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 Lane
• Talking Postgres podcast Ep19: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie Plageman

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Event: PostgreSQL Anniversary Summit, in Toronto on 8-9 Jul 2006
• PGConf.dev 2025 talk: postgresql.org: The hidden parts, by Magnus Hagander
• FOSDEM PGDay 2026 talk slide: Who serves on the Postgres sysadmin team, by Claire Giordano
• Board of Directors: PostgreSQL Europe non-profit
• Keynote at the first POSETTE (then called Citus Con): PostgreSQL—more relevant than ever, by Magnus Hagander
• PostgreSQL mailing list: Tom Lane’s 2006 email on the name PostgreSQL
• Discord: PostgreSQL Development Discord
• Conference: PGConf.EU 2026 in Valencia
• Two days this time: FOSDEM PGDay 2027, on 28 & 29 Jan 2027
• Conference: FOSDEM 2027 in Brussels, on 30 & 31 Jan 2027
• Conference: Nordic PGDay 2027 in Stockholm, on 16 Mar 2027
• Conference: PGConf.dev 2027 in Montréal, on 11-14 May 2027
• Conference: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2027, happening 30 & 31 Mar 2027
• Conference: SCaLE 24x in Pasadena, happening 1-4 Apr 2027

In this episode, we covered:

00:00 Intro & music

03:13 The internet showed up

09:36 A one-line patch so Postgres would compile on Linux

12:53 Porting Postgres to Windows across 3 continents

18:32 PostgreSQL Europe was founded at FOSDEM

25:06 If that's our biggest mistake, we're doing fine

28:47 First Nordic PGDay: booked for 50, got 100

33:11 Trying a smaller Nordic event in Gothenburg

38:31 Self-hosting Postgres infrastructure

47:19 Battling AI agents that ignore robots.txt

50:25 From a bar in a city wall to 750 attendees

56:26 Announcing the next PGConf.EU location

58:22 The lucky break: when my hobby became my job

1:00:24 What keeps Magnus coming back to Postgres

1:02:26 It’s harder to become a committer today

1:09:15 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 Prout
• Talking Postgres podcast Ep42: How AI is changing software development with Simon Willison

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Conference: PGConf.EU 2026 in Valencia on 20-23 Oct
• Save the date for: POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2027, happening 30 & 31 March 2027
• Two days this time: FOSDEM PGDay 2027, happening 28 & 29 Jan 2027
• Conference: PGConf.dev 2027 in Montréal
• Conference: PG Day France
• Conference: PGConf India 2027, on 2-5 March 2027
• Conference: EuroPython 2026
• PGConf.EU conference talk: Tuning Postgres for Analytics, by Karen Jex
• DjangoCon Europe 2024 keynote: When I Grow Up I Want to be a Database Administrator, by Karen Jex
• POSETTE speaker page: Karen Jex, with videos of her talks
• PGConf.EU 2023 talk: Elephant in a nutshell - Navigating the Postgres community 101, by Valeria Kaplan
• FOSDEM 2020 talk slides: Fibonacci Spirals and 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code, by Claire Giordano
• PostgreSQL.org: Contributor Profiles
• PostgreSQL Europe: PostgreSQL Europe board
• PostgreSQL docs: PostgreSQL 19 release notes
• Voice dictation: Wispr Flow
• Voice dictation: FluidVoice

In this episode, we covered:

00:00 Intro & music

01:55 Becoming a DBA completely by accident

05:46 "You're the database expert. You can figure it out."

12:37 Leaving Oracle, where everything comes bundled

17:23 From DBA to helping other DBAs

21:48 The PGDay France meeting that opened up the community

28:02 Why Django developers love Postgres

34:36 Stepping back to be close to home

43:54 "When I grow up, I want to be a DBA," said no one ever

51:42 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 Haas
• Talking Postgres podcast Ep26: Open Source Leadership with Bruce Momjian
• Talking Postgres podcast Ep32: The Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things with Boriss Mejías

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Conference: FOSDEM 2027
• LinkedIn: FOSDEM PGDay 2027 announcement
• Conference: Prague PostgreSQL Developers Day (P2D2)
• Conference: PGDay Lowlands 2026 (the “friendliest” conference)
• Conference: PGConf EU 2026 in Valencia on 20-23 Oct
• PGConfEU Conference talk: What does the EU Cyber Resilience Act mean for PostgreSQL and its community
• Wikipedia: EU Cyber Resilience Act
• PGConf.dev on LinkedIn: PGConf.dev account
• PGConf.dev conference talk: Committer Review: An Exercise in Paranoia, by Robert Haas
• PostgreSQL.org: Committers
• PostgreSQL mailing list: Postgres 19 release management team
• Blog: Peter Eisentraut Blog
• Blog post: Where are all the PostgreSQL users, by Peter Eisentraut
• PGCA non-profit: PostgreSQL Community Association
• Brett Cannon at PyCon 2014: I came for the language but I stayed for the community
• Planet PostgreSQL: Blog aggregation feed

In this episode, we covered:

00:00 Intro & music

02:14 Tinkering with the Commodore 64

07:57 The itch that became psql tab completion

15:43 Had to make opportunities

23:05 From posting at night to posting during the day

24:40 Why he stopped committing in the afternoon

28:04 On the ground floor of something that grew

30:34 What the Postgres core team actually does

31:47 Borrowing ideas from other OSS projects

36:51 Bringing Postgres into the SQL standards process

38:40 Getting to hang out with database nerds

42:01 Mentoring Postgres contributors

50:56 Making time for Postgres conferences

53:35 What the Cyber Resilience Act means for Postgres

57:36 Where are all the Postgres users?

1:07:00 Becoming a committer early on in Postgres

1:16:22 Contributing to Postgres isn't just writing code

1:19:40 Why FOSDEM is still his favorite

1:22:15 Finding familiar problems in a compiler devroom

1:26:14 Shout-out to the Planet Postgres feed