How I got started leading database teams with Shireesh Thota

Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano

From dreaming of driving a bus to leading database engineering at Microsoft. In Episode 29 of Talking Postgres with Claire Giordano, Shireesh Thota traces his path to becoming CVP of Azure databases—rooted in a love of math, early BASIC programming, and a certainty that he’d become an engineer. We dig into the shift from engineer to manager (if only people came with documentation); why it’s so important for Microsoft to contribute to the PostgreSQL open source project—not just consume it; and whether Shireesh has a favorite database (hint: it better be Postgres.)

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Blog post excerpt: Why we have a Postgres open source contributor team at Microsoft
• Podcast episode: Leading engineering for Postgres on Azure with Affan Dar
• VS Code Marketplace: New VS Code extension for PostgreSQL
• POSETTE 2025 talk: Introducing Microsoft’s VS Code extension for Postgres by Matt McFarland
• LinkedIn post: PGConf.dev 2025 talk on “The trouble with extensions” by Marco Slot
• Podcast episode: How I got started as a developer (& in Postgres) with David Rowley
• Book: Who Moved My Cheese
• Cal invite: LIVE recording of Ep30 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Aug 6, 2025