S3E2: Heikki Linnakangas, Cofounder Neon

Today we take a deep dive into the world of PostgreSQL extensions, featuring our conversation with Heikki Linnakangas, co-founder of Neon, an expert Postgres hacker, and contributor to pgvector. Heikki shares the fascinating story of how Neon was born in 2021, driven by the vision of creating an open-source platform akin to Aurora Serverless. He delves into the early challenges and triumphs of building a fully remote startup during pandemic times, including the excitement of growing from a handful of employees to a bustling company with 600,000 databases under management.In this episode, we explore:From a startup idea to managing over 600K databasesBuilding a remote-first culture and the power of annual off-site meetingsTime travel… how Neon's unique storage system enables quick point-in-time recoveryUpcoming Postgres features like asynchronous IO and multi-threadingHow understanding new algorithms can help database managementLinks mentioned:NeonHeikki Linnakangas on GitHubHeikki Linnakangas on LinkedIn

Joining Aiven in 2021, Francesco Tisiot works as a Field CTO and AI Lead. He serves as a technical advisor to clients and prospects, helping to meet their needs without the focus on sales, acting as a 'rented' CTO to provide expert guidance. Join us as we dive into Francesco's insightful perspectives on the Postgres community, where he challenges the notion of valuing years of experience over actual contributions and expertise.In this episode, we explore:How Postgres is a core focus for AivenStrategies for incorporating diverse viewpoints within the communityThe perception of Oracle within the Postgres communityBenefits and challenges of using AI tools for database optimisationAcquisition of EverSQL by Aiven for integrating AI tools in SQL performance tuningLinks mentioned:Aiven for AlloyDB OmniFrancesco Tisiot on XFrancesco Tisiot on LinkedIn

Today we’re joined by Ray Lane and DJ Patil from GreatPoint Ventures. Ray, known for his pivotal role at Oracle during its turnaround, shares his journey from the US Army to top tech positions and eventually co-founding GreatPoint Ventures, where he supports entrepreneurs. DJ Patil – investor, entrepreneur, and former U.S. Chief Data Scientist – joins to dive into the evolution of databases.Tune in as they share their experiences with early databases such as Db2, the rise of Postgres, and current challenges in the tech landscape. With insights on leadership, community-driven development, and more, this episode is a must-listen for developers, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts.In this episode, we explore:The critical need for evolving roles within a company to foster growthChallenges of data distribution vs. keeping data centralized and speedy“Siding with the community” and enhancing user capabilitiesThe risks of rushing towards generative AI, and the importance data hygiene and data cultureLinks mentioned:GreatPoint VenturesDJ Patil on LinkedInRay Lane on LinkedIn

Sai Srirampur is the co-founder of PeerDB and a veteran Postgres Solutions Engineer with experience at Citus Data and Microsoft. He has been at the forefront of optimizing and scaling Postgres for large data workloads and is now spearheading innovation in data movement and replication with PeerDB. In this episode, we'll discuss the challenges of tuning massive Postgres systems, real-time data streaming solutions, and PeerDB’s vision for the future.In this episode we explore:Leaving Microsoft and starting Sai’s own company, PeerDBDeveloping PeerDB's data movement and replication toolWhy Postgres might not be suitable for everything at a large scaleHaving team members be database experts first before being software developersThe growing customer demand for Clickhouse and SnowflakeLinks mentioned:PeerDBSai Srirampur on X (@saisrirampur)Sai Srirampur on LinkedIn

In this episode, we talk Postgres committer Melanie Plagemean about her involvement with @PGConfdev, improvements to vacuum scheduling and auto vacuum configuration, the logical replication of DDL, and platforms such as CNCF and Kubernetes integrating with Postgres.Links mentioned:PGConf.devYouTube – CMU Database GroupPath To Citus Con Podcast@[email protected] on X (@melanieplageman)

Bharath Rupireddy has carved a niche for himself in the Postgres community since he began using the database system back in 2020. From his start at EnterpriseDB to making strides at Microsoft, and now contributing to the AWS open-source project, Bharath is entrenched in the inner workings of Postgres development. He has worked in many areas of Postgres such as WAL, Replication, pg_walinspect extension, bug fixes, performance improvements, new SQL functions etc.In this episode we explore:Starting with Postgres in 2020 and learning the basics while contributing to Parallel COPY featurePostgres recent features such as pg_walinspect extension, WAL source switch from archive to streaming, WAL insertion lock improvements, WAL read from buffers, more replication slot invalidation mechanisms like XID age based and inactive_timeout based ones, new table access methods for multi inserts.The future of native active-active replicationThe complexities of conflict resolutionUsing PostgreSQL 16 in production scenarios for active-active replicationThe role of databases evolving within different industriesLinks mentioned:¡Databases! – A Database Seminar SeriesHacking Postgres, Ep. 9: Bertrand DrouvotPGConf IndiaHyderabad PostgreSQL User GroupPGConf.devBharath on LinkedInBharath on X (@BRupireddy)Bharath on Github

As the podcast host of The Builders, member of Postgres Women, and Staff Engineer at EDB, Gülçin Yıldırım Jelínek is passionate to see where this space will take us. We kick off Season 2 with Gülçin as she shares her journey in the tech industry, CloudNativePG, the impact of AI on Postgres, and the representation of women in the Postgres community.In this episode we explore:CloudNativePG in Gülçin’s products and the new SPGVector releaseWelcoming new developers to the PostgreSQL communityTembo Cloud, PG vector, and the challenges and rewards of contributing to such innovative projectsImproving inclusivity and support for women in the tech industryThe use of Postgres in AI workloadsLinks mentioned:The Builders: A Postgres PodcastGülçin Yıldırım Jelínek on X EDBPostgres Women on X

Alongside his peers studying Systems Network Engineering, Jelte Fennema-Nio unearthed a security vulnerability within the framework of Postgres. Since then, Jelte joined the world of cybersecurity and network engineering. He is currently Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft working on Citus/ Postgres/ PgBouncer. In this episode we explore:Forking and the impact of commercial entities on the core project The challenges of connection poolingThe suitability of Citus for scalabilityThe intricacies of configuring PgBouncerPaying attention to community needs and modernizing contribution methodsLinks mentioned:Jelte on XJelte on LinkedIn

Amit Kapila is a PostgreSQL Committer and a Senior Director at Fujitsu India. Amit joins the show to share his contributions to logical replication enhancements (achieving highly available systems), his involvement in the PostgreSQL community, and his perspective on contributions from tech giants in advancing PostgreSQL features.In this episode we explore:Amit’s early work with PostgreSQL and OracleThe future of active-active topologyThe dependence on managed services for database managementThe importance of conflict resolution in replicationOvercoming the lack of an open-source development environment in IndiaLinks mentioned:pgsql-hackersAmit Kapila on LinkedInAmit Kapila on X (@kapila_amit)Amit’s Blog

As Principal Architect at Tembo and the creator of PGXN, David Wheeler is a seminal figure in the Postgres world. Join us as we discuss David's tenure at The New York Times, his influential projects like Bricolage and pgTAP, and the game-changing database change management system, Sqitch. In this episode we explore:David Wheeler's transition from archaeology to databasesDatabase management and learning with SqitchWorking with PGXN and TemboCreating a central registry for Postgres extensionsThe state of Postgres and its versatilityLinks mentioned:pgTAPPGXNCITEXT 2SqitchBetter Call Saul Insider [email protected] a Theory