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

I live in Southern California, where I’ve spent a lot of time hiking in the beautiful local deserts and pursuing many creative endeavors (including music, art, & crafting). I’m the founder of Talk to Me About Tech where I help companies like Data Bene with developer relations consulting & services.

At the moment, along with Douglas Hunley, my spare time is largely being devoted to a project called “https://theopensource.community” where we are seeking to aid open source projects in their journey to ensuring the longevity and maturity of the project, along with helping end-users to understand how to get started either using or contributing to the same. Eventually, we will be seeking to help match both projects and qualified individuals in successful contribution & mentorship programs. (If anyone is interested in taking part, from any open source community, please reach out to me on any of my social media channels listed below!)

I’m also the founder of (2 Rabbit Rescue), a rabbit rescue that specializes in enabling the successful fostering & adoption of bunnies. They are a species that’s historically been severely misunderstood and misrepresented, leading to high rates of abandonment and red-listing in shelters. We’re based in Southern California but our services extend across the entire United States.

Any Social Media channels of yours we should be aware of?

• Personal LinkedIn
• Talk to Me About Tech’s Mastodon
• Talk to Me About Tech’s LinkedIn

I do have an official Twitter / X account, but have decided to abandon it since the platform was acquired.

When did you start using PostgreSQL, and why?

I started using Linux very early on, and my father brought me to my first open source conference (SCaLE 6x in Southern California) when I turned 11, which I attended without fail until I stopped travelling (for reasons unrelated to Covid!) in 2020.

He bribed me into first experimenting with PostgreSQL by presenting me with the following opportunity: submit a talk to PostgresOpen (which was in Chicago that year), and voila! If it were accepted, I’d get to come along. And so, at 15 I began my first ventures into using PostgreSQL and becoming invested in the PostgreSQL community.

Do you remember which version of PostgreSQL you started with?

I began learning with a Linux VM running PostgreSQL 9.2, which had just been released at the time.

Have you studied at a university? If yes, was it related to computers? Did your study help you with your current job?

I have attended a community college and two online universities (Arizona State University and Western Governors University), where I’ve collected an array of degrees and certifications ranging from telecommunications to cybersecurity and information assurance.

To be quite honest, of all of the classes I’ve taken, very few had any impact on my current job or past work I’ve done. The majority of my experience has come from hands-on learning and self-study.

Western Governors University had the most relevant classes to my career, as they are much more committed than other colleges to staying on top of new developments, best practices, and trends when it comes to information technology as a field.

How do you contribute to PostgreSQL? Any contributions to PostgreSQL which do not involve writing code?

I have contributed to the PostgreSQL community and project in a number of ways over the years. I began coding websites for PostgreSQL conferences in 2016, starting with PostgresOpen, and have since either fully developed or have contributed to the development of websites for PostgresOpen, PgDU, PgConf APAC, PgDay Austin, and other conferences. I’ve also contributed code upstream to the PgEU website codebase as a result of working with their templates for the conference websites.

This work led to the development of a redesigned website first for PostgreSQL US, then the main PostgreSQL project website itself.

Separately from the website contributions, I was an organizer of PostgresOpen for 3 years and ran their social media campaign during this time.

More recently, I’ve been involved in the Code of Conduct committee for PGDay Lowlands.

I was a part of the United States PostgreSQL Association’s Diversity Committee for almost three years, and held the titles of Director and Diversity Committee Chair during that time.

I have also been an organization administrator for both the Google Season of Docs 2019 and Google Code-In 2018 initiatives for the PostgreSQL project.

Besides that, I’ve been a PostgreSQL evangelist for almost the entirety of my career, and have no plans on stopping.

Catch my courses designed to provide basic introductions to PostgreSQL for new developers on LinkedIn Learning.

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

The incredibly dense documentation that is intimidating and overwhelming for new users, with no clear idea of where or how to start working with PostgreSQL - especially if you don’t come from a coding background.

Of course there’s a chance to fix it - it just means we’ll need to break down the to-do’s into one manageable task at a time. An interesting approach would be to take the suggested project ideas listed in the Google Season of Docs PostgreSQL wiki page and turn them into bite-sized tasks that a coordinated group of volunteers could chip away at.

This also requires a coordinated effort to improve what the current contribution process looks like to modernize or streamline the technology stack underlying the docs, and ensure that the new process is fully documented and easily able to be followed by new contributors.

Could you describe your PostgreSQL development toolbox?

I have an affinity for Atom as a hackable text editor, but am currently using Visual Studio Code as my primary code editor. For command-line editing, vi is my editor of choice.

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

Of course, PostgresOpen, but other conferences I have attended over the years include PostgreSQL@SCaLE and PGCon. I have submitted and given talks in the past on either cybersecurity or PostgreSQL related subjects.

I most recently visited PGDay Lowlands & POSETTE, but other conferences I have attended over the years include PostgreSQL@SCaLE, PGCon, and PostgresOpen. Nowadays I don’t travel, but have been keeping an eye out for virtual events (user groups, PGDays, or conferences) to attend like POSETTE. I have submitted and given talks in the past on either cybersecurity, open source, or PostgreSQL related subjects.

Do you think PostgreSQL has a high entry barrier?

I do not believe it does, but I do believe it can appear to others to have a high entry barrier - especially those that are unfamiliar with the community or open source in general. Those that venture out into the community and begin to explore on their own are welcomed with enthusiasm and support; however, many don’t take that initial leap to discover that. The lack of optimization around the documentation, website, and contribution process is a major contributor to this.

What is your advice for people who want to start PostgreSQL developing - as in, contributing to the project. Where and how should they start?

Currently, I believe the best way would be to begin joining conversations if you haven’t already. This might mean travelling to conferences, events, or local user groups and creating connections; or it could be as simple as reaching out over any of the numerous PostgreSQL channels (Slack, IRC, Telegram, etc. where the community is found and establishing contact.

Ask questions, make suggestions, become involved! Over the mailing lists alone (especially -advocacy) there are always projects that could use a helping hand. This doesn’t have to be necessarily through contributions to the PostgreSQL codebase; requests for skillsets I’ve seen in the past (and have made personally) have included website development, social media, communication, organization, graphic design, writing, and many, many others. You do not have to know C code in order to contribute in a meaningful way to the PostgreSQL - or any other open source - project.

This is something that is finally being recognized in a meaningful way through postgres-contrib.org - know anyone who is contributing in a non-technical way to PostgreSQL? Send a note to the organizers to recognize them here!

Do you think PostgreSQL will be here for many years in the future? Would you recommend PostgreSQL for business, or for side projects?

Absolutely. It is a solid and well developed choice for all environments, whether they be enterprise or personal.

Are you reading the -hackers mailinglist? Any other list?

I primarily listen off the -women, -advocacy, and -www mailing lists.

Anything else you like to add?

I’ve grown up with the PostgreSQL community, and will always be grateful for the interactions and experiences I’ve had and continue to have. May you all live long and prosper.