Interview with Aiven
Any views or opinions represented or expressed in this interview belong solely to the interviewee and do not neccessarily represent those of the PGConf.EU 2022 organization, PostgreSQL Europe, or the wider PostgreSQL community, unless explicitly stated.
- In which areas do you expect PostgreSQL to grow most and how does your company contribute to and benefit from that growth?
After years of NoSQL, more and more developers start embracing the benefits of properly designed data structures like strong checks on types and referential integrity. Still, the need for some flexibility remains, for parts of the structure where a one-fits-all strategy doesn’t work.
PostgreSQL JSONB type enables the definition of columns containing JSON payloads and the related functions can be used to parse, modify or analyze the content giving developers the freedom they need while keeping all the benefits of the relational database. JSONB functionalities are increasingly getting adopted, with social forums, like StackOverflow, witnessing the growing trend of related questions. There’s therefore the need for materials and examples allowing developers to understand how to use such an important functionality.
Providing such content to make developers’ lives easier is part of Aiven‘s mission. A set of examples, tutorials, and guides, together with an easy-to-instantiate and scalable platform enables users to enjoy the benefits of PostgreSQL without any of the headaches.
- What is your PostgreSQL centered product?
Aiven for PostgreSQL® is a fully managed SQL relational database, deployable in the cloud of your choice. With Aiven you can enjoy the benefits of PostgreSQL® without any hassle Aiven platform automates backups and continuously monitors the instance to spot and solve the most common problems.
Versions upgrade, forking, data movement across clouds and regions are only a few of the activities achievable with a single click. Aiven also offers a pre-built set of integrations and dashboards to build a PostgreSQL in-depth monitoring and alerting solution in minutes.
- What is your company’s mission?
Our mission is to make developers’ lives better.
With our help, developers can do what they do best: create awesome applications. Meanwhile, we do what we do best: manage cloud data infrastructure. We want to free developers from operational burdens—and let them build what matters
- How do you foster diversity in your company?
At Aiven we value and celebrate the diversity of our people. We recognize the many benefits of a diverse workforce and strive for an inclusive workplace that empowers all our colleagues to thrive. We are developing our Employee Experience and DEI Framework to achieve the goals we have set as a company.
Additionally, through our Open Source Program Office (OSPO), Aiven is contributing back to open source projects making sure the amount of maintenance work is spread among more people, thereby reducing the “bus factor” in many OSS projects that are currently being maintained by few people in their free time. At the same time, it also brings different opinions and ideas to the table to successfully drive these projects to the next level. Within Aiven‘s newly launched startup program, Cluster, we want to enroll purpose driven, ambitious startups that have the capacity and drive to grow their business together with Aiven.
These initiatives all aim at the company‘s committed goal to further democratize access to best-of-breed data technologies, reducing the environmental impact of cloud services and increasing diversity and inclusion at Aiven and in the tech ecosystem.
- Which of your company’s contributions to the PostgreSQL Project (code/community/conference) are you most proud of?
Pghoard is Aiven’s most successful open-source contribution in the PostgreSQL ecosystem. A battle-tested functionality (it’s used in the Aiven platform) to backup and restore in cloud object storage with more that 1.1k stars on GitHub.