Fibonacci Spirals and 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code at PostgresOpen 2019 Orlando

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?

This talk is for everyone—whether developer or designer—who wants to help drive Fibonacci growth in the PostgreSQL community. If you love Postgres, join me as I walk you through 21 ways to contribute to the growth of Postgres—beyond code—including tips and resources to get you started.

Transcript

1. @clairegiordan o Fibonacci Spirals & 21 Ways to Contribute to Postgres— Beyond Code Claire Giordano @clairegiordano @citusdata @microsoft
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 5 What do Fibonacci spirals have to do with contributing to Postgres?
6. @clairegiordan o 6
7. @clairegiordan o
8. @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
9. @clairegiordan o 9 Why ”Beyond Code”? What if… you’re not a developer? Source: Josh Berkus on Slideshare.net: 50 Ways to Love Your Project
10. @clairegiordan o 10 Inspiration for this talk: Josh Berkus (2013) Source: Josh Berkus on Slideshare.net: 50 Ways to Love Your Project
11. @clairegiordan o Attend conferences like this. Participate in the community. Learn—and share your learnings. 1 @clairegiordano
12. @clairegiordan o Support local Meetups & User Groups, too. Attend. Give talks. Share learnings. Pay for food/drinks. Host in your company’s office space. @clairegiordano 2
13. @clairegiordan o 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 Share your expertise—give a talk or tutorial at a conference. Meetups, too. Lightning talks, too. @clairegiordano 3 PGConf.EU 2019
15. @clairegiordan o Post your slides online! Share them. Promote them # of digital pageviews can exceed # of people who attended in person! > speakerdeck.com > slideshare.net > github 4 @clairegiordano
16. @clairegiordan o Post your slides online! Share your slides. Promote them # of digital pageviews can exceed # of people who attended in person! > speakerdeck.com > slideshare.net > github 4 @clairegiordano
17. @clairegiordan o 4 @clairegiordano Post your slides online! Share your slides. Promote them # of digital pageviews can exceed # of people who attended in person! > speakerdeck.com > slideshare.net > github slideshare.net (acq. LinkedIn)
18. @clairegiordan o If you do anything to promote Postgres, be proactive to enable discovery of Postgres by new people 5 @clairegiordano
19. @clairegiordan o Write a blog. Publish an article. Share your learnings & expertise. Shine a light on value of Postgres. >>>>>> Build it and they will NOT come. You must promote & distribute. 6 @clairegiordano
20. @clairegiordan o Syndicate to PlanetPostgres to increase reach of your blog posts. @planetpostgres promotes on Twitter, too. 7
21. @clairegiordan o 7 Source: postgresql.org Syndicate to PlanetPostgres to increase reach of your blog posts. @planetpostgres promotes on Twitter, too.
22. @clairegiordan o 7 Source: postgresql.org/about/policies/planet-postgresql/ Syndicate to PlanetPostgres to increase reach of your blog posts. @planetpostgres promotes on Twitter, too.
23. @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 8 Source: Twitter @reverentgeek @clairegiordano
24. @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
25. @clairegiordan o Promote Postgres on Twitter <content, learnings, ideas, talks, meetups, TIL, QOTD, OH, how-to> 10 @clairegiordano
26. @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. 11 @clairegiordano
27. @clairegiordan o Use Video to show what Postgres can do! Some people learn better via video. 12 @clairegiordano Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cbT64D9KFk
28. @clairegiordan o Use Video to show what Postgres can do! Some people learn better via video. 12 @clairegiordano
29. @clairegiordan o Give teams & projects “Social Proof”, public validation > GitHub stars > GitHub follow > Twitter follow 13 Source: github.com/citusdata/citus @clairegiordano
30. @clairegiordan o Write Books that make it easier for newcomers to use Postgres 14 @clairegiordano
31. @clairegiordan o 14 @clairegiordano Write Books that make it easier for newcomers to use Postgres
32. @clairegiordan o Support people trying new things to grow the Postgres community. Heck, try new ways to contribute yourself. @clairegiordano 15 Source: www.pgday.cl/2019/
33. @clairegiordan o Support people trying new things to grow the Postgres community. Heck, try new ways to contribute yourself. @clairegiordano 15 Source: www.pgday.cl/2019/
34. @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…) 16 @clairegiordano Source: Twitter @DevrimGunduz, FOSDEM
35. @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
36. @clairegiordan o Do you speak a non-English language? Help with translations. Super-useful when Postgres content can reach people in other languages. Mailing list: pgsql-translators More info: babel.postgresql.org 18
37. @clairegiordan o Start a community PGDay in your town. Single-track, one-day, local events > More affordable > Easy access > Conducive to building contacts: all together, same room, all day 19
38. @clairegiordan o 20 Use your design skills. Graphics & visuals pull people in. Meet—the Citus elicorn.
39. @clairegiordan o Use your design skills. Graphics & visuals pull people in. Meet—the Citus elicorn. Meet—Louise Grandjonc’s Owl. 20
40. @clairegiordan o Make people feel welcome Being “welcoming” is 1 step further than being “open” 21
41. @clairegiordan o 1. Conferences 2. Meetups 3. Talks 4. Post Slides Online 5. Enable discovery 6. Blogs, articles 7. Syndicate to Planet Postgres 8. #sketchnotes 9. User Stories 10. Twitter 11. Say thank you 12. Bite-size videos 13. “Social proof” 14. Write a book 15. Try new things 16. University outreach 17. Stickers 18. Translations 19. Start a local pgDay 20. Design skills 21. Welcome people. 21 Ways to Contribute—Beyond Code
42. @clairegiordan o
43. @clairegiordan o 1. Please share any ideas/suggestions 2. If you are a +1, I would love to know! 3. Thank you for joining us here at PostgresOpen My Ask of You
44. @clairegiordan o Thank You @clairegiordano | @citusdata | @microsoft Join me: citusdata.com/newsletter