Why mentor Postgres developers with Robert Haas

Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano

Nobody works on an open-source project forever—eventually, people move on. So of course today's Postgres contributors want to see more developers join the project, pick up the torch, and continue to make Postgres amazing. Hence the importance of mentorship. In this episode of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, PostgreSQL major contributor and committer Robert Haas shares how he learned the ropes in Postgres by channeling “what would Tom Lane do” during patch reviews; why he launched the new PostgreSQL Hackers Mentoring program; and the intellectually stimulating care and feeding it takes to make Postgres thrive.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Podcast episode: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie Plageman
• Slide: PGConf EU 2024 talk by Claire Giordano about Contributions to Postgres, including new mentoring program
• Blog post: New Mentoring Program for Code Contributors in Postgres, by Robert Haas
• Blog post: Postgres Mentoring Program Updates, by Robert Haas
• Discord invite for PostgreSQL Hacker Mentoring server: https://discord.gg/bx2G9KWyrY
• Bio: Margo Seltzer, the PGConf.dev 2024 keynote speaker
• Video: PGConf.dev 2024 panel discussion about Making PostgreSQL Hacking More Inclusive with Amit Langote, Masahiko Sawada, Melanie Plageman, & Robert Haas
• Mailing list: PostgreSQL Hackers
• Upcoming Conference: PGConf.dev 2025, the annual PostgreSQL Development Conference happening in Montreal Canada on May 13-16, 2025
• Blog: Postgres committer Tomas Vondra’s Blog - Look for [PATCH IDEA]
• Video of Talk: CMUDB Database talk about PostgreSQL Optimizer Methodology, by Robert Haas
• Podcast episode: How I got started as a developer & in Postgres with David Rowley
• Calendar invite: LIVE recording of Ep25 of Talking Postgres podcast to happen on Wed Mar 12, 2025 with guest Dawn Wages of the Python developer community