How to become an Enterprise Database developer
An enterprise-class database is not unlike a domain specific operating system dedicated to the efficient, reliable and durable storage, management and reporting of data. The world of core enterprise database developers is pretty exclusive. You have to be quite intelligent, focused, and at the same time be able to see “the bigger picture”. With a product like the Ingres RDBMS, there are 10s of millions of lines of code and plenty of work to do. So how do you get started, and how does Ingres protect the integrity and quality of its codeline while allowing innovation and assistance from a deeply varied community? Ever since Ingres left CA, this question has been asked and the conversation continues to be refined both internally and externally.
There’s a fantastic discussion going on over in the usenet group comp.databases.ingres about getting the community more directly involved in Ingres-related community development. In the thread there’s been some lively discussion that has not gone unnoticed by those of us here at Ingres. Our SVP of Engineering, Emma McGrattan has taken the helm of this effort and even started loading up our Community Wiki with content to help people research the innards of Ingres for the purpose of contributing.
The Ingres Janitors program is modeled after the Linux Kernel Janitors program and we already have some weighty resources online:
If you are interested in joining in the party, please check out the wiki page and contact Emma.