth Tutorials: Hands-on sessions that delve into advanced PostgreSQL features and development practices.
  • Expert-Led Workshops: Opportunities to learn from seasoned professionals about optimizing performance, implementing machine learning, and more.
  • Cutting-Edge Topics: Discussions on the latest tools, extensions, and methodologies in the PostgreSQL ecosystem.

Session Highlights

Here are some standout sessions in the Dev Track:

  • A Practical Guide to Set-Based Queries (paid training)

    • Speaker: Aaron Cutshall
    • Date & Time: March 18, 2025, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
    • Description: This workshop addresses performance issues arising from procedural code in PostgreSQL. Aaron will guide participants through transforming procedural logic into efficient set-based queries, enhancing database performance.

  • Machine Learning using PostgreSQL (paid training)

    • Speaker: Abbas Butt
    • Date & Time: March 18, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
    • Description: Abbas will introduce participants to implementing machine learning algorithms directly within PostgreSQL 15.x using Apache MADlib 2.1.0 installed on Ubuntu 22.04. The session covers practical applications of predictive analytics, enabling developers to harness the power of ML in their databases.

  • From MongoDB to Postgres: Building an Open Source Standard for Document Databases
    • Speaker: Peter Farkas
    • Date & Time: March 19, 2025, 4:00 - 4:20 PM
    • Description: This session reviews the current state of document databases, and demonstrates how Postgres handles MongoDB workloads with ease.

For a comprehensive view of all sessions and to plan your itinerary, visit the official conference schedule.

Why Attend?

Participating in the Dev Track at Postgres Conference 2025 offers numerous benefits:

  • Skill Enhancement: Gain practical knowledge and hands-on experience with PostgreSQL's advanced features.
  • Networking Opportunities: Connect with fellow developers, industry experts, and thought leaders.
  • Stay Current: Keep abreast of the latest developments, tools, and best practices in the PostgreSQL community.

Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your PostgreSQL development skills. Register now and join us in Orlando for an enriching experience.

Debra Cerda     March 06, 2025

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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.

NEXTGRES founder Jonah Harris is a developer with expertise in database internals, high-performance systems, and near-real-time machine learning optimizations. Recognized for contributions to Oracle Database and PostgreSQL, with leadership roles at MariaDB, The Meet Group, and EnterpriseDB.

Jonah Harris will present The Future of MySQL is Postgres.  Read what Jonah 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?

Attendees will leave this session understanding how PostgreSQL offers superior performance, reliability, and a richer set of features for modern application development over MySQL, and how this extension simplifies and accelerates the migration process, ensuring transparent compatibility. 

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?

My favorite aspect of Postgres conferences is the collaborative spirit, where developers, administrators, and enthusiasts come together to share their knowledge and solve real-world challenges.

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?

I advise diving into hands-on projects and contributing to the OSS communities with an open mind; this offers invaluable experience and broad networking opportunities within open source communities, specifically PostgreSQL.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?

I see open source technologies becoming even more integral to innovation, driving collaboration and accessibility in emerging fields as well as traditional industries.

What considerations should be taken for the adoption and use of Postgres and related open source technologies? 

I always consider matching a technology's strengths to a project's needs. Whether it's Postgres or another OSS technology, evaluate it for its full capabilities and best fit first. Once those capabilities and fit are evaluated, assess the organization's ability to manage it.

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.

Shayon Sanyal is a Principal PostgreSQL Specialist at Amazon Aurora, with over 15 years experience, and crafts resilient applications, leveraging PostgreSQL's advanced features.

Shayon will present Enhancing OLTP Systems with pgvector: Best Practices in Database Design. Read what Shayon 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?
The integration of pgvector into existing Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems represents a significant advancement in leveraging vector search capabilities within traditional database environments. This presentation is designed to educate database professionals on the thoughtful integration of pgvector into OLTP applications powered by PostgreSQL, ensuring enhanced functionalities without compromising the core transactional integrity and performance. Attendees will learn how to adopt pgvector to unlock new application features while maintaining reliability, performance and scalability of their PostgreSQL databases. The presentation provides a roadmap for practical pgvector integration regardless of the hosting environment.

What is your favorite aspect of Postgres Conference?
For me, the most amazing aspect of the Postgres Conference is the opportunity to learn from and engage with some of the most brilliant minds in the PostgreSQL ecosystem. The lineup of speakers and contributors is always exceptional, offering invaluable insights and perspectives that can shape the future of this powerful database management system. The depth and breadth of technical discussions from advanced database internals and performance optimizations to cutting-edge features and real-world use cases, the conference provides a platform for exploring the full potential of PostgreSQL. It's a true feast for those who crave technical excellence.

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?
My advice would be to dive in headfirst and immerse yourself in the open source community. Start by exploring the official documentation and resources provided by the PostgreSQL project. Don't be afraid to ask questions on forums, mailing lists, or community channels – you'll be amazed at how welcoming and supportive the community is, especially towards those eager to learn. Attend local meetups or online events focused on PostgreSQL and open source technologies. These are excellent platforms for networking, learning from experienced professionals, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices.

How do you see the use of open source technologies evolving over the next five years?
Increased adoption across industries: Open source technologies have already gained widespread acceptance in the tech industry, but I expect their adoption to accelerate across various other sectors, such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and government. As organizations recognize the benefits of open source, including cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and community-driven innovation, they will be more inclined to embrace these technologies in their mission-critical systems.
What considerations should be taken for the adoption and use of Postgres and related open source technologies?
If I had to pick 2 then - 1/ Community Support and Documentation: Evaluate the size and activity level of the community surrounding the open source project. A vibrant and engaged community is often a good indicator of the project's long-term sustainability and the availability of support resources, such as documentation, forums, and mailing lists. and 2/ Scalability and Performance: Thoroughly assess the scalability and performance capabilities of the open source technologies you intend to use, especially if you anticipate handling large volumes of data or high-traffic workloads. Conduct performance testing and benchmarking to ensure that the technologies meet your specific requirements. Then there are other considerations such as security and compliance, integration and interoperability etc.


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

Debra Cerda     April 16, 2024     speaker spotlight