How I got started as a developer (& in Postgres) with Andres Freund & Heikki Linnakangas

Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano

Lots of stories of how folks got started as developers! Andres Freund and Heikki Linnakangas join Claire Giordano and Pino de Candia to explore more paths for getting into Postgres on Path To Citus Con*, the podcast for developers who love Postgres. How do you do development: with a cup of coffee, with music in the background, maybe at 3am? How do you approach mentoring other developers? Why did you stick with Postgres and make it a career? Lots of lively discussion about building not only code, but relationships in the community, in the open. Also, stories about Heikki’s and Andres’s first Postgres patch submissions, and working via the hackers mailing list. Finally, what advice would you give to your younger self starting in the development world?

*[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, in the order they were covered:

• Neon: https://neon.tech/
• Rob Conery and Scott Hanselman's book: The Imposter's Handbook (https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/1610805353255677953)
• Path To Citus Con Ep04: https://talkingpostgres.com/episodes/how-i-got-started-as-a-developer-in-postgres
• Andres’ first patch to Postgres: https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=c43feefa806c81d68115ed03a7f723720cefad31
• PGConf NYC 2023: https://2023.pgconf.nyc/
• Flow book: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Flow/QVjPsd1UukEC
• Archives of Postgres hackers mailing list: https://www.postgresql.org/list/pgsql-hackers/
• List of Postgres Contributors: https://www.postgresql.org/community/contributors/
• Description of Postgres Core Team: https://www.postgresql.org/developer/core/
• Postgres Weekly newsletter: https://postgresweekly.com/