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When Thomas Munro—a veteran PostgreSQL committer—described Microsoft's Talking Postgres podcast as "a kind of oral history for the PostgreSQL community," he captured why this monthly series resonates deeply within database circles. Over 29 episodes, host Claire Giordano has drawn out unexpected origin stories, leadership insights, and technical philosophies from PostgreSQL's core contributors, cloud engineers, and ecosystem builders.

Beyond Code: The Human Infrastructure of Postgres

Launched in 2024, the podcast deliberately avoids feature walkthroughs or vendor pitches. Instead, it explores the why behind contributors' work:

"It’s about the people behind Postgres—and what we can learn from each other," explains Giordano. This approach has uncovered remarkable journeys: Bruce Momjian co-founding the PostgreSQL Global Development Group, David Rowley transitioning from forklift driver at a cheese factory to query optimization expert, and Peter Farkas conceiving FerretDB at 16,000 feet near K2's base camp.

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Headshots of 41 Talking Postgres guests reveal the project's diverse global community

Wisdom from the Trenches

Key themes emerged across episodes:

  1. Open Source Leadership Is Servant Leadership
    Bruce Momjian (Episode 26) emphasized that PostgreSQL's governance thrives on humility: "Being open to feedback leads to higher quality results. It doesn't cost anything to show appreciation to people."

  2. Accidental Paths to Database Mastery
    Tom Lane (Episode 20), now a legendary committer, never planned to work in tech: "I wanted to design pinball machines." Daniel Gustafsson (Episode 23) discovered Postgres by wandering into a conference talk: "I was completely blown away... I have not used any other database since."

  3. Mentorship as Community Infrastructure
    Robert Haas (Episode 24) launched PostgreSQL's formal mentorship program because "nobody works on an open-source project forever." Melanie Plageman (Episode 19), who quit her job to study Postgres full-time, credits communal knowledge-sharing for her path to becoming a committer.

Why This Oral History Matters

For a project with 30+ years of history, these conversations preserve institutional knowledge while demystifying contribution pathways. Cloud leaders like Microsoft's Shireesh Thota (Episode 29) and Affan Dar (Episode 22) also discuss balancing commercial offerings with upstream investments—revealing how enterprise support fuels open-source sustainability.

Episodes are recorded live on Discord with parallel chat, extending PostgreSQL's famously collaborative "hallway track" beyond conferences. As Edison Research notes, podcast listenership has quadrupled since 2015, making this format ideal for capturing PostgreSQL's evolving narrative.

Listen to all episodes at TalkingPostgres.com or wherever you get podcasts.
Source: Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL Blog