How I got started in Postgres with Magnus Hagander

Magnus Hagander’s lucky break with Postgres: getting to have his job be his hobby, and his hobby be his job. In Episode 45 of Talking Postgres, Magnus—PostgreSQL committer, core team member, chair of PostgreSQL Europe, and longtime PGConf.EU organizer—walks Claire through how he got started in Postgres in the late 90s. We dig into porting the Postgres database server to Windows across three time zones, being told the project was doomed unless it moved to SourceForge (ha!), and why it’s harder to become a Postgres committer today. Of course we talk about the conferences he helps run: PGConf.EU, Nordic PGDay, and FOSDEM PGDay 2027. Plus: his first patch (one line, and it doesn’t carry his name) and why you shouldn’t have an AI agent write your patch. Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres podcast Ep20: How I got started as a developer (& in Postgres) with Tom LaneTalking Postgres podcast Ep19: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie PlagemanLinks mentioned in this episode:Event: PostgreSQL Anniversary Summit, in Toronto on 8-9 Jul 2006PGConf.dev 2025 talk: postgresql.org: The hidden parts, by Magnus HaganderFOSDEM PGDay 2026 talk slide: Who serves on the Postgres sysadmin team, by Claire GiordanoBoard of Directors: PostgreSQL Europe non-profitKeynote at the first POSETTE (then called Citus Con): PostgreSQL—more relevant than ever, by Magnus HaganderPostgreSQL mailing list: Tom Lane’s 2006 email on the name PostgreSQLDiscord: PostgreSQL Development DiscordConference: PGConf.EU 2026 in ValenciaTwo days this time: FOSDEM PGDay 2027, on 28 & 29 Jan 2027Conference: FOSDEM 2027 in Brussels, on 30 & 31 Jan 2027Conference: Nordic PGDay 2027 in Stockholm, on 16 Mar 2027Conference: PGConf.dev 2027 in Montréal, on 11-14 May 2027Conference: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2027, happening 30 & 31 Mar 2027Conference: SCaLE 24x in Pasadena, happening 1-4 Apr 2027In this episode, we covered:00:00 Intro & music03:13 The internet showed up09:36 A one-line patch so Postgres would compile on Linux12:53 Porting Postgres to Windows across 3 continents18:32 PostgreSQL Europe was founded at FOSDEM25:06 If that's our biggest mistake, we're doing fine28:47 First Nordic PGDay: booked for 50, got 10033:11 Trying a smaller Nordic event in Gothenburg38:31 Self-hosting Postgres infrastructure47:19 Battling AI agents that ignore robots.txt50:25 From a bar in a city wall to 750 attendees56:26 Announcing the next PGConf.EU location58:22 The lucky break: when my hobby became my job1:00:24 What keeps Magnus coming back to Postgres1:02:26 It’s harder to become a committer today1:09:15 Don't just have an AI agent write your patch

Who knew an aptitude test could recommend a career as a DBA—and get it right? In Episode 44 of Talking Postgres, PostgreSQL significant contributor Karen Jex walks Claire through her path from Oracle DBA to Postgres consultant, solution architect, and now senior software engineer at Snowflake. My favorite bits: a project switched to Postgres when nobody knew how to install it, faking it as the Postgres expert, and the culture shock of building your own HA and backups. Plus: the warm welcome at PGConf EU 2019 that pulled Karen into the Postgres community; the new Buddy Program at PGConf EU 2026; and moving to the French Alps for the love of mountain biking.Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres podcast Ep39: From MemSQL to HorizonDB, an engineer's journey with Adam ProutTalking Postgres podcast Ep42: How AI is changing software development with Simon WillisonLinks mentioned in this episode:Conference: PGConf.EU 2026 in Valencia on 20-23 OctSave the date for: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2027, happening 30 & 31 March 2027Two days this time: FOSDEM PGDay 2027, happening 28 & 29 Jan 2027Conference: PGConf.dev 2027 in MontréalConference: PG Day FranceConference: PGConf India 2027, on 2-5 March 2027Conference: EuroPython 2026PGConf.EU conference talk: Tuning Postgres for Analytics, by Karen JexDjangoCon Europe 2024 keynote: When I Grow Up I Want to be a Database Administrator, by Karen JexPOSETTE speaker page: Karen Jex, with videos of her talksPGConf.EU 2023 talk: Elephant in a nutshell - Navigating the Postgres community 101, by Valeria KaplanFOSDEM 2020 talk slides: Fibonacci Spirals and 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code, by Claire GiordanoPostgreSQL.org: Contributor ProfilesPostgreSQL Europe: PostgreSQL Europe boardPostgreSQL docs: PostgreSQL 19 release notesVoice dictation: Wispr FlowVoice dictation: FluidVoiceIn this episode, we covered:00:00 Intro & music01:55 Becoming a DBA completely by accident05:46 "You're the database expert. You can figure it out."12:37 Leaving Oracle, where everything comes bundled17:23 From DBA to helping other DBAs21:48 The PGDay France meeting that opened up the community28:02 Why Django developers love Postgres34:36 Stepping back to be close to home43:54 "When I grow up, I want to be a DBA," said no one ever51:42 How much should you delegate to AI agents?59:22 Thirty five buddy pairings at PGConf EU

How does a fix for psql tab completion turn into 25 years of contributing to Postgres? In Episode 43 of Talking Postgres, Peter Eisentraut—PostgreSQL committer, core team member, SQL standards contributor, and Chief Architect of Database Servers at EDB—joins Claire to trace that journey. We dig into how scratch-your-own-itch development drew him in, why “the things you do, people welcome them” kept him coming back, and how Postgres changed as it grew from a small database community into a massive ecosystem where, from the Postgres mailing list perspective, “most of the user base is silent.” Plus: what it feels like when code you commit goes straight to everybody who uses Postgres, and the implications of the EU Cyber Resilience Act.Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres podcast Ep24: Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert HaasTalking Postgres podcast Ep26: Open Source Leadership with Bruce MomjianTalking Postgres podcast Ep32: The Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things with Boriss MejíasLinks mentioned in this episode:Conference: FOSDEM 2027LinkedIn: FOSDEM PGDay 2027 announcementConference: Prague PostgreSQL Developers Day (P2D2)Conference: PGDay Lowlands 2026 (the “friendliest” conference)Conference: PGConf EU 2026 in Valencia on 20-23 OctPGConfEU Conference talk: What does the EU Cyber Resilience Act mean for PostgreSQL and its communityWikipedia: EU Cyber Resilience ActPGConf.dev on LinkedIn: PGConf.dev accountPGConf.dev conference talk: Committer Review: An Exercise in Paranoia, by Robert HaasPostgreSQL.org: CommittersPostgreSQL mailing list: Postgres 19 release management teamBlog: Peter Eisentraut BlogBlog post: Where are all the PostgreSQL users, by Peter Eisentraut PGCA non-profit: PostgreSQL Community AssociationBrett Cannon at PyCon 2014: I came for the language but I stayed for the community Planet PostgreSQL: Blog aggregation feedIn this episode, we covered:00:00 Intro & music02:14 Tinkering with the Commodore 64 07:57 The itch that became psql tab completion15:43 Had to make opportunities23:05 From posting at night to posting during the day24:40 Why he stopped committing in the afternoon28:04 On the ground floor of something that grew30:34 What the Postgres core team actually does31:47 Borrowing ideas from other OSS projects36:51 Bringing Postgres into the SQL standards process38:40 Getting to hang out with database nerds42:01 Mentoring Postgres contributors50:56 Making time for Postgres conferences53:35 What the Cyber Resilience Act means for Postgres57:36 Where are all the Postgres users?1:07:00 Becoming a committer early on in Postgres1:16:22 Contributing to Postgres isn't just writing code1:19:40 Why FOSDEM is still his favorite1:22:15 Finding familiar problems in a compiler devroom1:26:14 Shout-out to the Planet Postgres feed

