Newvick Lee

About the Speaker

• What is your icebreaker for PostgreSQL events?

  Which uncommon PostgreSQL feature do you think more people should be using?

• How do you prepare for an online presentation?

  Usually it's something that I've been thinking about for a while, so the content comes naturally. After doing a few practice runs myself, I then ask for feedback from some friends.

• Which book are you reading right now?

  I've been reading Byung-Chul Han's "Scent of time" recently. He has an interesting perspective on the nature of meaningful time, and the distinction between the two common feelings of 'time is going by so fast' vs 'where did the time go'. Also, the book makes a great point about the role of 'rest' in our modern work process. Rather than a genuine respite, it's integrated into the work process, serving the purpose of re-establishing the ability to work. This raises the question of whether our leisure time could also be spent more meaningfully. I hope this is enough of a teaser to persuade you to check out the book =)

• What is your favourite hobby?

  I enjoy reading.

About the Talk

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

  My talk is about how using PostgreSQL Views can improve complicated/out date models. After working in a few startups, I've noticed a side effect of iterating fast. The core data models often end up being difficult to work with for various reasons. But there isn't enough time/resources to do the refactoring needed. So Views can help with improving these data models until refactoring can be done.

• What is the audience for your talk?

  Software developers working in startups.

• What existing knowledge should the attendee have?

  Knowledge of simple querying, triggers and functions.

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

  I'm interested in many of this year's conference talks, everyone seems to be offering something I'd like to learn about. The ones that might be most applicable would be on row level security and pgvector.

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

  I try to follow the pyramid method, where I offer the solution right at the beginning. And then continue explaining the main points along with the supporting details.

About PostgreSQL

• What inspired you to work with PostgreSQL?

  I'm just amazed that PostgreSQL can handle so many different tasks so well.

• What is your favorite PostgreSQL feature?

  Views and Materialized Views =D

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

  The documentation and high quality articles from the community.

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

  I like the tuid extension, which lets you generate UUIDs that are temporally increasing. Compared to using UUIDv4, it helps reduce the performance problem.

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

  The documentation is actually great!

• What are your favorite resources for learning about PostgreSQL?

  The Art of PostgreSQL is a wonderful book to get started.

About POSETTE & Events

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

  More people should be using Views!

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

  There are people willing to help you out in the MSFT Open Source discord channel, feel free to just ask.

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

  At the POSETTE intro meeting with some other speakers, it turned out that the majority of that group owned chickens!