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.
Malcolm McLean of Apace Systems is a PostgreSQL DBA, Linux admin, Java/PHP developer and according to his bio "a bit of a pedantic perfectionist", with over 12 years of experience with PostgreSQL and somewhat more than that with Linux and development.
Malcolm is presenting "PostgreSQL in a Geographically Distributed Realtime Transactional System" on Thursday, April 19, at 11:20 am. Read what he has to say about Postgres and why to attend his session:
Why PostgreSQL?
My very first job over 13 years ago introduced me to Postgres after having only worked with MySQL at university. Since then, I've been happier with its performance compared to other DB's I've benchmarked as well as with the features that are continuously introduced to keep the database on the forefront. Across 3 companies I have never looked back and never regretted my decision to always use Postgres.
Tell us about your involvement with the greater Postgres community.
I spoke at the first PgConf South Africa last year and I'm now one of the organisers of PostgresConf South Africa 2018.
What new features of PostgreSQL 10 are you most excited about?
Definitely the integrated logical replication without the need of an extension.
What features should be developed/improved and released in the next major upgrade?
It perhaps won't make Postgres 11, but at least by Postgres 12 we should have BDR integrated with the current logical replication capabilities rounded off.
Why should attendees come to your talk at PostgresConf US 2018? What would you like for them to take away from your session?
We had an interesting replication problem to solve. Multi-master replication where data needed to be replicated betweens servers in multiple countries, some with data restrictions, but without replicating data where it didn't need to go. So a sort of conditional sharding with redundancy in each data center.
What sessions are you most excited about attending at PostgresConf US 2018?
The talks on replication (anything to make our lives easier) and security.
What is your favorite aspect of PostgresConf US?
Meeting like-minded people from different backgrounds. And of course, the trip itself. I've done quite a bit of travelling over the years, but I haven't yet been to the US.
What advice would you have for a Computer Science graduate or entry level developer who are interested in learning and engaging with Postgres?
Push yourself to learn. Sitting back doesn't get you very far.
Check out the full schedule for PostgresConf US 2018, and buy your tickets soon!