What do conference planning, hacking weddings, and cat-free coding sessions have to do with Postgres? In Episode 34 of Talking Postgres, Melanie Plageman—Postgres committer and major contributor from Microsoft—joins Claire for a lively deep dive into what developers can expect at PGConf.dev 2026 as Postgres turns 30. We explore new content formats, the role of travel grants, why Tuesday becomes a full conference day, and how the hallway track often shapes the next Postgres release. Plus: creating space for new contributors to get inspired and get involved. And yes—the CFP is open until Jan 16, 2026.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Podcast: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie Plageman
• Podcast: How I got started as a dev and in Postgres with Melanie Plageman & Thomas Munro
• Conference: PGConf.dev 2026
• CFP for PGConf.dev: CFP will close on Jan 16, 2026
• PGConf.dev 2026: About
• PGConf.dev 2026: Sponsorship levels
• PGConf.dev 2026: Travel grant program
• Social: LinkedIn account for PGConf.dev
• POSETTE: An Event for Postgres: POSETTE CFP is open until Feb 1, 2026
• Meetup: Post about inaugural PostgreSQL Nairobi Meetup in Dec 2025
• PGDay Lowlands 2025: Debate on Kubernetes, session details
• PGDay Lowlands 2025: Debate about autotuning, session details
• Conference talk at PGCon 2019: Intro to Postgres Planner Hacking, by Melanie Plageman
• Blog post: The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences, by Eric Holsher
• Discord invite for PostgreSQL Hacking Mentoring server: https://discord.gg/bx2G9KWyrY
• Cal invite: LIVE recording of Ep35 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Jan 14, 2026

What do guitar busking, geospatial queries, and agentic coding have to do with Postgres? In Episode 33 of Talking Postgres, principal engineer Rob Emanuele at Microsoft shares his winding path from Venice Beach to building a new VS Code extension for PostgreSQL—that works with any Postgres, anywhere. We dig into GitHub Copilot, ask vs. agent mode, and how Rob now codes in English—and then spends even more time in code review to decide what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s dangerous. Also: how PyCon changed his life; his work on the Microsoft Planetary Computer with spatio-temporal queries and PostGIS; and how music, improv, and failure shape his approach to developer experience.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Visual Studio Marketplace: VS Code extension for PostgreSQL with ~261K downloads to date
• GitHub repo: VS Code extension for PostgreSQL (for issues/discussions)
• Docs: GitHub Copilot agent mode
• POSETTE 2025 Talk: Introducing Microsoft’s VS Code Extension for PostgreSQL, by Matt McFarland
• VS Code Live: Working with PostgreSQL databases with the Microsoft PostgreSQL VS Code extension, with Olivia Guzzardo & Rob Emanuele
• Talking Postgres Ep30: AI for data engineers with Simon Willison
• Postgres Meetup for All: VS Code Tools for Postgres, happening on Thu Dec 11, 2025
• Wikipedia: Dogfooding
• Talking Postgres Ep07: Why people care about PostGIS and Postgres with Paul Ramsey & Regina Obe
• POSETTE 2024 keynote: The Open Source Geospatial Community, PostGIS, & Postgres, by Regina Obe
• Website: Microsoft Planetary Computer
• GitHub repo: PgSTAC
• Cal invite: LIVE recording of Ep34 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Dec 10, 2025

What do chess clocks, jazz, and Postgres replication have in common? In Episode 32 of Talking Postgres, solution architect Boriss Mejías shares how the idea of “interconnectedness”—inspired by Douglas Adams—can help you untangle complex Postgres questions. We explore OpenAI’s approach to scaling Postgres, how Postgres active-active mirrors Sparta’s dual kingship, and how a holistic approach can reveal the behavior of synchronous replication. Also: Beethoven’s 17 drafts, and why chasing perfection can hold you back. Listen to learn more about Boriss, Postgres, and the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Podcast Ep32 of Talking Postgres: What went wrong (& what went right) with AIO with Andres Freund
• Podcast Ep03 of Talking Postgres: Why give talks at Postgres conferences with Álvaro Herrera & Boriss Mejías:
• Wikipedia: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams
• Talk at PGConf NYC 2025: Scaling Postgres to the Next Level at OpenAI, by Bohan Zhang
• Video of PGConf.dev 2025 talk: Scaling Postgres to the Next Level at OpenAI, by Bohan Zhang
• Talk at PGConf NYC 2025: Improved Freezing in Postgres Vacuum: From Idea to Commit, by Melanie Plageman
• Talk at PGConf NYC 2025: Database Modeling to Study the New York Jazz Scene, by Boriss Mejías
• Jazz Club in NYC: Patrick’s Place in Harlem
• Video of PGConf EU 2024 talk: Sparta’s Dual-Kingship and PostgreSQL Active-Active, by Boriss Mejías
• Video of POSETTE 2025 talk: Postgres Storytelling: Cunning Schema Design with Creative Data Modeling, by Boriss Mejías & Sarah Conway
• Talk at FOSDEM PGDay 2024: High Availability Configurations Are Very Common for PostgreSQL, But How Do You Investigate Performance Problems When the Standby Can’t Keep Up? by Boriss Mejías and Derk van Veen
• Conference: PGDay Lowlands 2025, the second year of this “second-best Postgres conference in Europe”
• Conference Schedule: upcoming PGConf EU 2025 in Latvia
• Wikipedia: Chess clock
• Book: Daily Rituals, by Mason Currey
• Article: It Takes Two to Think, by Itai Yanai & Martin J. Lercher
• Poem: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Coleridge
• Wikipedia: City of Bruges Belgium, a good place for beer and cheese
• Cal invite: LIVE recording of Ep33 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Nov 5, 2025