What’s your gold standard for deciding whether AI-written code is ready for production? In Episode 42 of Talking Postgres, Simon Willison—creator of Datasette, co-creator of Django, and prolific open-source developer—joins Claire to share how AI is changing the way he builds software today. We dig into why his test for shipping AI-generated code is “Could I explain this to somebody else?”, how engineering management skills can be surprisingly useful when managing AI agents, and how the bottleneck is no longer writing code but understanding it. Also: personal credibility, deep research, the Winchester Mystery House, slop proxies, and Simon’s observation that “Features are cheap. That doesn’t mean you should build them all.”Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres podcast Ep 30: AI for data engineers with Simon Willison Links mentioned in this episode:Blog: Simon Willison’s BlogProject page: Datasette, for finding stories in dataGitHub repo: sqlite-utilsBlog post: Release of alchemy-utils 0.1a0 (featuring Postgres & DuckDB)Blog post: There are no lossless transformations of natural-language text, by Sophie AlpertPodcast episode: The Open Weight Revolution with Simon Willison, on Oxide and FriendsPodcast episode: An AI state of the union, on Lenny’s Podcast Wikipedia: Winchester Mystery HouseIdea in Mythical Man-Month: Conceptual integrityBlog post: SQLite compressed text-history prototypes, by Simon WillisonTools: Simon’s miscellaneous tools repoIn this episode, we covered:00:00 Intro & music04:00 A week of work before breakfast09:12 Red-green TDD makes agents exercise every line14:42 A million lines mean nothing if you don’t understand it18:28 Finding low-hanging fruit among open PRs & issues22:07 Getting work done while walking the dog23:01 Gold standard: “Could I explain this to somebody else?”28:27 Slop proxies add no value at all30:49 Aggressive nitpicking reviews35:01 Everything in software engineering is about trade-offs41:16 Racoon heist game is only fun for 1 minute 15 seconds43:46 New Year’s resolution to be more ambitious48:11 You have to learn to throw things away51:57 Features are cheap. That doesn’t mean you should build them all1:00:45 Engineering management skills are so useful1:04:44 QA specialists should be having a great time1:07:53 Writing is thinking, don’t outsource it1:08:23 Skill atrophy is a choice you make1:10:07 I believe in people who are motivated1:11:55 Systems are not set up to deal with this volume1:18:48 Research agents stopped being absolute garbage1:21:49 The whole point of the “human in the loop”1:26:10 Dream: I want there to be more small businesses

What happens when a database engineer spends 13 years on SQL Server and then starts working on Postgres? In Episode 41 of Talking Postgres, Distinguished Engineer Panagiotis “Panos” Antonopoulos of Microsoft joins Claire to share what surprised him most about making that transition. We explore why Postgres felt familiar from the start—and what shocked Panos about the clean and lean Postgres codebase. We also dig into how public mailing lists and AI can help explain why design decisions were made, why more people are asking “why not Postgres?”, and the shared-storage architecture behind Azure HorizonDB.Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres Ep 39: From MemSQL to HorizonDB, an engineer's journey with Adam ProutTalking Postgres Ep 38: How I went from Oracle to Postgres (with a big NoSQL detour) with Gwen ShapiraTalking Postgres Ep 40: How I got started running a Postgres user group with Jeremy SchneiderLinks mentioned in this episode:SIGMOD: ACM SIGMOD-PODS Conference 2027  CMUDB talk: HorizonDB: Co-Designing Postgres and Azure for Cloud-Native OLTP, by Adam ProutPostgreSQL mailing list: pgsql-hackersPostgreSQL docs: pg_stat_slru (simple least-recently-used)Docs: Azure HorizonDBPoster: Postgres Happiness Hints

