Meet Samay Sharma, CTO at Tembo:

Samay Sharma, CTO at Tembo, boasts over a decade in database expertise, primarily focused on Postgres. From pioneering distributed databases at Cypress Data to founding a solutions engineering team at Citus, he’s been on the frontline of scaling Postgres deployments. Samay’s journey at Microsoft saw him managing open-source Postgres teams, contributing significantly to core development. His multifaceted roles—extension developer, customer-facing engineer, and team leader—imbue him with a comprehensive perspective, making him a valuable voice on databases, tech leadership, and the evolving landscape of remote work.

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Quick Read: Samay Sharma, CTO at Tembo, Interview Highlight

Samay Sharma’s Journey with Postgres

My recent conversation on Default Global podcast with Samay Sharma, CTO at Tembo, revolved around his journey with Postgres. Samay began working with Postgres right after college, and it has been his database of choice for 12 years. His experience spans from software development work to customer-facing roles.

He highlighted the importance of working with customers, saying:

“working with customers was very fascinating, and also very humbling in a way, because they are very clear about what they want, what they don’t want for the product.”

His journey has deepened his love for Postgres, and he sees it as a developer platform, not just a database.

The Evolution of Postgres

When I asked Samay about the evolution of Postgres, he pointed out that it’s the only community-run database at a large scale. This allows for a well-rounded perspective in building its core functionality. Over time, Postgres has added support for various data types and has become a standard for running SQL on top of any data store.

Samay said:

“It’s becoming kind of the standard for running SQL on top of any kind of data store,”

Postgres for Everything

Samay is an advocate for using Postgres for everything. He believes that developers are using too many databases and that Postgres is capable of handling multiple use cases.

Samay said:

“We want to make it possible for every developer to be able to do more with Postgres”

He sees Postgres as a toolset that should be easy for every developer to use.

Postgres in the Era of AI

The conversation shifted towards the role of Postgres in the era of AI. Samay pointed out that all vectors are generated primarily from OLTP data, which lives in Postgres. He believes there’s no need to deploy another tool if Postgres can handle vector search effectively. He also pointed out that using Postgres as a platform allows developers to rapidly evolve their applications to meet changing data needs.

Global Hiring at Tembo

Samay shared his experience with global hiring at Tembo. He emphasized the importance of a global presence to be a successful Postgres company. At Tembo, they’ve found it easier to find the best talent globally. They currently have employees in Germany, India, and the US. Samay also shared insights into the hiring process at Tembo. He highlighted the importance of evaluating a candidate’s ability to execute independently, especially in a remote environment.

Looking Ahead

Lastly, Samay shared his excitement about the future of Tembo. They recently went into GA and have seen an influx of users on their platform. They are working on solidifying the user experience and have plans to increase their stacks. They also plan to add infrastructure support for GCP and Azure and build features like auto-scaling and auto-tuning to make it easier for developers.