PostgreSQL Meetup

Dear Chicago PUG members,

Thank you for the great start of 2025! Up next - our February meetup will take place on February 12 from 5-30 PM to 8 PM.

We will meet at our usual location: DRW Training Center, 540 W. Madison, 25th floor.

A reminder about our venue:

- This is a high-security building, which means the names of all participants should be communicated no later than 7:30 AM on the day of the event, and all participants must present a government-issued ID to be admitted. If your meetup profile does not list your full name, please send a DM with the required information to Hettie. Registration for all in-person events will be closed by 7-30 AM the day of the event.
- The food order will be placed a day before the event, so I strongly encourage everybody planning to attend to RSVP by February 10
- If you plan to attend virtually, please RSVP here.

Please RSVP to this event only if you are attending in person.

Event Details:

Come to listen to a talk from the local developers' community! Those of you who have known me for a while are aware of my special relationships with the Rails community, as well as my anti-elasticsearch stanza, and can fully understand my excitement about the upcoming meetup!

Steve Zelaznik from The Gnar Company will present a talk:

Postgres Full Text Search (Why You Don't Need Elasticsearch)

Talk Abstract:

Everyone uses ElasticSearch for full-text search, regardless of what DBMS they are using, but is it always the right tool? In this presentation, I will demonstrate that there are multiple ways to achieve the same results using PG native tools: full-text search, trigrams, GIN, and Gist indices. As a Ruby on Rails developer, I’ve built Postgres full text search for multiple client websites. I’ll share some tips to make Postgres's search rollout and maintenance as smooth as possible.

About the Speaker:

Steve has been a full stack software engineer for 10 years, and, before that, actuary and derivatives analyst. PostgreSQL has been a daily staple of his work in both careers.

Agenda:

5:20 - Doors open, pizza arrives
6:00 - 6:15 - Hettie D: PG Day ChicagoPlus updates
6:15 - 7:15 - Steve Zelaznik: Postgres Full Text Search (Why You Don't Need Elasticsearch)

7:15 - 8:10 - QA and networking

The last reminder: Please be on time! You might not be able to get in on the 25th floor after 6!

As usual, I hope to see as many of you as possible in person!

Hettie Dombrovskaya,
Chicago PUG Local Organizer