@clairegiordano
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What do Fibonacci
spirals have to do
with contributing to
Postgres?
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, …
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@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
@clairegiordano
WAYS TO
CONTRIBUTE TO
POSTGRES—
BEYOND CODE
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@clairegiordano
Why ”Beyond Code”?
What if… you’re not a developer?
@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
Josh Berkus gave a similar talk in ~2013
Source: Josh Berkus on GitHub: https://jberkus.github.io/pdf_presos/50_ways.pdf
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@clairegiordano
This is how Josh drew ”Contribution Pie” in 2013
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@clairegiordano
Why Beyond Code?
Just like racing sailboats
Every person in the crew—every
role—matters
Source: Livestream of Rolex Big Boats Racing Series, Sep 2021
(my son is on the crew!)
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@clairegiordano
18 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code
1. Write
2. Give a Talk
3. Write a book
4. Video
5. Outreach to other dev
communities
6. User stories
7. Promote, tweet too
8. Run & support Meetups
9. Organize a PG event
10. Shine light on others
11. Report bugs
12. User testing of stuff
13. Translations
14. Doc feedback
15. Stickers
16. Design skills
17. #sketchnotes
18. Welcome people in, &
answer lots of questions
@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
Share learnings & expertise
Shine light on value of Postgres
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Write a blog post
Publish an article
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@clairegiordano
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Syndicate to
Planet Postgres
• to increase reach of your posts
• @planetpostgres on Twitter, too
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@clairegiordano
Share your expertise—give a talk
Source: fosdem.org/2020
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@clairegiordano
@clairegiordano
CLAIRE15 ~ a 15% off discount on any edition
Source: theartofpostgresql.com
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Write a Book
make it easier for
newcomers to use
Postgres
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@clairegiordano
Write a Book
make it easier for
newcomers to use
Postgres
@clairegiordano
Source: sql-performance-explained.com
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@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
Use Video to show what
Postgres can do
Some people learn better via
video
Source: aka.ms/how-citus-distributes-postgres
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@clairegiordano
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Good video metadata
will help your video get
discovered
don’t forget to use meaningful
keywords in the filename!
Thumbnail
Description
3 hashtags
Bookmarks
Links
Chapters
Title
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@clairegiordano
Outreach to your other dev communities
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Source: Louise Grandjonc talk at DjangoCon US YouTube, DjangoCon 2019
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@clairegiordano
Interview your users & tell their stories
• Story
• Headlines
• Diagrams
• Big Metrics
• “Pull quotes”
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@clairegiordano
Interview your users & tell their stories
• ~77.9K views
• aka.ms/blog-ukcovid19-
dashboard-citus
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Example: Co-authored
post w/ Pouria
Hadjibagheri of UKHSA
on implementation of
UK COVID-19 dashboard
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@clairegiordano
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If you build it, they will NOT come. PROMOTE.
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@clairegiordano
Promote on Twitter
learnings,
ideas,
talks,
meetups,
TIL, QOTD, OH,
how-to
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@clairegiordano
Promote on Twitter
new events, too!
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@clairegiordano
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Source: @PostgreSQLNL, @OptimaDataBV
z
Run, host, & support local meetups
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@clairegiordano
Organize a Postgres event
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Source: fosdem.org/2020
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18 Livestream talks
20 On-demand talks
15 Postgres deep-dives
Sessions
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@clairegiordano
Shine a bright light on
other people’s work.
Recognition matters.
• Privately. Publicly. Both.
• Beyond code
• Not just developers
@clairegiordano
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created by Andreas Scherbaum
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Report bugs with
Postgres
When you find a bug with Postgres
we want to hear about it.”
“
“ Your bug reports play an important
part in making PostgreSQL more
reliable.”
Source: postgresql.org
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@clairegiordano
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Source: postgresql.org
WHERE to report bugs
When you find a bug with Postgres
we want to hear about it.”
“
“ Your bug reports play an important
part in making PostgreSQL more
reliable.”
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@clairegiordano
User testing
your own applications!
new features
recent docs updates
–––tell the PG community when
things work
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Imaginary email....
To: pgsql-hackers
Lists: pgsql-hackers
Just tested our
application FOOBAR with
the beta release
candidate for Postgres
15 and wanted to let y’all
that it worked!
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@clairegiordano
Help with message
translations
Mailing list: pgsql-translators
More info: babel.postgresql.org
Instructions in Postgres docs:
“Native Language support”
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@clairegiordano
Submit corrections
to documentation
Clarify
Disambiguate
Help new people understand
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@clairegiordano
Source: postgresql.org
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@clairegiordano
Submit corrections
to documentation
Clarify
Disambiguate
Help new people understand
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@clairegiordano
Source: postgresql.org
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@clairegiordano
Stickers are a thing
Promote your PG projects
Spark unexpected conversations
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@clairegiordano
Use your design skills
• Citus elicorn
• Citus Con pink elephant
• Postgres Activity Book
Graphics & visuals pull people in
Source: Citus “sharded” elicorn mascot
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@clairegiordano
Use your design skills
• Citus elicorn
• Citus Con pink elephant
• Postgres Activity Book
Graphics & visuals pull people in
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@clairegiordano
Use your design skills
• Citus elicorn
• Citus Con pink elephant
• Postgres Activity Book
Graphics & visuals pull people in
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@clairegiordano
Use “Sketchnotes” to
share your learnings
Combine words, lettering styles,
color, sketches, bullets
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@clairegiordano
Source: twitter.com/reverentgeek
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@clairegiordano
Make people feel
welcome
Answer questions.
Lots of questions.
Slack. IRC. Stack Overflow.
Mailing lists.
@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
18 Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code
1. Write
2. Give a Talk
3. Write a book
4. Video
5. Outreach to other dev
communities
6. User stories
7. Promote, tweet too
8. Run & support Meetups
9. Organize a PG event
10. Shine light on others
11. Report bugs
12. User testing of stuff
13. Translations
14. Doc feedback
15. Stickers
16. Design skills
17. #sketchnotes
18. Welcome people in, &
answer lots of questions
@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
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@clairegiordano
Thank you
@citusdata • @CitusCon • @AzureDBPostgres
@clairegiordano