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Peter Zaitsev

Peter Zaitsev

Co‑founder of Percona

Founder | Open-Source Advocate | Technologist | Boards Member, Advisor & Mentor

Co‑founder of Percona and one of the foremost experts on MySQL strategy and optimization. Peter leveraged both his technical vision and entrepreneurial skills to grow Percona from a two‑person shop to one of the most respected open source companies in the business. A serial entrepreneur, he co‑founded his first startup while attending Moscow State University where he majored in Computer Science. He is a co‑author of High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backups, and Replication, one of the most popular books on MySQL performance. Peter frequently speaks as an expert lecturer at open source database conferences and has contributed articles to outlets such as Fortune and DZone.

Talks

Events

Earlier Activities

October 13, 2026
User/ Contributor/ Vendor Communities - Why all three are important for project success
Community Over Code 2026

Community Over Code 2026

Glasgow

October 11, 2026

October 11, 2026
What Happens After You Fork an OSS Project?
MySQL Brazil Conference 2026

MySQL Brazil Conference 2026

Brazil - São Paulo

September 26, 2026

September 26, 2026
State of MySQL Ecosystem
September 25, 2026
Open Source in the Age of AI
Percona University Uruguay 2026

Percona University Uruguay 2026

Montevideo

September 23, 2026

Nerdearla Buenos Aires 2026

Nerdearla Buenos Aires 2026

Buenos Aires

September 22, 2026

August 23, 2026
State of Open Source Databases
Kubecon Europe 2026 Amsterdam

Kubecon Europe 2026 Amsterdam

Amsterdam

March 23, 2026

March 23, 2026
Smarter Databases in Kubernetes: Applying AI for Query Optimization and Self-Tuning
Build Dev Con: In-Memory Databases

Build Dev Con: In-Memory Databases

Online

March 20, 2026

Build DevCon:  Cloud Native Databases

Build DevCon: Cloud Native Databases

Online

February 20, 2026

Build DevCon: Cloud–Native Databases

Build DevCon: Cloud–Native Databases

Online

February 20-21, 2026

February 20, 2026
Are We Ready for Self-Driving Databases?
February 20, 2026
KeyNote: Hybrid Cloud Open Source DBaaS with Kubernetes
January 29, 2026
What MySQL Community Can Learn From PostgreSQL
Community Office Hours: Why PostgreSQL took the crown from MySQL and what lies ahead - January 06, 2026

Community Office Hours: Why PostgreSQL took the crown from MySQL and what lies ahead - January 06, 2026

Online

Tuesday, January 06, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM EST

Summit for MySQL Community, USA Edition — January 14, 2026

Summit for MySQL Community, USA Edition — January 14, 2026

In-Person

Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 9:00 to 17:00 PT

Summit for MySQL Community, Europe — February 2, 2026

Summit for MySQL Community, Europe — February 2, 2026

In-Person

Monday, February 2, 2026, at 10:30 Brussels Time (CET) / 09:30 GMT

PG Armenia x Percona University – Yerevan, August 28, 2025

PG Armenia x Percona University – Yerevan, August 28, 2025

In-Person

August 28, 2025

KCD New York

KCD New York

New York

June 4, 2025

June 4, 2025
Best Practices of Running Databases on Kubernetes
FOSDEM 2025

FOSDEM 2025

Brussels

February 1, 2025

February 1, 2025
Distributed Databases: Essential or Optional?
November 19, 2024
Build a Great Business on Open Source without Selling Your Soul
November 19, 2024
Vector Search in Modern Databases
Percona University Istanbul 2024

Percona University Istanbul 2024

In-Person

September 7, 2024

Percona University Limassol 2024

Percona University Limassol 2024

In-Person

April 22, 2024

Postgres Conference 2024

Postgres Conference 2024

In-Person

April 19, 2024

October 24, 2023
Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age
October 20, 2023
22 reasons to migrate to MySQL 8
October 20, 2023
Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age
October 20, 2023
Making a career out of Open Source
Percona University Athens 2023

Percona University Athens 2023

In-Person

October 16, 2023

Percona University Buenos Aires 2023

Percona University Buenos Aires 2023

In-Person

October 13, 2023

Percona University Montevideo 2023

Percona University Montevideo 2023

In-Person

October 13, 2023

October 5, 2023
MySQL 8 vs MariaDB 10.11
September 6, 2023
Is Open Source Coming Back to Your Cloud?
State of Open Con 2023

State of Open Con 2023

In-Person

February 28, 2023

FOSDEM 2023

FOSDEM 2023

Brussels, Belgium

February 22, 2023

preFOSDEM MySQL Days 2023

preFOSDEM MySQL Days 2023

In-Person

February 16, 2023

February 7, 2023
Cloud of Serfdom vs Cloud of Freedom: why open source will win in the Cloud age
February 3, 2023
From a database in container to DBaaS on Kubernetesu
Percona University Istanbul 2022

Percona University Istanbul 2022

In-Person

November 5, 2022

Chernihiv.IT Conf: Tech Front

Chernihiv.IT Conf: Tech Front

Online

October 1, 2022

Percona MeetUp Queretaro 2022

Percona MeetUp Queretaro 2022

Online

May 6, 2022

Balalaika Meetup With Local Community in Ulyanovsk

Balalaika Meetup With Local Community in Ulyanovsk

In-Person

November 13, 2021

Merge Conf 2021

Merge Conf 2021

Online

November 13, 2021

All Things Open 2021

All Things Open 2021

Raleigh

October 17, 2021

October 17, 2021
Distributed Storage in the Cloud
October 17, 2021
The State of Open Source Databases in 2021
Percona’s 15th Anniversary, MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL With Peter Zaitsev and Vadim Tkachenko - Percona Podcast 41

Percona’s 15th Anniversary, MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL With Peter Zaitsev and Vadim Tkachenko - Percona Podcast 41

Online

September 19, 2021

August 13, 2021
State of MySQL Security in 2021
HighLoad++ Spring 2021

HighLoad++ Spring 2021

Online

May 17, 2021

Open Source 101 2021

Open Source 101 2021

Online

March 30, 2021

March 30, 2021
The Changing Landscape of Open Source Databases
Open Source Database vs. Server Side Public License SSPL With Peter Zaitsev - Percona Podcast 01

Open Source Database vs. Server Side Public License SSPL With Peter Zaitsev - Percona Podcast 01

Online

February 15, 2021

MinervaDB Athena 2020

MinervaDB Athena 2020

online

December 11, 2020

December 11, 2020
MySQL 8 Observability
May 12, 2020
17 Things Developers Need to Know About Databases
February 1, 2020
MySQL 8 vs MariaDB 10.4
January 31, 2020
How to measure Linux Performance Wrong