Brought to you by: • The Enterprise Ready Conference on October 30th — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS. • DX — DX is an engineering intelligence platform designed by leading researchers.  • ByteByteGo — Ace your next system design interview. — You may not be familiar with Bending Spoons, but I guarantee you’ve encountered some of their well-known products, like Evernote and Meetup. In today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, we sit down with three key figures from the Italy-based startup: cofounder and CEO Luca Ferrari, CTO Francesco Mancone, and Evernote product lead Federico Simionato. Bending Spoons has been profitable from day one, and there's plenty we can learn from their unique culture, organizational structure, engineering processes, and hiring practices. In today’s conversation, we cover the following topics: • The controversial acquisitions approach of Bending Spoons • How Bending Spoons spent more than $1 billion in buying tech companies • How the Evernote acquisition happened • How Bending Spoons operates and how it organizes product and platform teams • Why engineering processes are different across different products • How ‘radical simplicity’ is baked into everything from engineering processes to pay structure. • And much more! — The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode: • Good attrition, bad attrition for software engineers: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/attrition  • Healthy oncall practices: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/healthy-oncall-practices • Shipping to production: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/shipping-to-production • QA across the tech industry: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/qa-across-tech — In this episode, we cover: (2:09) Welcome, Luca, Francesco, and Federico from Bending Spoons (03:15) An overview of the well-known apps and products owned by Bending Spoons (06:38) The elephant in the room: how Bending Spoons really acquires companies (09:46) Layoffs: Bending Spoons’ philosophy on this (14:10) Controversial principles (17:16) Revenue, team size, and products (19:35) How Bending Spoons runs AI products and allocates GPUs (23:05) History of the company (27:04) The Evernote acquisition (29:50) Modernizing Evernote’s infrastructure (32:44) “Radical simplicity” and why they try for zero on calls (36:13) More on changes made to the Evernote systems (41:13) How Bending Spoons prioritizes and ships fast  (49:40) What’s new and what’s coming for Bending Spoons (51:08) Organizational structure at the company (54:07) Engineering practices (57:03) Testing approaches (58:53) Platform teams (1:01:52) Bending Spoons tech stack and popular frameworks (1:05:55) Why Bending Spoons hires new grads and less experienced engineers (1:08:09) The structure of careers and titles at Bending Spoons (1:09:50) Traits they look for when hiring  (1:12:50) Why there aren’t many companies doing what Bending Spoons does  — Where to find Luca Ferrari: • X: https://x.com/luke10ferrari • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-ferrari-12418318 Where to find  Francesco Mancone: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-mancone Where to find Federico Simionato: • X: https://x.com/fedesimio • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicosimionato Where to find Gergely: • Newsletter: https://www.pragmaticengineer.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mrgergelyorosz • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gergelyorosz/ • X: https://x.com/GergelyOrosz — References and Transcripts: See the transcript and other references from the episode at https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

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Learn PostgreSQL, a comprehensive guide to mastering PostgreSQL 16, takes readers on a journey from the fundamentals to advanced concepts, such as replication and database optimization. With hands-on exercises and practical examples, this book provides all you need to confidently use, manage, and build secure and scalable databases. What this Book will help me do Master the essentials of PostgreSQL 16, including advanced SQL features and performance tuning. Understand database replication methods and manage a scalable architecture. Enhance database security through roles, schemas, and strict privilege management. Learn how to personalize your experience with custom extensions and functions. Acquire practical skills in backup, restoration, and disaster recovery planning. Author(s) Luca Ferrari and Enrico Pirozzi are experienced database engineers and PostgreSQL enthusiasts with years of experience using and teaching PostgreSQL technology. They specialize in creating learning content that is practical and focused on real-world situations. Their writing emphasizes clarity and systematically equips readers with professional skills. Who is it for? This book is perfect for database professionals, software developers, and system administrators looking to develop their PostgreSQL expertise. Beginners with an interest in databases will also find this book highly approachable. Ideal for readers seeking to improve their database scalability and robustness. If you aim to hone practical PostgreSQL skills, this guide is essential.

Dive into the world of PostgreSQL, one of the most powerful and versatile open-source relational databases! This book guides you through all the essentials of PostgreSQL version 12 and 13, from installation to high-performance database deployments. You'll learn how to design schemas, perform database operations efficiently, and implement advanced functionalities. What this Book will help me do Install, configure, and monitor a PostgreSQL server for optimal performance. Implement SQL and PL/pgSQL scripts to build complex database solutions. Analyze and optimize database schemas and indexes for efficiency. Secure a PostgreSQL database and manage roles and permissions effectively. Set up high-availability configurations through replication techniques. