PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2024: CYBERTEC in Athens
PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2024 brought the community to Athens, where CYBERTEC participated as a Platinum Sponsor with a team of 21 PostgreSQL experts. For a company with staff spread across the globe, the event offered a chance to reconnect with colleagues and community members alike. Beyond the conference halls, the team took time to explore Athens together — a city that offers considerably more than its ancient landmarks.
Training Day and Early Networking
Arriving early on Sunday morning, the first benefit of the trip was immediate: networking begins before the official program starts. As a long-standing community participant, CYBERTEC team members met with friends and newcomers throughout the buildup, including connections with teams from Cloudway and Temenos.
The official proceedings opened on October 22 with a training-only day. CEO Hans-Jürgen Schönig led a session titled "A Beginner's Guide to Performance", drawing a fully engaged audience.
The CYBERTEC team dinner that evening was a highlight, offering the chance to reconnect with colleagues from different regions. The occasion was elevated by the presence of a special guest: Bruce Momjian joined the gathering.
Main Conference: October 23
Held at the Divani Caravel Hotel, the main conference spanned four plenary rooms with a strong turnout. The atmosphere was lively, fueled by reunions with familiar faces and a dense schedule of talks that made session selection genuinely difficult. Several presentations from colleagues stood out:
- High-concurrency Distributed Snapshots by Ants Aasma / Video
- UNDELETE Data FROM Table by Christoph Berg / Video
- Security Attacks on PostgreSQL by Laurenz Albe / Video
- Comparing Connection Poolers for PostgreSQL by Julian Markwort / Video
CYBERTEC also ran a "Coffee with CYBERTEC" initiative, offering dedicated one-on-one conversations with attendees. These sessions produced in-depth technical discussions as well as more casual exchanges, helping forge new connections within the community.
Day Two Highlights: October 24
The second day brought a packed program. Akshat Jaimini, together with the author and Pavlo Golub, presented "GSoC 2024: Enhancing Data Insights for Postgres with Remote Sinks" (video). Later, at 5 PM, Hans-Jürgen Schönig delivered a keynote titled "Using PostgreSQL in Real Life" (video).
Final Day: October 25
The closing day was bittersweet, marked by an impressive talk from Rafia Sabih, relatively new to public speaking. Her presentation on "PostgreSQL Executor: Executing your execution plan" held the audience's attention throughout (video).
The afternoon featured András Váczi's session "HELP!!1! The Database is Slow!!" (video).
PGConf.eu 2024 in Athens delivered an enriching few days filled with new insights and energy. Thanks go to the organizers and the entire CYBERTEC team — representing the company alongside such a group was a genuine pleasure.
