Jan Karremans

About the Speaker

• Tell us about yourself: career, family, passions

  I have been a (relational) database man for all my life. Started administering Oracle database, was part of the community there as an Oracle ACE, and at some point “saw the light” and came over to PostgreSQL. I live in “The Middle-East of The Netherlands”, right next to the German border, where I dwell with my wife and three cats.

• What would you say is your superpower?

  My superpower would be, quite simply, connecting with people, connecting people. This is largely how I ended up in sales. It is not about me pushing something onto you, it is about understanding what you need and together finding a solution that helps you forward. That sounds quirky, but it is a real thing!

About the Talk

• Tell us about your talk? Why did you choose this topic?

  The basics of PostgreSQL are often overseen or not understood well enough. Some of these (like streaming replication) are so incredibly powerful and versatile, that it makes sense to really speak about it and stand still with that for a moment.

• Who would benefit the most from your talk and why?

  Everyone, basically. If you are new to PostgreSQL, if you have been doing it a while. If you are a DBA or an architect. I hope to touch on a few points that just might spark an idea, give some inspiration. Most of them are “open doors”, but you might have not yet noticed that the door was open ;-)

• What existing knowledge should an attendee have?

  I actually want to make it so, that, even if you have just a basic understanding of PostgreSQL, there is something you can take away.

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

  I have been presenting for a while, and what I have leared is that presenting is mostly about “infotaining” people. The interesting challenge here is that it is a pre-recorded online event, which makes it a bit more challenging to assume rapport. But I will do my very best.

About PostgreSQL

• What inspired you to work with PostgreSQL?

  I think it is more about the fact that there would be no logical other thing for me to do. I am a relational database man, born and bred, and, as Bruce Momjian once told me, do come to PostgreSQL if you don’t want to, at some point in your life, you will see that there is no other way. I simply took the short-cut.

• What is your favorite PostgreSQL feature?

  Streaming Replication! Next to something like PostGIS, I guess. So much power, so nicely modular usable. Hands down.

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

  Even though Dr. Stonebraker created PostgreSQL such a long time ago, if you look at the most modern workloads, with PostgreSQL on Kubernetes, the system looks and feels like it was purpose-built for that. It is an incredible piece of engineering!

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

  Just begin. Don’t think too much, download, set up and start playing. There is always something you can do with PostgreSQL, and there is always a project to do.

• PostgreSQL is opensource, did that ever help you in anyway and how?

  PostgreSQL is where it is today because it is open source. It has helped and aided so many organizations larger and smaller, in so incredibly many ways, which is only possible when something as cool as PostgreSQL is reachable for anyone. No proprietary solution can EVER dream of achieving something like that.

About POSETTE & Events

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

  Microsoft is doing many good things for PostgreSQL. I like speaking about PostgreSQL and… foremost, I got accepted to speak at POSETTE, which all makes for an interesting opportunity!

• What other PostgreSQL events in 2025 are you excited about and why?

  That has to be PGDay Austria. The event is back with a vengence and it is going down at the coolest location ever, Schloß Schönbrunn, the emperial palace of Franzl and Sisi.

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

  Don’t overthink, don’t over prepare. Yes, of course, the first time on stage is scary, but it will seed you with the presenting virus. I have seen many speakers that would say: “Once, and never again”, when they stepped in the limelight. Coming off stage, no exception, they are all thinking about their next talk.

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

  Oooof, so many. If I would need to pick one, a random highlight, would be the keynote at the football stadium in Warsaw. 1,000 people in the room, another 4,000 connected live through streaming media. I talked about “the second wave of open source”, where I guess today, we are in the 3rd. Open source really has become the foundational paradigm for the IT industry at large, from simple systems to globally critical infrastructure.