PASS Day 2 — Postgres Fundamentals for SQL Server Folks
This session was taught by Grant Fritchey and Ryan Booz — a great pairing. Ryan is a Postgres expert, and Grant has spent the last three years going deep on Postgres while bringing decades of SQL Server experience to the conversation. That combination makes for a session that’s actually useful for someone coming from the SQL Server world.
Bridging the Gap
This was exactly the kind of course I needed to answer my more n00b-ish questions. Things like: what are extensions and why do I care?
Turns out, extensions are how Postgres expands its functionality — and you shouldn’t treat them as an afterthought. The answer to almost any “can Postgres do X?” question is “yes, there’s an extension for that.” And if there isn’t one… write one. That said, the same caveats apply as with any open source dependency: there’s no guarantee an extension will continue to be maintained or that it’ll work after a major version upgrade. Vet before you commit.
Other differences that stood out coming from SQL Server:
- Schema handling works differently — public schema is the default but shouldn’t be relied on heavily in multi-user environments.
- Postgres is far more extension-dependent for things SQL Server handles natively (e.g., there’s no built-in equivalent to SQL Server Agent out of the box).
- Data types map mostly — but not always — cleanly between the two engines. The edge cases are where you’ll spend debugging time.
Grant and Ryan also handed out signed copies of their book on PostgreSQL for SQL Server professionals — a generous touch and a practical resource I’m working through now.
(Note: If you have the full title and a link for the book, drop it in here.)
Key Takeaways
- Extensions are central to Postgres — learn what they are and evaluate them carefully before depending on them in production.
- The SQL Server to Postgres conceptual bridge is real; the syntax and tooling differences are learnable, but the mindset shift takes time.
- Grant and Ryan’s pairing works well — SQL Server DBA asking the right “but why?” questions alongside a Postgres expert is a useful teaching dynamic.