Why Tech Events Matter for Data Pros (and why I’m grateful) I just got back from the Redgate Summit events in New York City, where I had the chance to present, swap stories, and nerd out with a lot of brilliant data folks. I came home energized… and then promptly slept for 14 hours on Thursday. That’s the best kind of exhaustion in my book. The kind that comes from learning hard, collaborating deeply, and being reminded that our community is the best part of this industry. Here’s why events like this matter so much for data professionals and why I appreciate them more every year. The Kind of Signal I Can’t Get OnlineBlogs, docs, and videos are great. But at an event, you get context and nuance you won’t find on a static page. - You hear the why behind a design choice, not just the what.
- You can ask “What broke when you tried that in production?” and get the real story.
- You see demos fail, get fixed, and learn from the actual workflow rather than the highlight reel.
That level of honesty is incredibly valuable for people who own uptime, data integrity, and performance. Real Problems and A Lot of PatternsData pros bring battle-tested patterns to conferences. At Redgate Summit I heard about migrations that didn’t go to plan, policies that worked better than expected, and the trade-offs behind the tools we use. The hallway conversations alone were worth the trip: - How teams balance platform governance with developer speed.
- Which indexing strategies pay off under mixed workloads.
- Where AI adds value to database operations and where it just adds cost.
It’s not theoretical. It’s production reality, shared openly. The Hallway Becomes the ConferenceThe best sessions are often the ones that happen standing by a whiteboard. You meet DBAs, developers, SREs, architects, and analysts who see the same problem from different angles. That cross-discipline conversation is how we uncover blind spots: - The DBA explains why a clever app pattern becomes a pain at scale.
- The app engineer reveals why a “simple” schema change takes three sprints.
- The platform engineer shows how observability can turn guesswork into decisions.
Those are the moments that change how you build systems on Monday morning. Collaboration > CompetitionEvents remind us we’re not competing with each other, but we’re competing with complexity. I love watching people drop their guard and share scripts, explain monitoring dashboards, or outline a rollout plan that worked. We push each other to ask better questions: - What did you measure?
- What did you automate?
- What guardrails saved you?
- What would you not do again?
That kind of peer review is hard to replicate anywhere else. Community Fuels CareersNetworking isn’t a dirty word when it’s authentic. Tech events help you: - Find mentors and allies who will pick up your call when something’s on fire.
- Discover projects that match your strengths (or stretch you in the right ways).
- Grow as a speaker, writer, and leader by sharing what you know.
Some of the most meaningful opportunities in my career started with a quick “Hey, can I run something by you?” in a hallway. Also True, It’s A LOTConferences are intense. You’re “on” all day and it is daunting for me, but I survive. You’re teaching, learning, answering questions, taking notes, chasing ideas. It’s energizing and draining at the same time. Hence my 14-hour crash the day after New York. That’s normal. Plan for it. A few things that help me manage the load: - Book recovery time on your calendar before you travel.
- Hydrate and move between sessions; your brain is part of your body.
- Take a quiet hour when you can to review notes, turn ideas into action items, etc.
- Say no to one thing so you can say yes to being present where it counts.
How to Get the Most from Events- Set three goals before you arrive (e.g., “Validate our partitioning strategy,” “Find a safer rollback pattern,” “Meet two teams doing vector search in prod”).
- Bring a real problem and ask specific questions. “Here’s our workload. What trajectory would you not pursue to optimize it?”
- Collect patterns, not tools. Note the architecture choices and failure modes behind every success story.
- Write down three experiments you’ll try in the next two weeks. Put them in your team’s backlog with owners.
- Network, Network, NETWORK. Make sure you meet and connect with as many folks as possible.
- Give back. Post your recap, share your slides, or mentor someone who’s where you were last year.
GratitudeTo everyone who came to the event, the keynote and my sessions, stopped me in the hallway, asked tough questions, or shared what’s working (and not working) in your environment and thank you. Redgate Summit NYC was a reminder of why I love this community: we’re builders, we’re honest, and we make each other better. And yes, I’ll absolutely take 14 hours of sleep afterward. Worth it. See you in Vancouver, BC at the PostgreSQL User Group on August 26th, Cloud X Conference in Santa Clara the week of September 1st and Dallas at the next Redgate Summit the week of September 15th. We’ll compare notes, learn something new, and leave a little better than when we arrived at these events! Peace out, DBAKevlar Join the debate, and respond to the editorial on the forums |
