Well this looks like a job for me: My first weeks at Percona

After a looong break, I’m back in open source. I have officially joined Percona - the open-source database experts. And I jumped in headfirst: straight to PGConf.EU to cover it.

What a delight! Here’s the story.

1. One shot

To get this job, I took some risks. I was somewhat ridiculous in my video assignment. I was also honest about what I know and don’t know, and I openly questioned the need for someone in this role. And I took notes.

2. When the vibes match

When I first opened percona.com, I saw an AI goat jumping across cliffs. I also saw the Principles of Database Unshittification, and a chatbot named GOAT. I couldn’t help but laugh.

I get it. They can afford it. They’re good. They have some of the best people around. They support and sponsor some of the coolest projects out there. I’ve only been here a few weeks, and I already know that.

It hooked me. It’s nice to be part of something actually good. They’re actually smart. And actually funny. Like me, ekh ekh. And it goes all the way up. That feeling of we’re doing this together is really, really potent. In just about seven days, I already felt trusted and supported to do my job.

And I love goats. Srsly! So, like I said, the vibes #totally match.

3. PGConf.EU and more

The community

I’m so glad to be part of a community of database people who are passionate and excited about what they do. It’s a diverse group of professionals who are genuine fans of their projects.

But it wasn’t only PGConf.EU. While I was in Valencia, Percona also spoke at All Things Open in Raleigh, NC, and at Observability Day. Also a meetup in Poland. All this was happening at the same time. It’s incredible to see how active people are, it’s like 45 things happening at once. And I’m not even joking: in October alone, there were 31 conference talks, plus I get roughly 12 blog posts to cover every week. Definitely not boring.

Three things I learned at PGConf.EU

1. The history. The conference was celebrating 30 years of PostgreSQL, but Ellyne P. made a clear point: Postgres has been an open source project for 30 years - but the software is 40 years old. In 1996, developers outside Berkeley took over, and there was no formal handoff. The project itself started in 1986. She walked us through its first decade, built by people who are still around, still watching, and still having opinions.

2. What happened that Monday. David Steele and Jan Wieremjewicz told the story of pgBackRest. Hearing David Steele, who built it, tell the story was something else. It also explained why it’s a big topic at Percona.

3. The repo host doesn’t have to host the repo. Whuuuutttt?! That’s the exact line from Stefan Fercot’s talk. He told us to sit with it, and I’m still sitting.

I’m also sitting with the moment when someone in the audience asked: “So what’s your solution to this… Oracle problem? Is it your 24/7 support?” Silence… And the answer came: an honest, confident yes. No manipulation, no pretending. It was pretty cool to see that confidence.

The real SocMedOps™

At Percona I’m the Community & Social Media Coordinator. I came up with SocMedOps just now, heh. This is what I love to do. Normally, at any conference, I run around taking pictures of alllll the memes and oddities, then I post them on X. So I jumped right in and started sharing them on PerconaBytes across platforms.

Shoutout to Srinath Reddy Sadipiralla for the memes in his slides! Great first talk. I can’t wait to see more!

Then I came up with the slow-motion walk. Huge thanks to the team for being up for my ideas! And then Jan shared a 22-verse song about the history of PostgreSQL with me. We didn’t film it all, but we got a lot, and I’m grateful as a peach. 🍑

I joke, but I do think I got hired because I get about 50% of what they’re saying in the song…

4. The team

Besides all the incredible PG people I’ve met, my own team has been a delight: funny, helpful, and appropriately demanding too. I’m still finding my way around. How to keep track of 45 things happening each day? Idk yet.

But here’s what I can say: expect behind-the-scenes content from Percona on my LinkedIn profile as I keep going.

And if you want to try Percona’s open source tools, reach out. I’m here, and I can point you to the right person. You can also find us on X at @PerconaBytes and in the Percona community on LinkedIn.

Thank you to everyone I’ve met so far, and especially my team: Kyle, Alastair, Laura, and Daniil, who stays away from us because he doesn’t like people (but I know that isn’t true).

I’m grateful and I feel very welcome on the Percona team. I can’t wait for the next conference, especially FOSDEM. 🐐🐐🐐

P.S. idk why there are Eminem references today. It just happened. We’ll have to live with it – for today..

P.P.S. As you know, I like memes and can laugh at myself, so I leave you with this one (because if you got this far you deserve a laugh, haha):

See you soon! ∎