This post is my contribution to the PGSQL Phriday #014 blog post series. Here’s the invitation:

I invite you to share your PostgreSQL Events experiences in your dedicated blog post. Whether you’re a seasoned attendee, a speaker, a trainer, a sponsor, an organizer, or a first-timer, your unique perspective contributes to the canvas of the PostgreSQL community.

Since I didn’t have a lot of time for this one, I decided to make a list of the events I’ve either attended myself, or have on my radar. I hoped others might find the list useful or interesting.

PostgreSQL Events I’ve Attended

I’ve attended three official PostgreSQL events, as well as PostgreSQL sessions at AWS re:Invent 2022 and PostgreSQL User Groups (virtually).

Here are links to those events, and blog posts I wrote about them:

For Upcoming PostgreSQL events, check out: Upcoming Events

Attendees and their jobs and roles

Prior to attending PostgreSQL events, I wondered what the backgrounds were for people that attend. Do they all work as DBAs?

From my experience in conversations and observations, attendees tend to work as:

  • DBAs
  • Database engineers
  • Developer relations, developer advocates, community advocates
  • Engineers that work on database Products
  • Backend engineers for product or services companies, that use PostgreSQL, likely at a higher scale, or with a large fleet of instances

Types of companies

Which companies are represented at these events?

  • Big companies and cloud providers: AWS, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Google, Crunchy Data
  • Timescale, YugabyteDB
  • Startup companies with database or commercial extension products like: Tembo, Neon, Hydra
  • Database services and products: DBTune, OtterTune, Redgate Software
  • Companies that offer expert consulting and products: EDB, PGX

Why go?

If you’re considering attending an event, what are some benefits you might get?

  • Learn how you can better use PostgreSQL in your job
  • Expand your knowledge of companies and products in the PostgreSQL ecosystem
  • Network with folks in the industry at these companies, or who work in the types of roles listed above
  • Learn about internals of PostgreSQL and database systems
  • Learn how you could contribute to PostgreSQL

In-person and virtual events

PostgreSQL events are a mix of in-person and virtual events.

  • Can’t beat in-person events for high bandwidth in-person networking
  • Can’t beat virtual events for accessibility and location independence. Check out events like: Citus Con

Vendor events

PostgreSQL companies offer lots of events throughout the year. Here are some:

Calls for proposals

Try submitting a proposal to a conference! It’s a good learning experience regardless of acceptance.

  • Conferences love to bring in first-time presenters
  • Presentations are a great way to showcase your work
  • Preparing for presentations can help deepen your knowledge and skills, by being forced to organize the information for educational purposes.

PostgreSQL conferences on my radar

PostgreSQL User Groups

Here are some of the PostgreSQL User Group events I’ve been involved with or would like to be in the future:

Non-PostgreSQL conferences on my radar

As a Ruby on Rails and backend web application developer, there are many non-PostgreSQL conferences on my radar.

Here’s a sampling of some of them:

Post-Event Reflections

One section of the PGSQL Invitation asked whether folks had post-event reflections or specific rituals.

I have a couple after I attend events:

  • I take notes during the event, which aren’t organized. Afterwards, I read them and organize them, possibly into a blog post. This helps me gather more context and organize the information.
  • I try to connect with attendees I met in person on social media and LinkedIn shortly after the event, or even during the event. I’ll send a reminder about how we met or what we spoke about, since attendees might be meeting a lot of people.
  • I’ll try and find some topics I want to learn more about. Recently I did that for pg_stat_io following PGConf NYC.

Wrap Up

PostgreSQL events have generally been well run, and have provided opportunities to learn, network, and grow as an engineer.

Thanks!