Fibonacci Spirals and 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code at PGConfEU 2019 Milan

Abstract of PostgreSQL talk delivered at PGConfEU 2019 in Milan:

Postgres is growing like gangbusters: in popularity, in adoption, and in the size of the ecosystem. And over 400 developers contribute code to Postgres today: their expertise, design chops, and skill are big factors in the increasing popularity of Postgres. But what if you’re not a developer? Are there things you can do to help grow the usage and popularity of Postgres? And are these non-code ways to contribute to Postgres important? Valued? Will they make a real difference?

If you love Postgres and want to help drive Fibonacci growth of the Postgres community, this talk is for you. I’ll walk through 21 different (and important) ways to contribute to Postgres—along with tips and resources for getting started.

Transcript

1. @clairegiordan o Fibonacci Spirals & 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres— Beyond Code Claire Giordano @clairegiordano @citusdata @microsoft PGConf.EU 2019
2. @clairegiordan o Leonardo Pisano Bigollo (1170–1240)
3. @clairegiordan o 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, … FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
4. @clairegiordan o FIBONACCI SPIRAL 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, … 2 3 5 8 13 21
5. @clairegiordan o What do Fibonacci spirals have to do with contributing to Postgres?
6. @clairegiordan o
7. @clairegiordan o
8. @clairegiordan o Source: Reddit
9. @clairegiordan o Hi, I’m Claire Giordano—and I’m a Principal PM Manager at Microsoft, by way of the recent Citus Data acquisition, where I was VP of Marketing. 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres— Beyond Code @clairegiordano & drive Fibonacci growth
10. @clairegiordan o Why ”Beyond Code”? What if… you’re not a developer?
11. @clairegiordan o Right before I submitted talk proposal… Source: Josh Berkus on Slideshare.net: 50 Ways to Love Your Project DISCOVERED: Josh Berkus - similar talk in 2013
12. @clairegiordan o Attend conferences like this. Participate in the community. Learn—and share your learnings. Create a place where newcomers can learn. 1 @clairegiordano
13. @clairegiordan o Lots of ways to support local Meetups & User Groups, too. Attend. Give talks. Share learnings. Pay for food/drinks. Host in your company’s office space. @clairegiordano 2
14. @clairegiordan o Lots of ways to support local Meetups & User Groups, too. Attend. Give talks. Share learnings. Pay for food/drinks. Host in your company’s office space. @clairegiordano 2
15. @clairegiordan o Lots of ways to support local Meetups & User Groups, too. Attend. Give talks. Share learnings. Pay for food/drinks. Host in your company’s office space. @clairegiordano 2
16. @clairegiordan o Share your expertise—give a talk or tutorial at a conference. Meetups, too. Lightning talks, too. Most conference organizers WELCOME first-time presenters. @clairegiordano 3 PGConf.EU 2019
17. @clairegiordan o Post your slides online! Share them. Promote them # of digital pageviews can exceed # of attendees! > speakerdeck.com > slideshare.net > conference websites… 4 @clairegiordano
18. @clairegiordan o Start a local PGDay in your town. Single-track, 1-day, local > More affordable > Easy access > All together, same room, all day 5 @clairegiordano Source: 2020.pgday.paris
19. @clairegiordan o @clairegiordano Source: www.pgday.cl/2019/ 5 Start a local PGDay in your town. Single-track, 1-day, local > More affordable > Easy access > All together, same room, all day
20. @clairegiordan o Write a blog. Publish an article. Share your learnings & expertise. Shine a light on value of Postgres. 6 @clairegiordano
21. @clairegiordan o Syndicate to PlanetPostgres to increase reach of your blog posts. @planetpostgres promotes on Twitter, too. 7 @clairegiordano
22. @clairegiordan o 7 Source: postgresql.org Syndicate to PlanetPostgres to increase reach of your blog posts. @planetpostgres promotes on Twitter, too. @clairegiordano
23. @clairegiordan o Write Books that make it easier for newcomers to use Postgres 8 @clairegiordano
24. @clairegiordan o Write Books that make it easier for newcomers to use Postgres 8 @clairegiordano
