What does it take to lead a global open source project like Postgres? In Episode 26 of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, we sit down with Bruce Momjian—co-founder and core team member of the PostgreSQL Global Development Group—to explore the art of leadership in a volunteer-run open source community. Bruce shares what “servant leadership” really means; how saying I’m sorry can help make problems go away; and how letting go of who-gets-the-credit can fuel collaboration. We also dive into Bruce’s origin story, from shaping Postgres’s early days to mastering the art of public speaking. Pro tip: if you see a man in a bow tie at a Postgres conference, be sure to say hello—it’s probably Bruce Momjian!Links mentioned in this episode:Open source project website: postgresql.orgWebsite: Bruce MomjianVideo of talk: Building Open Source Teams at FOSDEM 2023Slides: FOSDEM talk on Building Open Source TeamsWikipedia: John C. MaxwellHarry Truman quote: It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the creditThe New Stack: How to Generate AI From a DatabaseEDB Blog: Bruce Momjian’s Insights from PGConf India 2025Conference schedule: PGConf India 2025Book: Why We Sleep by Matthew WalkerVideo of talk: Why Database Teams Need Crew Resource Management by Chris TraversWikipedia: Anna Karenina principleTalking Postgres podcast: Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert HaasDiscord invite: PostgreSQL Hacking serverMailing lists: PostgreSQL mailing listsConference: PostgreSQL Conference Nepal 2025 happening May 5-6Conference: PostgreSQL Conference Germany 2025 on May 8-9Conference: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2025 on Jun 10-12Upcoming POSETTE 2025 keynote: Databases in the AI Trenches by Bruce Momjian Conference: SouthEast | LinuxFest on Jun 13-15 in Charlotte NC Conference: Swiss PGDay 2025 happening Jun 26-27 Conference: PGDay Austria 2025 happening in Vienna on Sep 4Conference: PGDay UK 2025 happening in London on Sep 9Conference: PGDay Lowlands 2025 happening in Rotterdam on Sep 12Video from PGConf.dev 2024: Making PostgreSQL Hacking More InclusiveTalking Postgres podcast: How I got started as a developer (& in Postgres) with David RowleyWikipedia: O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON)Calendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep27 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed May 07 with guest Peter Farkas. The topic: “How I got started with FerretDB (& why we chose Postgres)”
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Why Python developers just use Postgres with Dawn Wages
When I found out that Django developer and Python Software Foundation chair Dawn Wages has a chapter in her upcoming Domain-Driven Django book called “Just Use Postgres”, I knew we had to get her on the show. In this episode of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, Dawn breaks down why so many Python and Django developers have such an affinity for Postgres. And we dive into the Djangonaut Space mentoring program (where contributors launch), learn why “free as in puppies” beats “free as in cake” for open source vibes, and dig into why Python is the second-best language for everything.Links mentioned in this episode:Project page: psycopgDocumentation: Psycopg 3 – PostgreSQL database adapter for PythonProject page: PostgreSQL open source projectGit repo: code for PostgreSQL.org websiteConference: PyCon US 2025, happening May 14-22 in PittsburghConference: PGConf.dev 2025 Schedule, happening May 13-16 in Montreal CanadaConference: Prague PostgreSQL Developer Day 2025 (P2D2) Schedule, which took place Jan 28-29Wikipedia page: Model-view-controller software design patternBook: Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0, affectionately called “the four heads book”Podcast episode: Working in Public with Simon Willison & Marco SlotBlog: Simon Willison’s TILs, aka Things I’ve learnedSimon Willison’s Weblog: Here’s how I use LLMs to help me write codeSimon Willison’s Weblog: How I make annotated presentationsSurvey: Python Developers Survey 2023 ResultsPython Docs: What’s new in Python 3.14Mentorship program: Djangonaut SpaceMentorship program: Media & Talks about Djangonaut SpacePodcast episode: Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert HaasSlides: PGConf EU 2024 talk by Claire Giordano about Contributions to Postgres, including maps showing how global the Postgres project isVideo of POSETTE 2024 talk by Paolo Melchiorre: Semantic search with Django, PostgreSQL, & pgvectorVideo of Citus Con 2023 talk: Maps with Django (and PostGIS), by Paolo MelchiorreVideo of Citus Con 2022 talk: Django with PostgreSQL superpowers, by Paolo MelchiorreConference: DjangoCon Africa 2025, happening August 11-15 in Tanzania Calendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep26 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Apr 02, 2025 with guest Bruce Momjian, to talk about Open Source Leadership
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1:00:49
Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert Haas
