Silvano Coriani

About the Speaker

• Tell us about yourself: career, family, passions

  30+ years in the database industry, 20+ in MS, I'm specialized in application development and database optimization. I live with my wife and 2 kids (18 and 19) outside of Milan, Italy. My biggest passions are motorsport and music, and on both played some active roles when I was younger 🙂.

• What is your icebreaker for PostgreSQL events?

  My icebreaker is: after 30+ years working on different database product, now I'm a new learner on PostgreSQL because I wanted to keep the best at the end 🙂

• How do you prepare for an online presentation?

  Lots of research and experiments on the subject, and then the "storyboard" comes by itself.

• Which book are you reading right now?

  I just finished reading Enzo Ferrari's biography.

• What is your favorite hobby?

  I would say hiking these days.

About the Talk

• What will your talk be about, exactly? Why this topic?

  I'll talk about HA and DR on Azure Database for PostgreSQL. I decided for that because is think that the complexity of providing highly available and reliable database solution is often underestimated, and what managed services like Azure are providing out of the box is simply amazing.

• What is the audience for your talk?

  Database administrators and architects.

• What existing knowledge should the attendee have?

  PostgreSQL fundamentals on physical replication.

• Which other talk at this year’s conference would you like to watch?

  All of them! 🙂

• How do you balance technical depth with engaging storytelling in your conference presentations?

  That's an art more than a science... after 20+ years presenting on stage I must admit that some times it works and some times it doesn't.

About PostgreSQL

• What inspired you to work with PostgreSQL?

  Although I've spent most of my career working on other database products, I was keeping an eye on PostgreSQL for quite a while and I always appreciated its great application development capabilities.

• What is your favorite PostgreSQL feature?

  Logical replication, for all the great data integration opportunities it opens up.

• What is the single thing that you think differentiates PostgreSQL most from other databases?

  Extensibility

• What is your favorite PostgreSQL extension or tool? And why?

  pg_stat_statements, because I think it's an essential tool for monitoring and troubleshooting your workloads.

• What advice would you give to someone starting their journey with PostgreSQL?

  Learning something new every day, that's how i'm approaching it!

• What are your favorite resources for learning about PostgreSQL?

  Youtube videos from conferences.

• Could you share a memorable experience or challenge you faced while working with PostgreSQL?

  Biggest challenge so far is translating concepts from other products into PostgreSQL.

• In your opinion, what are the most common pitfalls or mistakes developers make when working with PostgreSQL?

  Not resonate about sets but rather row by row

• Which skills are a must have for a PostgreSQL user/developer?

  Relational theory fundamentals

• What is the most overlooked thing about PostgreSQL?

  Maybe JSON? 🙂

• PostgreSQL is open-source, did that ever help you in anyway and how?

  Yes, most likely by looking at the code when I'm in doubts.

• If you had a magic wand, what single thing would you change in PostgreSQL as it is today?

  Nothing for now.

About POSETTE & Events

• Have you enjoyed previous POSETTE (formerly Citus Con) conferences, either as an attendee or as a speaker?

  Nope, this is my first one.

• What motivated you to speak at this year’s POSETTE: An Event for Postgres?

  Be part of Postgres' community!

• What other PostgreSQL events in 2024 are you excited about?

  PGConf EU

• What advice would you give to fellow speakers preparing for a PostgreSQL conference?

  Dry run your session a lot!

• What would be helpful for a first-time speaker?

  I think it would be having a coach he can reach out to clarify doubts or unknowns.

• Could you share a memorable moment from a previous PostgreSQL conference you attended or spoke at?

  I've presented about PostgreSQL at a SQL Server conference, what can be more memorable? 🙂