25. @clairegiordan o Create User Stories! About amazing things do w/ Postgres Recipe: Story, headlines, diagrams, metrics, pull quotes 9 @clairegiordano Source: citusdata.com/customers/mixrank
26. @clairegiordan o Use Video to show what Postgres can do! Some people learn better via video. 10 @clairegiordano Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cbT64D9KFk
27. @clairegiordan o Use Video to show what Postgres can do! Some people learn better via video. 10 @clairegiordano Title Thumbnail Description Bookmarks Links Don’t forget to post videos with good metadata!
28. @clairegiordan o If you build it, they will NOT come. Promote, promote, promote. Whether blog, video, user story, talk, or book! Help people discover. How to reach beyond inner circle? 11 @clairegiordano
29. @clairegiordan o Promote Postgres on Twitter <content, learnings, ideas, talks, meetups, TIL, QOTD, OH, how-to> 12 @clairegiordano
30. @clairegiordan o Say thank you. If you like someone’s work, praise it. Privately. Publicly. Both. Including junior people. New people. Not just luminaries. Not just friends. 13 @clairegiordano
31. @clairegiordan o Do you speak a non-English language? Help with message translations. Help Postgres content reach people in other languages. Mailing list: pgsql-translators More info: babel.postgresql.org 14
32. @clairegiordan o Report bugs with Postgres! When you find a bug with PostgreSQL we want to hear about it.” Your bug reports play an important part in making PostgreSQL more reliable.” @clairegiordano 15 Source: postgresql.org “ “
33. @clairegiordan o Report bugs with Postgres! When you find a bug with PostgreSQL we want to hear about it.” Your bug reports play an important part in making PostgreSQL more reliable.” @clairegiordano 15 Source: postgresql.org “ “
34. @clairegiordan o Submit corrections to documentation! Clarify. Disambiguate. Better help newcomers understand. 16 @clairegiordano Source: postgresql.org
35. @clairegiordan o Submit corrections to documentation! Clarify. Disambiguate. Better help newcomers understand. 16 @clairegiordano Source: postgresql.org
36. @clairegiordan o Promote Postgres with stickers. (Promote your PG projects, too.) Stickers are a thing for many devs. Stickers can spark conversation. @clairegiordano Source: my laptop 17
37. @clairegiordan o 18 Use your design skills. Graphics & visuals pull people in. Meet—the Citus elicorn. @clairegiordano Source: Citus Data “sharded” elicorn
38. @clairegiordan o Use your design skills. Graphics & visuals pull people in. Meet—the Citus elicorn. Louise Grandjonc’s Crocodile. 18 @clairegiordano Source: www.Instagram.com/zimmoriarty/
39. @clairegiordan o Use your design skills. Graphics & visuals pull people in. Meet—the Citus elicorn. Meet—Louise Grandjonc’s Owl. Meet—Postgres Activity Book. 18 @clairegiordano
40. @clairegiordan o Use “Sketchnotes” to share your learnings. Effective way to capture & communicate big takeaways Engages through combo of words, font styles, color, some images 19 @clairegiordano Source: twitter.com/reverentgeek
41. @clairegiordan o Reach out to evangelize at your local university (or alma mater). Offer to give a talk and share your learnings about the tricky problems you’ve solved by using Postgres (instead of…) 20 @clairegiordano Source: Twitter @DevrimGunduz, FOSDEM
42. @clairegiordan o Reach out to evangelize at your local university (or alma mater). Offer to give a talk and share your learnings about the tricky problems you’ve solved by using Postgres (instead of…) What will it take to make Postgres the de facto database taught in universities? 20 @clairegiordano Source: Twitter @DevrimGunduz, FOSDEM
43. @clairegiordan o Make people feel welcome Being “welcoming” is 1 step further than being “open” 21 @clairegiordano
44. @clairegiordan o 1. Attend Conferences 2. Meetups & User Groups 3. Give a Talk 4. PostSlides online 5. Start a PGDay 6. Blogs&articles 7. Syndicate to Planet Postgres 8. Write a book 9. User Stories 10. Bite-sized videos 11. Promote 12. Twitter 13. Say Thank You! 14. Translations 15. Report Bugs 16. DocFeedback 17. Stickers 18. Design skills 19. #sketchnotes 20. Universityoutreach 21. Welcome people in 21 Ways to Contribute—Beyond Code
45. @clairegiordan o
46. @clairegiordan o Thank You @clairegiordano | @citusdata | @microsoft Ideas/Suggestions? +1 or -1? Let me know :) PGConf.EU 2019