Please tell us about yourself, and where you are from.

Hi ^.^ my name is Dilan. I was born in Ankara, the capital of Turkiye. I love my city very much! Although I lived in Istanbul for a while for work, I returned to Ankara.

Since the pandemic, I’ve been working remotely. Currently, I work as a Senior PostgreSQL Developer at Adjust. Rather than living abroad, I prefer traveling and then returning to my own country. I’m a mom of two cats..

How is life at Adjust these days?

:) It has been a bit intense.. There are new developments, and at the same time, we are making changes to improve the existing structure. That’s why we are working hard..

How do you spend your free time? What are your hobbies?

I love Kendo.. Kendo is a martial art of Japanese origin and literally means “way of the sword”. It is derived from the words “ken” (sword) and “do” (way, or way of life). Kendo is actually a branch of art that modernizes Japanese sword fighting, turning it into a physical sport and a mental discipline. I’ve been practising Kendo for 13 years. I was also part of the Turkish national team..

I’m learning Japanese because I love Japanese culture and have been involved in it for a long time. I absolutely love watching anime..

I love dancing and have been doing tango for 8 years. One of my favorite activities is meeting up with my two close friends for dinner and drinks every Thursday before our tango class, and then heading to the lesson.

Thanks to kendo, I’ve traveled to many countries.. But this year, for the first time, I’m attending tango festivals, and it’s absolutely incredible! The first festival, Ephesus Tango Marathon, I went to was in Şirince, and it was held in a historic church that had been transformed into a tango dance floor while preserving its original texture. Wooden flooring was installed, and special lighting was added..it was a fantastic atmosphere. Even better were the daytime milongas - tango social dance events - where we danced in an ancient theater area during the day. It was truly unforgettable.

Other than that, like everyone else, I enjoy reading books and watching movies.

Any exercises you do regularly?

Hmm, I try to go to the gym twice a week regularly… but just because I have to, and I do it as if I’m using my last two brain cells, thankfully, I have a PT :)

Last book you read? Or a book you want to recommend to readers?

I love reading books and have favorite authors that I follow. However, in the past few years, every time I pick up a book, thoughts start running through my head like: ‘I could be watching an anime instead, reading a Japanese storybook, starting that series everyone’s been talking about, or listening to an episode of the Postgres.fm podcast.’ :) Despite this, I try to make sure I read at least a few pages before bed.

I love crime, mystery, and detective stories. I started with Agatha Christie and Stephen King, then became obsessed with Jean Christophe Grange and Maxime Chattam. Crime novels, especially those written by Grange and Chattam, contain incredible mathematical structures.. they are like master equation solvers. Their storytelling and plot construction amaze me every time.

Since my mother is passionate about literature I grew up reading Russian classics from a young age. My mom had a condition for buying an Agatha Christie book: for every Agatha Christie novel, I had to read one or two Russian classics. And I’m glad she did! I can recommend all Russian classics. (This part is for my mom to read! :) ) You should check out Jean Christophe Grange and Maxime Chattam, although all their books are amazing, “La Foret Des Manes” by Grange and “La trilogie du mal” by Chattam are the first that come to mind. Oh, and I absolutely love “The Seventh Scroll” by Wilbur Smith. The books of Robin Cook, Dean R. Koontz, Joanne Harris… Ah, this list could go on forever! o_0

Favorite movie, or show?

Just like with authors, I have a wide range of tastes when it comes to movies and series. Instead of overwhelming you with a long list, I’ll just share a few that I believe are incredible but not as widely known.

For Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica fans, I think “The Expanse” is just as amazing. Since I love comedy shows, I have to mention two brilliant series from the same director: “The IT Crowd” and “Black Books”.

And of course, all of Hayao Miyazaki’s anime, every single one of them.. Lastly, I’ll recommend another anime, but this time not by Hayao Miyazaki. Even though I don’t like dramas, I think people who haven’t watched “Grave of the Fireflies” are missing out on a lot.

Best drink? Non-alcoholic or alcoholic?

As a Turk, of course, rakı :) I absolutely love it. There’s a saying in our culture: rakı is meant to be enjoyed in good company. It’s all about the experience, the rakı, the mezes (small shared appetizer dishes like tapas in Spanish cuisine), and the conversation. Just perfect..

What is the best advice you ever got?

I will answer this question with one word: Zanshin

I don’t intend to dive deep into Zen philosophy or talk about spiritual things. That’s the beauty of it, you know what it is, and you can apply it to any part of your life as you want. I try to apply it when I face challenges in life.

Although there are many different definitions, I will describe the one in Kendo. In Kendo, Zanshin is not just about maintaining awareness after striking an opponent, it is a continuous state of readiness, awareness, and mental resilience. This can also be applied to life; it’s about staying alert, calm, and adaptable even in difficult times. Like many things in Kendo, mastering Zanshin is a lifelong process. Simply put, Zanshin means never letting your guard down and always moving forward.

When did you start using PostgreSQL, and why?

I actually started out working with Oracle database. The first database I had to troubleshoot and bring back to life was Oracle. We were developing applications on it, using Java. I worked with Oracle, did projects with GoldenGate, but at some point, everything changed when I discovered the philosophy of open source.

Back in university, I got into Linux because of my dad.(He is an electrical and electronics engineer.) Even though we used Windows in the labs, my personal computer at home ran Linux. My first distribution was Debian, which holds a special place for me. Subconsciously, I think the reason I chose Debian was its logo: it looked incredibly similar to the symbol on Naruto’s forehead protector in the anime :)

In 2016, I joined a company in Turkiye that had proven itself in the field of open-source and specialized in niche projects. That’s when I started working with PostgreSQL and Linux.

Do you remember which version of PostgreSQL you started with?

It was 9.x, because I remember the embedded streaming replication feature introduced in version 9.0, it really impressed me..

On which PostgreSQL-related projects are you currently working?

In my current company, I’m fully working as a PostgreSQL DBA. All the servers managed by our DBA team run PostgreSQL on Linux. In the simplest terms, we are responsible for the 24/7 operation, installation, maintenance, and backup of these servers. Our TPS values are so high that sometimes traditional solutions or tools aren’t enough to solve our issues, and we have to take different approaches..

What is your favorite PostgreSQL extension?

I first interacted with “pg_repack” at Adjust, and it’s on its way to becoming my favorite. However, at my previous company, since we mostly worked on migrations, I can definitely say that “postgres_fdw” is my favorite. It’s an amazing feature—I absolutely love it..

What is the most annoying PostgreSQL thing you can think of? And any chance to fix it?

Since I was involved in many migration projects at my previous company, the most frustrating question I used to get was: “So, PostgreSQL doesn’t support multi master replication?”

Another question that used to frustrate me was: “Wait, what?! You don’t save the execution plan? You run it every single time?!” :)

I could list so many questions like this… But anyway, my answer will still be the same: the lack of a multi-master setup.

What is the feature you like most in the latest PostgreSQL version?

As an answer to this question, I won’t talk about a new feature in the latest PostgreSQL version, but rather about one from version 15. Whether it’s good or bad is debatable, but it definitely affected us :) Since we have cron jobs where we set a retention parameter, we recently discovered that these jobs behave differently depending on the PostgreSQL version because of this feature:

When interval input provides a fractional value for a unit greater than months, round to the nearest month (Bruce Momjian) §

For example, convert 1.99 years to 2 years, not 1 year 11 months as before.

Should PostgreSQL have a built-in connection pooler?

Hmm… pgBouncer already does a great job. PostgreSQL’s existing connection management architecture is already modular and efficient. Also a built-in connection pooler could make PostgreSQL more complex.

For this reason, I don’t think a built-in connection pooler is necessary. It would be nice to have, but even without it, pgBouncer works perfectly fine in my opinion.

Should PostgreSQL have built-in multi-master replication?

Of course, I’d love for PostgreSQL to have an option for multi-master support, those who need it could use it. But would I want it to be built-in? :) It’s a trade-off world, if it comes at the cost of performance issues or disabling certain features, then I wouldn’t want it.

But as far as I know, it’s possible to run PostgreSQL in a multi-master setup using third-party solutions, and the closest one to this is probably EDB’s BDR solution. I remember that solution from a few years ago, but I’m not sure what stage it is at now or if it’s actively used anywhere. However, from what I read in the documentation, it seemed like a pretty solid product.

Which skills are a must have for a PostgreSQL developer/user?

Hmm.. as an answer, I’d say reading the manual & log reading :)

Do you use any git best practices, which makes working with PostgreSQL easier?

I wasn’t thinking specifically in the context of PostgreSQL, but there are some commands I use very frequently. Since we can’t do anything without creating a branch, that’s the first one that comes to mind: “git checkout -b new_branch”.

The next one is “squash”, because before getting a PR review, there’s a phrase I often hear in my company :)

Which PostgreSQL conferences do you visit? Do you submit talks?

“pgDay Paris” is my favorite.

At my previous company, they told me, “We’ll send you to a conference every year, pick one.” Five years ago, I chose Paris, and since it coincided with my birthday, it became my favorite.

Another thing I love about pgDay Paris is that it’s a female-dominant pgDay. I met all the amazing women in the PostgreSQL Community there: Stefanie, Floor, Valeria… (Let me add Gülçin and Ayşe Bilge as well, even though I met them at PGConfEU :))

Also, let me highlight that the 2024 PGConfEU conference in Greece was the most attended Postgres conference ever, it was really fantastic..

Are you coming to PGConf.DE? It’s in Berlin!

I was in Berlin at the end of December, both for the New Year holidays and to meet my colleagues at Adjust :) I stayed for a month.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend PGConf.DE, but I’m really happy that PGConf.EU will be held in Riga this year. One of my close friends lives in Latvia, so I will be there..

Do you think PostgreSQL has a high entry barrier?

As a dba coming from Oracle, I’d say no. :) Plus, PostgreSQL has incredibly good documentation, I absolutely love postgresql.org.

And then there’s the amazing community behind it. Also, I’d like to mention that I really love the quote Stephanie used on her LinkedIn. It’s very simple, but beautiful, and its beauty lies in its simplicity: “PostgreSQL doesn’t have a community; it is a community.”

Do you think PostgreSQL will be here for many years in the future?

One of the questions I often get in my country is: “Will PostgreSQL continue to thrive? Look at what happened to MySQL”. Well, this question already comes with its own answer: as long as this amazing Postgres community exists, my answer will always be a definite YES!

Anything else you like to add?

First of all, I’d like to thank Andreas (Scherbaum :) for valuable contributions to the community and for taking the time to this interview.. When I first join Adjust I thought I’d have a chance to work with him, but as it turns out, our interaction took the form of this PostgreSQL-focused interview instead :) Thank you soooo much ^.^