Intensely local user groups have been part of Jeremy Schneider's story from the start—from Linux meetups at a Michigan coffee shop to a closet server running an Oracle database nobody knew anything about. In Episode 40 of Talking Postgres, Postgres engineer and Seattle Postgres User Group co-organizer Jeremy Schneider joins Claire to share how community led him to Postgres after 15 years with Oracle—and why "it's like I was born to be here." Plus: the newly-updated Postgres Happiness Hints poster, advice for starting your own user group, and his POSETTE 2026 talk on CloudNativePG.Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres Ep 38: How I went from Oracle to Postgres (with a big NoSQL detour) with Gwen ShapiraLinks mentioned in this episode:Seattle Postgres User Group: Meetup pageSeattle Postgres User Group: YouTube channelUser Group Map from PGConfEU 2025 talk: 48 Postgres User Groups during PG18 timeframePostgreSQL.org: Listing of local Postgres User GroupsPostgres Meetup For All (a virtual meetup): Meetup pageJeremy Schneider’s Blog: Ardent Performance ComputingPoster: Postgres Happiness HintsPGConf.dev 2026: Posters from Poster SessionPGConf.dev 2026 Poster Session: Talking Postgres posterPOSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2026: Jeremy’s POSETTE 2026 talk with Leonardo CecchiPOSETTE 2026: Livestream 3 schedule & talksOracle docs: Oracle Database Concepts PDFBook: Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table

What does it take to make Postgres and Azure fit together cleanly, like puzzle pieces? In Episode 39 of Talking Postgres, Adam Prout—distinguished engineer at Microsoft and a founding architect of Azure HorizonDB—joins Claire to trace his engineering journey from MemSQL to Postgres. We dig into shared-storage architecture and how HorizonDB pushes more work into the storage layer; why the team chose Rust; and what “good systems programming” looks like when being paranoid is a feature, not a bug. Along the way: startup vs big company tradeoffs, and how working on databases exposes you to so many interesting parts of computer science.  Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres Ep29: How I got started leading database teams with Shireesh ThotaLinks mentioned in this episode:Blog post: Announcing Azure HorizonDB, by Charles Feddersen & Affan DarCMUDB talk: HorizonDB: Co-Designing Postgres and Azure for Cloud-Native OLTP, by Adam ProutResearch paper: Socrates: The New SQL Server in the CloudProduct page: Azure HorizonDBVideo of POSETTE 2025 talk: Scaling Postgres to the next level at OpenAIBlog post: Scaling PostgreSQL to power 800 million ChatGPT users, by Bohan ZhangBlog post: Supporting ChatGPT on PostgreSQL in Azure, by Affan Dar, Adam Prout, & Panagiotis Antonopoulos Docs: Azure Database for PostgreSQLGitHub repo: pgrxDiscord: PostgreSQL Hacking serverConference: PGConf.dev 2026Conference Schedule: PGConf.dev 2026 Schedule

It’s rare for developers to genuinely love their database, so why does Postgres earn that kind of loyalty? In Episode 38 of Talking Postgres, Gwen Shapira, co‑founder of Nile, joins Claire to trace her path from operating Oracle at scale, through a long NoSQL chapter, to co‑founding a Postgres company that wasn’t originally meant to be one—after discovering how much Postgres quietly gets right. Gwen shares how she spun up on Postgres after years with other databases (shout-out to the Happiness Hints and a strong sense of curiosity), and why Postgres has made her appreciate Codd. We also touch on blogging as a career catalyst, the upcoming PGConf.dev conference (where a lot of PG20 work gets discussed, and where we’ll celebrate 30 years of Postgres)—and the #1 rule of consulting: it’s always the consultant’s fault. Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres Ep15: My Journey to Explaining Explain with Michael ChristofidesTalking Postgres Ep24: Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert HaasTalking Postgres Ep30: AI for data engineers with Simon WillisonLinks mentioned in this episode:Gwen’s company: NileArdent Performance Computing blog: PostgreSQL Happiness HintsBook: Just Use Postgres! by Denis MagdaGitHub repo: HypoPGWikipedia page: Codd’s 12 rulesBlog post: Transaction Isolation in Postgres, by Gwen ShapiraPodcast: Postgres.FMDiscord server: PostgreSQL Hacking Upcoming conferences & talks mentioned:Conference: PGConf.dev 2026 on May 19-22 in Vancouver CanadaConference Schedule: PGConf.dev 2026 scheduleCFP deadline: PGConf.dev Community Discussion Sessions deadline on 14 Apr 2026Conference: PGConf EU 2026 in Valencia SpainLinkedIn post: PGConf.dev 2026 conference t-shirt, celebrating 30 years of PostgresPOSETTE 2026 talk: The Rise of PostgreSQL as the Everything Database, by Varun DhawanPGConf.dev 2026 Panel: Real-Time Patch Idea EvaluationPGConf.dev 2026 Roundtable: Unexpected Successes & Epic Failures by PostgreSQL committers