Nobody works on an open-source project forever—eventually, people move on. So of course today's Postgres contributors want to see more developers join the project, pick up the torch, and continue to make Postgres amazing. Hence the importance of mentorship. In this episode of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, PostgreSQL major contributor and committer Robert Haas shares how he learned the ropes in Postgres by channeling “what would Tom Lane do” during patch reviews; why he launched the new PostgreSQL Hackers Mentoring program; and the intellectually stimulating care and feeding it takes to make Postgres thrive.Links mentioned in this episode:Podcast episode: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie Plageman Slide: PGConf EU 2024 talk by Claire Giordano about Contributions to Postgres, including new mentoring programBlog post: New Mentoring Program for Code Contributors in Postgres, by Robert HaasBlog post: Postgres Mentoring Program Updates, by Robert Haas Discord invite for PostgreSQL Hacker Mentoring server: https://discord.gg/bx2G9KWyrYBio: Margo Seltzer, the PGConf.dev 2024 keynote speakerVideo: PGConf.dev 2024 panel discussion about Making PostgreSQL Hacking More Inclusive with Amit Langote, Masahiko Sawada, Melanie Plageman, & Robert HaasMailing list: PostgreSQL HackersUpcoming Conference: PGConf.dev 2025, the annual PostgreSQL Development Conference happening in Montreal Canada on May 13-16, 2025Blog: Postgres committer Tomas Vondra’s Blog - Look for [PATCH IDEA] Video of Talk: CMUDB Database talk about PostgreSQL Optimizer Methodology, by Robert HaasPodcast episode: How I got started as a developer & in Postgres with David RowleyCalendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep25 of Talking Postgres podcast to happen on Wed Mar 12, 2025 with guest Dawn Wages of the Python developer community
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1:26:23
How I got started as a developer & in Postgres with Daniel Gustafsson
March 5th 2005 at 3 PM in Copenhagen. That’s the exact time and place Daniel Gustafsson’s career took an unexpected turn, pivoting from operating systems to databases. At LinuxForum that day, Daniel had planned to meet up with the FreeBSD community, but a chance session about Postgres by Bruce Momjian completely blew his mind. By the time Daniel was on the train back to Malmö, he was already compiling Postgres. In this episode of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, Postgres major contributor and committer Daniel Gustafsson of Microsoft walks us through how he got his start as a developer and in Postgres—starting with his earliest computing memories of a hulking steel box in his family’s living room in Sweden. Also part of Daniel’s story: guitar tuning software. And curl!Links mentioned in this episode:Wikipedia: ABC 80Wikipedia: mSQLWikipedia: PCBoard BBS (bulletin board system) applicationConference back in 2010: CHAR(10) – Clustering, HA and Replication ConferenceWikipedia: IRIX operating systemInternet Archive Wayback Machine link: LinuxForum Conference Agenda from March 5, 2005 with Bruce Momjian’s 3:00pm talk about Postgres Podcast: Solving every data problem in SQL with Dimitri Fontaine & Vik FearingConference: Nordic PGDay 2025 to happen Mar 18th in CopenhagenConference: All Things Open 2025 to happen Oct 12-14 in Raleigh NCConference: PGConf.dev 2025 to happen May 13-16 in Montreal, CanadaCFP: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2025 CFP open until Feb 9 2025 (it’s a virtual event)Slides from PGConfEU 2024 Talk: What’s in a Postgres major release? An analysis of contributions in v17 timeframeVideo of PGConf EU 2024 Talk: Analysis of contributions in the v17 timeframe, by Claire GiordanoBook recommendation: The Dragon Book, a.k.a. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and ToolsBook recommendation: The Purple Book (or, Wizard Book), a.k.a. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)Book recommendation: The Practice of Programming by Kernighan & PikeCalendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep24 of Talking Postgres podcast to happen on Wed Feb 05, 2025 with guest Robert Haas
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1:22:31
Leading engineering for Postgres on Azure with Affan Dar
What’s it like to lead Postgres engineering at a cloud giant like Microsoft Azure? In this episode of Talking Postgres, host Claire Giordano chats with Affan Dar, VP of Engineering for Postgres at Microsoft. Affan’s team is behind the Azure Database for PostgreSQL managed service and also contributes extensively to the upstream Postgres open-source project. Affan walks us through his career journey—from his first job as an embedded systems engineer, to navigating the shift between engineering and management, to leading one of the largest Postgres engineering teams in the world. He shares the strategy behind Microsoft’s investments into Postgres, explores how massive cloud fleets are influencing the future of Postgres, and shares what keeps him up at night.Links mentioned in this episode:Docs: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible ServerGitHub repo for Durable Task Framework, the first open source project Affan worked onGitHub repo for pgvector open source extension to PostgresDocs: Elastic cluster feature in Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server, based on CitusGitHub repo for Citus open sourceBlog post: Postgres horizontal scaling with elastic clusters on Azure Database for PostgreSQL, by Adam WølkGitHub repo for DiskANN open sourceDocs: How to enable and use the DiskANN index for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible ServerBlog post: Think of language models like ChatGPT as a “calculator for words” by Simon WillisonBlog post: What’s new with Postgres at Microsoft (updated 2x/year typically)Video of Talk at Microsoft Ignite: Improving accuracy of GenAI apps with Azure Database for PostgreSQL by Maxim Lukiyanov (Microsoft), Jay Yang (UBS), & Orhun Oezbek (UBS)CFP: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2025 CFP open until Feb 9 2025Calendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep23 of Talking Postgres podcast to happen on Wed Jan 15, 2025 with guest Daniel Gustafsson
Talking Postgres is a podcast for developers who love Postgres. Guests join Claire Giordano each month to discuss the human side of PostgreSQL, databases, and open source. With amazing guests such as Boriss Mejías, Melanie Plageman, Tom Lane, Simon Willison, Robert Haas, and Andres Freund, Talking Postgres is guaranteed to get you thinking. Recorded live on Discord by the Postgres team at Microsoft, you can subscribe to our calendar to join us live on the parallel text chat (which is quite fun!): https://aka.ms/TalkingPostgres-cal
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