Introduction:

My professional role is Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer of PGX, Inc., a PostgreSQL consultancy in Alameda, California. I serve as the President of the United States PostgreSQL Association (PgUS), and am the Board Liaison with the PgUS Diversity Committee. I am a co-organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area PostgreSQL Users Group. I was honored to be named as a Major Contributor in July 2023.

Journey in PostgreSQL

My professional work began when the then-CEO of PGX approached me to do some Human Resources consulting for the company. Little did I know I would end up on the executive team! My community work began at PgCon Ottawa in 2010, when I volunteered to help “for a few hours”, and that turned into the entire week.

(II) Can you share a pivotal moment or project in your PostgreSQL career that has been particularly meaningful to you?

At FOSDEM in 2016, Tom Lane approached me on behalf of the Core Team about creating a community Code of Conduct policy and process, which was a great honor and deepened my community involvement.

Contributions and Achievements:

The Community Code of Conduct. It was a long and complex process: drafting the policy, gathering feedback, revising the draft, keeping communication open and constructive to address the concerns expressed about how it might affect the community, and holding a public session about it at PgCon Ottawa to give those present a chance to discuss it directly with me and the Core Team. It took longer than expected, but the time and effort we put into it was well worth the results. The Code of Conduct policy was officially launched in 2018, and I was Chair of the Committee for the first three years.

(II) Have you faced any challenges in your work with PostgreSQL, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge for me is increasing community involvement, and that’s an ongoing process. Meeting people at events (conferences, Meetups, etc.) is a significant part of bringing people into active roles in the community. During the Covid lockdown years, when there were no in-person events, the challenge was even greater, and so we had to focus on trying to create those opportunities for connection in other ways. The Meetup groups who held virtual events were a great help in this regard, and the increased activity on the community mailing lists was also a source for new volunteers.

Even with the return of in-person events, it’s still a lot of work to persuade people to step into a community role. People worry about being too new to the community, or not knowing enough to take on a role—to which I say that I joined the conference staff onsite at the first Postgres event I attended, and I think it has worked out pretty well!

Community Involvement:

PgUS is where I focus most of my community time. In addition to all the President work to be done, I am the Board Liaison for the Diversity Committee, which is quite rewarding. I manage our Membership Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator, and am available to the PgUS Committee Chairs as a sounding board when they have questions or ideas to discuss.

I am currently organizing the onsite Code of Conduct Committee for PgConf.Dev in Montreal, and have managed the onsite CoCC for PgConf.EU for the past two years.

PGEU has a Diversity Task Force working to create their own Diversity Program, and I have been acting as an advisor to them, providing ideas and materials developed by the PgUS Diversity Committee.

There is interest in reviving Postgres Women activities in Europe and North America, and I am working to create a structure for that.

(II) Can you share your experience with mentoring or supporting other women in the PostgreSQL ecosystem?

For me, support and mentoring are simply what I do each day; I don’t have a set time for “now I will mentor this person!” Many of the women who were active in Postgres when I joined the community have left due to job changes, life changes, etc. so I have a longevity which gives me a unique perspective I can share with those who are newer to Postgres. I do my best to be visible and available and am pleased that people seem to feel comfortable approaching me for advice and support about becoming involved with Postgres.

Restarting the Postgres Women activities will provide structured opportunities for mentoring, and I’m excited to see how those will develop.

The PgUS Diversity Committee has several new members as of this year, most of whom are at the start of their careers, and I am doing my best to provide support and useful encouragement to them.

Insights and Advice:

Ask questions—and answer them, too. There’s always something you can learn, and there’s always something you can teach. Even if you have only been working with Postgres for a week, you know something that the person who just started today hasn’t learned yet—be willing to share that knowledge and keep that openness as you progress.

The same is true for community involvement, whether in an official role, or simply as a welcoming presence at an event. If you felt shy at your first User Group Meeting or conference, and you’ve developed ways to overcome that, you can befriend someone who is attending their first event and help them feel welcome.

(II) Are there any resources (books, courses, forums) you’d recommend to someone looking to deepen their PostgreSQL knowledge?

The community mailing lists are terrific! Especially for those new to working with Postgres, the Novice list is a great place to learn your way around the code.

I’d like to see more activity on the Advocacy list—it’s a good place to start your community involvement.

Looking Forward:

PgUS is working on some new ways to bring in volunteers, and I’m hopeful that they will work out! I also have great hopes for our new Diversity Committee; they are a good group with many ideas.

I am especially excited about PGEU’s emerging Diversity Program and look forward to seeing how it develops.

I am also working on ideas for increasing community involvement in general, not only with the nonprofit organizations, and look forward to rolling those out this year.

(II) Do you have any upcoming projects or goals within the PostgreSQL community that you can share?

Everything I talked about in (I), above!

Personal Reflection:

Being part of the PostgreSQL community means having the opportunity to work alongside some of the smartest, most creative, and genuinely caring people I’ve had the good fortune to meet, so that we can make both the software and the community better for everyone.

(II) How do you balance your professional and personal life, especially in a field that is constantly evolving?

I am fortunate that my company gives its employees working hours to do community work, which is a large part of why I have the balance I do. However, being completely honest, I don’t always do a great job of balancing, even with that advantage. Part of it is that I am so focused on my goals for PgUS and other community work, I am willing to devote more time to those projects and make them a priority for my non-work time when I feel it’s necessary.

The time boundaries I do keep are: 1) no day job work on the weekends and 2) Screenless Sundays. I occasionally do community work on the weekend, but I do my best to limit it to work hours; I would rather work extra time during the week and keep my weekends clear.

Screenless Sundays are essential for my well-being. One full day with no computer, no tablet, and no phone is amazing. I figure if the Queen of Denmark can take Sunday off to engage in personal and artistic pursuits, I can manage to do the same!

Message to the Community:

Don’t hesitate to start; if you have started, keep going! Don’t overthink it—just pick one thing and do it today. Whether that’s posting your first question (or answer) to a list, or volunteering as conference staff, or taking on a larger role in the community, taking that first step may seem overwhelming.

Once you have taken it, however, each consecutive step follows more easily; you find yourself learning things, making contributions to the project, developing good relationships with colleagues, and a few colleagues who become friends.

You will go places and have experiences you wouldn’t have imagined at the start—so start today!