From developer to PostgreSQL specialist with Derk van Veen

The best days are when things don’t go as planned. Derk van Veen joined Claire Giordano and Pino de Candia on this episode of Path To Citus Con* podcast for developers who love Postgres—to discuss his journey from Java developer to PostgreSQL specialist and DBA. From his first days with DB2 and Oracle, to his work with Postgres, Derk shared how he learned about databases. And how a very smart colleague would break the database on purpose, to give Derk the tough job of fixing it. Another topic: what to do when you need to jump on a problem but your heart rate doubles? What will it take to get that magical feeling of fixing something in the database? And a segue into sharing your expertise as a speaker at Postgres conferences. Because it’s always about the why.

*[Update: July 2024] Path To Citus Con has been renamed to Talking Postgres. All of the past podcast episodes from Path To Citus Con—now called Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano—can be found here: https://talkingpostgres.com

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Explaining the PostgreSQL concurrency control mechanisms by Derk van Veen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkxwaN46K88
• Podcast: Path to Citus Con Ep03: Why give talks at Postgres conferences with Álvaro Herrera & Boriss Mejías: https://talkingpostgres.com/episodes/why-giving-talks-at-postgres-conferences-matters
• Blog: A Deep Dive into Table Partitioning part 3 by Derk van Veen & Cosmin Octavian Pene: https://www.adyen.com/knowledge-hub/maintenance-under-pressure
• Book: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King: https://stephenking.com/works/nonfiction/on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft.html
• PechaKucha, 20 slides for 20 seconds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PechaKucha
• pgChess: PostgreSQL 9.1+ extension for the game of Chess on GitHub: https://github.com/gciolli/pgChess
• FOSDEM PGDay 2023 talk by Derk van Veen: Fighting Write Amplification By Stimulating Hot Updates Through The Fill Factor: https://www.postgresql.eu/events/fosdem2023/schedule/session/4196-fighting-write-amplification-by-stimulating-hot-updates-through-the-fill-factor/
• Blog: Fighting PostgreSQL write amplification with HOT updates by Derk van Veen & Dave Pitts: https://www.adyen.com/knowledge-hub/postgresql-hot-updates
• FOSDEM PGDay 2024 talk by Derk van Veen & Boriss Mejías: High Available Configurations Are Very Common For Postgresql. But How Do You Investigate Performance Problems When The Standby Can't Keep Up?
  https://www.postgresql.eu/events/fosdem2024/schedule/session/5164-high-available-configurations-are-very-common-for-postgresql-but-how-do-you-investigate-performance-problems-when-the-standby-cant-keep-up/
• FOSDEM PGDay 2024 slides by Derk van Veen & Boriss Mejías: High Available Configurations Are Very Common For Postgresql. But How Do You Investigate Performance Problems When The Standby Can't Keep Up?
  https://www.postgresql.eu/events/fosdem2024/sessions/session/5164/slides/460/HA_delay_analysis.pdf
• X post with picture about Derk and Boriss’ talk on FOSDEM PGDay 2024 by Devrim Gündüz: https://twitter.com/DevrimGunduz/status/1753348159026130959?s=20
• Blitz Chess game: https://www.chess.com/terms/blitz-chess
• CFP for POSETTE: An Event for Postgres (free & virtual event) open until April 7th 2024: https://aka.ms/posette-cfp-2024