Advertise on podcast: The Simple Talk Podcast

AI budgets are escalating rapidly, yet few teams measure the value of their spend – and who ends up paying, anyway? Steve Jones, Grant Fritchey, Kellyn Gorman, and Pat Wright discuss that and more. Also on the agenda: LLMs, data centers, regulation, and what happens to the next generation of engineers if they never learn to solve problems the hard way... Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Heidi Hasting joins host Kellyn Gorman for a chat featuring Microsoft Fabric, real-time intelligence, and a permissions trap that hands your data to a coworker's chatbot...Also: what MVP status really means, and where you should visit in South Australia (snakes included)!  See Heidi's MVP profile here. Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Pat Wright sits down with PostgreSQL veteran Hari Kiran – founder of OpenSource DB and co-organizer of PG Day Hyderabad, where this episode was recorded. They talk community building, mentoring the next generation of PostgreSQL contributors, and how a coffee chat with a friend turned into one of India's biggest PostgreSQL events.  For more on PG Day Hyderabad, head to https://2026.pghyd.in/  Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

We catch up with Franck Pachot, a longtime database community figure who has moved through Oracle, CERN, Yugabyte, MongoDB and, most recently, the PostgreSQL team at Microsoft. Hear stories from Franck's varied career, learn what makes technical content genuinely useful to developers, how Postgres's MVCC and extension model differs from Oracle's, and what's really going on with Microsoft's growing family of PostgreSQL offerings (Flexible Server, Horizon DB, and DocumentDB).  Find Franck's written content at https://franckpachot.github.io/pages/  Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

How well do the Redgate Advocates know SQL Server? Find out in this quick-fire quiz, recorded live with an audience at SQL Saturday Day of Data Baton Rouge on July 18th!  Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Grant is joined by SQL Server veteran and long-time Microsoft MVP, Hugo Kornelis, to talk all things SQL Server query tuning, execution plans, and more. You'll hear about some of the problems Hugo's encountered during his consultancy career, what SQL Server has in common with a highway, and Hugo's thoughts on AI – plus much more. Find Hugo at https://sqlserverfast.com/ Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

In a recent article, The Register suggested that SQL Server is "too lucrative to ditch, but too legacy to love" - but is that actually true?   With many years' SQL Server, PostgreSQL and Oracle experience between them, Steve Jones, Kellyn Gorman, Grant Fritchey, and Pat Wright offer their thoughts on the article, and the current state of SQL Server as a whole - including how it fares against other databases in 2026.  Read the full The Register article here.   DB-Engines: https://db-engines.com/en/  Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/  Did you enjoy this episode and want to support us? Leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! To review us on Apple Podcasts, simply head to our main show page (The Simple Talk Podcast) and scroll down until you see 'Ratings & Reviews.' From here, you can simply tap the 5 stars to rate us, or click 'Write a Review' to leave more detailed feedback! To rate us on Spotify, simply head to our main show page, hit the 'About' tab (to the right of 'Episodes'), and underneath the description you'll see our current rating in the left-hand corner. Tap that to leave a rating of your own!

In this episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast, Kellyn Gorman is joined by veteran Data Platform Architect, David Klee, to talk all things SQL Server performance tuning. Learn why "it's slow" is the least useful thing anyone can tell a DBA, why you need a real baseline before diagnosing anything, and why a database is never 'just' a database - plus much more. Thanks to David for his time. You can find him at https://www.davidklee.net/ Listen or watch to every episode of the Redgate Simple Talk podcast at https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Two major PostgreSQL community events took place recently: PostgreSQL Development Conference 2026 (Vancouver, BC, Canada), and PG DATA 2026 (Chicago, IL). Pat Wright and Kellyn Gorman attended both and, in this quick-fire episode, offer their thoughts and key takeaways from the events.  Recorded on-site at PASS Summit Europe in Frankfurt, Germany (June 11th, 2026).  PG Dev Conf 2026: https://2026.pgconf.dev/  PG DATA 2026: https://2026.pg-data.org/  Watch or listen to every episode of the Simple Talk podcast:  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Kristyna Ferris turned down grad school, learned Power BI, moved into the data world - and never looked back. In this chat with Steve Jones, Kristyna explains why she did it, what she's learned, and even why her first DBA changed her password! Plus: being a Microsoft MVP, the importance of self-learning, being inspired to get involved with the community, and Kristyna's passion for Lego, movies, and more! Data on Wheels: https://dataonwheels.wordpress.com/ Watch or listen to every episode of the Simple Talk podcast: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Taking the initiative. Prioritizing relationships. Doing the work nobody else wants to do. These are just some of the elements that contributed to Chris Yates' rise from a developer to a DBA and, eventually, a Senior Vice President. As he explains to Steve Jones, "you are the CEO of your own brand."   Also in the episode: discover Chris' thoughts on AI, the importance of community, and the one thing he'd now do differently if he were to start from scratch.  Watch or listen to every episode of the Simple Talk podcast:  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/  Simple Talk, and the Simple Talk podcast, is brought to you by Redgate Software:  https://www.red-gate.com/

Are engineering teams quietly accepting more risk? Redgate's 2026 State of the Database Landscape report reveals that people are increasingly willing to accept more risk to be more productive and take full advantage of AI's capabilities. Steve Jones, Kellyn Gorman, Grant Fritchey and Pat Wright share their thoughts on that in today's episode. They share stories from their own careers, debate on whether the decline of the DBA 'gatekeeper' role has weakened security practices, how AI is amplifying the problem - and much more. Read the 2026 State of the Database Landscape here: https://www.red-gate.com/solutions/state-of-database-landscape/2026/ Watch or listen to all episodes of the Simple Talk podcast at: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Steve visits Microsoft Data Platform MVP and data consultant Matt Gordon near his home in Lexington, KY. They discuss his love of making databases go faster, AI, the pros and cons of MS Fabric, data quality, community involvement, and much more. Plus, learn all about Matt's passion for motorsport and what he currently races on the track.  Want to see Matt's car and learn more about his racing adventure? Watch from 27 minutes in the video here. Check out Lean TECHniques at https://leantechniques.com/ Listen or watch every episode of the Simple Talk podcast at  https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts

Steve is joined by business intelligence architect and author Tim Mitchell. They discuss why SSIS will never die, the general pros of cons of integration services, the evolution from XML to JSON, how AI can help with coding, and taekwondo – among other topics! Recorded on-site at PASS Data Community Summit 2025. Visit Tim's website PASS Data Community Summit – join us in 2026! Watch or listen to all episodes of the Simple Talk podcast

Steve is joined by Cindy Gross to discuss leadership coaching in the technology industry – what it is, how it works, and the many benefits it brings. Recorded on-site at PASS Data Community Summit 2025 in Seattle. Cindy is an executive coach and Adaptive Leadership Expert with 25 years in the US tech industry. As a former SQL Server Master (MCM) and expert in cross-organizational navigation at Microsoft, she transformed her focus from complex technical systems to empowering leaders within systemic chaos. Today, through Befriending Dragons, she guides indispensable Keystone Leaders struggling with burnout, equipping organizations with her Leadership Navigation System to befriend Leadership Friction and convert Leadership Debt into strategic leverage, thus ensuring critical talent retention. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Delaware Tribe of Indians, Cindy integrates the Cherokee principle of collective leadership, Gadugi, into her work. Cindy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindygross Learn more about Befriending Dragons: https://BefriendingDragons.com Befriending Dragons' schedule: https://befriendingdragons.com/meet Cindy's email: [email protected] Cindy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/befriendingdragons Listen or watch every episode of the Simple Talk podcast at https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts