What is the PostgreSQL community to you? - PGSQL Phriday #003
This blog post is for PGSQL Phriday #003. Read Ryan Booz' introduction from September for more details on PGSQL Phriday. Pat Wright (SQL Asylum) is this month's host and chose the topic: What is the PostgreSQL community to you?
TLDR;
The Postgres community is helpful.
One big community with many layers
The remainder of this post explores why I say the Postgres community is helpful. Postgres is an open source project with multiple layers and locations of community. Membership is open, free, and no invite is needed.
Prefer having an invite? You're invited!
Postgres Users
While making claims using broad strokes, I'll go ahead and define Postgres users as DBAs, developers, analysts, and everyone else that interacts with Postgres. Postgres users have plenty of spaces both online and in person. Each one of the following communities has a mix of the range of roles and experience. The majority of the folks in these various communities are excited to help others where they can. The following is a small sampling of online communities:
- People, Postgres, Data Discord server
- Postgres Slack
- Mailing lists
- Mastodon
There are plenty of in-person, virtual and hybrid conferences. The most recent conference I attended was the virtual PostGIS Day in November 2022. The last in person conference I went to was PostgresConf in New York all the way back in March 2019. Hopefully some of the other #pgsqlphriday posts will talk more about some of the more recent in-person conferences!
PostGIS
I can't talk about the Postgres community without bringing up PostGIS. After all, PostGIS (plus OpenStreetMap!) was the reason I switched to Postgres from MySQL roughly a decade ago. When I switched it was because the technology did what I needed from it. The longer I use PostGIS the more I've grown involved in the community and appreciate it.
I also point out PostGIS to illustrate a broader range of communities. There are countless projects that use Postgres, but aren't specifically Postgres. Most of those projects have their own vibrant communities.
Postgres core
At the heart of the Postgres project is the core developer community that work together through commitfests. The use the mailing lists to discuss ideas, bugs, challenges, successes and the path forward. This community includes the core team, people submitting and reviewing patches, testing early releases, writing documentation and so much more.
The people we work with
The most regular, direct form of community I have is with the amazing people I work with on a variety of teams. The camaraderie builds over the years, because after all, databases are long-lived creatures. I appreciate every technical discussion as well as the conversations about everything else. Yeah, the technology is cool... it's the people that make it worthwhile.
Summary
I've found the Postgres community to be helpful, across a variety of formats, delivery methods, and specific topics. You can find and join the community or communities that fit your preferences.
Need help with your PostgreSQL servers or databases? Contact us to start the conversation!
Mastodon