Why does SQL feel so approachable to some developers, and why do some of them end up spending their careers in the data layer? In Episode 37 of Talking Postgres, Charles Feddersen, who leads product for Postgres at Microsoft, joins Claire to talk about building Postgres services on Azure. We explore his path from classic ASP apps on Microsoft Access to distributed Postgres with Citus, the moment he installed pgAdmin and got pulled deeper into Postgres, and what it takes to build for the many different ways people rely on Postgres today—from Flexible Server and Azure HorizonDB to developer tooling—and why it’s important to support the upstream Postgres open source project.Previously on Talking Postgres:Ep 22: Leading engineering for Postgres on Azure with Affan Dar: https://talkingpostgres.com/episodes/leading-engineering-for-postgres-on-azure-with-affan-darEp29: How I got started leading database teams with Shireesh Thota https://talkingpostgres.com/episodes/how-i-got-started-leading-database-teams-with-shireesh-thotaLinks mentioned in this episode:Video of CMUDB talk: HorizonDB: Co‑Designing PostgreSQL and Azure for Cloud‑Native OLTP, by Adam ProutVideo of talk: Azure HorizonDB: Deep Dive into a New Enterprise-Scale PostgreSQL, by Adam Prout & Denzil RibeiroTalk at SCALE 23x: Did VS Code Quietly Become a Go-To Postgres Tool?, by Phil Vacca Visual Studio Code Marketplace: VS Code extension for PostgreSQLDocs: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible ServerGitHub repo: Citus open sourcePostgres extension: PostGISConference: PGConf India 2026Upcoming conferences & talks mentioned:Conference: PGConf.dev 2026 in Vancouver CanadaConference: Microsoft Build 2026Keynote at POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2026: Driving Postgres forward at MicrosoftPOSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2026: ScheduleConference: Postgres Summit US 2026 (formerly PGConf NYC)Conference: PGConf EU 2026 in Valencia

Why would anyone willingly spend weeks chasing a slow query, knowing they might hit dead ends along the way? In Episode 36 of Talking Postgres, Tomas Vondra—Postgres committer and long‑time performance contributor—joins Claire to explain why hacking on Postgres performance is not just hard, but also fun. We dig into the process of investigating why queries are slow, how iteration and “wrong turns” are part of performance work, and why Tomas prefers meaningful performance puzzles over toy problems. Along the way, we talk about using benchmarks to build an understanding of a problem. Tomas also shares how even small changes in code can have outsized impact when that code is used a lot, and how the mathematics embedded in the Postgres query planner/executor makes the work especially rewarding.Previously on Talking Postgres:Talking Postgres Ep31: What went wrong (& what went right) with AIO with Andres FreundTalking Postgres Ep24: Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert HaasLinks mentioned in this episode:PGConf.dev 2026: ScheduleGitHub repo: PostgreSQL Monthly Hacking Workshop, organized by Robert Haas Nordic PGDay 2026: Tomas talk on approximating percentilesVideo of POSETTE 2025 talk: Performance Archaeology – 20 years of improvementsVideo of PGConf EU 2025 talk: Fast-path locking improvements in PG18Conference: Prague PostgreSQL Developer DayDiscord: PostgreSQL Hacking DiscordGitHub repo: tvondra/tdigestBrendan Gregg’s site: perf Linux profiler examplesDocs: pgbench for running benchmarks on PostgreSQLBlog: Tomas Vondra blogPostgres Patch Ideas: List on Tomas Vondra blog