SCaLE 22x: Bringing the Open Source Community to Pasadena

The Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) 22x, recognized as being North America’s largest community-run open source and free software conference, took place at the Pasadena Convention Center from March 6-9, 2025. When I say community-run, I mean it—no corporate overlords dictating the agenda, just pure open source enthusiasm driving four days of technical discussions and collaboration.

This year’s conference focused around the topics of AI, DevOps and cloud-native technologies, open source community engagement, security and compliance, systems and infrastructure, and FOSS @ home (exploring the world of self-hosted applications and cloud services).

The conference drew attendees from around the world to talk about everything open-source, revolving around Linux at the core (of course) while continuing the discussion across topics such as embedded systems & IoT. As always, there was a unique blend of cutting-edge tech talk and practical problem-solving within every space that is what makes SCaLE special.

Herding Elephants: PostgreSQL@SCaLE22x

PostgreSQL@SCaLE22x ran as a dedicated two-day, two-track event on March 6-7, 2025, recognized under the PostgreSQL Global Development Group community event guidelines. The selection team included Gabrielle Roth, Joe Conway, and Mark Wong, ensuring the quality you’d expect from the PostgreSQL community.

The speaker lineup was impressive: Magnus Hagander, Christophe Pettus, Peter Farkas, Devrim Gündüz, Hamid Akhtar, Henrietta Dombrovskaya, Shaun Thomas, Gülçin Yıldırım Jelínek & Andrew Farries, Nick Meyer, and Jimmy Angelakos. One particularly memorable session was titled “Row-Level Security Sucks. Can We Make It Usable?”—a refreshingly honest take on PostgreSQL’s RLS feature that probably resonated with more than a few database administrators in the audience.

The community “Ask Me Anything” panel was hosted by Stacey Haysler and featured Christophe Pettus, Devrim Gündüz, Jimmy Angelakos, Magnus Hagander, and Mark Wong. These sessions are where the real knowledge transfer happens—no marketing speak, just practitioners talking shop about PostgreSQL internals, performance, best practices, and the future of the database.

Behind the scenes, volunteers Derya Gumustel, Erika Miller, Hamid Akhtar, Jennifer Scheuerell, Mark Wong, and Roberto Mello kept everything running smoothly, with PGUS hosting the booth in the expo hall.

Personally, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Jimmy Angelakos during his live streaming sessions featuring other guests like Henrietta Dombrovskaya, Mark Wong, Gülçin Yıldırım Jelínek, and even a brief cameo from Devrim Gündüz.

One of the topics discussed with Gülçin Yıldırım Jelínek on the podcast is whether or not there’s any community interest in continuing Postgres Café. What do you think? Do you want to see more episodes from this podcast series, expanding discussions on extension and open source development to the rest of the community and beyond? Let us know: contact@data-bene.io

Something for Everyone

There are a lot of co-located events besides PostgreSQL @ SCaLE, including “SCaLE: The Next Generation (TNG)” which is a youth-focused tech event encouraging interactive activities and presentations for students, and the annual Cybersecurity Capture the Flag (CTF) game event presented by Cal Poly FAST and Pacific Hackers.

SCaLE remains an excellent place to network when looking to advance your career in open source. Socializing at the booths is always an excellent way to make connections and find opportunities, of course, but Open Source Career Day also returned in order to offer a dedicated space for professionals and aspiring technologists to become empowered with resources, tools, real-world examples, and engaging content from presentations and workshops.

The fun tradition of holding a Saturday Game Night with food & drinks also continued this year, with Trivia Night (presented by Uncoded) and other fun activities such as inflatable axe throwing, nerf target practice, arts & crafts, a board game room, casino night, & a blocks room for building derby cars, playing pictionary, or building with large blocks.

Keep Your Calendar Open for SCaLE 23x

SCaLE has established itself as a consistent presence in Pasadena, and this stability has allowed the conference to build lasting relationships with the local community and venues. Keep an eye out for SCaLE 23x announcements - it promises to be well worth the visit.

For those interested in PostgreSQL@SCaLE specifically, stay tuned to the PostgreSQL mailing lists for announcements about volunteering, speaking opportunities, or other ways to participate in next year’s event. The PostgreSQL track and booth is a consistent source of engaging discussions amongst those in the Postgres community and beyond, reflecting the database’s growing adoption across industries.

The Open Source Gathering for One and All

In a world where many tech conferences feel more like elaborate vendor showcases, SCaLE remains that rare gathering where community comes first, collaboration is genuine, and the technology discussions are driven by practitioners solving real problems. Mark your calendars for SCaLE 23x—this is one conference that consistently delivers on its promise of bringing together open source enthusiasts to actually collaborate and learn.

Wish you hadn’t missed out? You can always check out the YouTube playlist of talks that were recorded during the conference to at least benefit from the knowledge contained therein.