Last Friday, December 13, 2024, I attended the Hyderabad PostgreSQL UserGroup Meetup, expecting a regular attendee experience. However, the host, Hari, surprised me with an unplanned invite to join the round table as one of the panelists.
Being fairly inexperienced around databases and having no experience giving talks at community meetups, I was initially stunned and hesitant. However, I decided to join anyway: thought it would be a good experience. Out of nervousness, my answers seemed scattered, with my mentally-prepared points slipping away mid-conversation. By the end of this round table, I felt embarrassed of my answers.
A week later, reflecting on the experience, this was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Feeling embarrassed is part of learning and growth, and I’m grateful to Hari for the invite, and also for his kind words! The excitement and embarrassment has given me the right motivation to be better. My goal is to deliver my first tech talk on database security in Feb 2025. Need enough time to get better, and prepare for the talk :P
Here’s the recording to the round table: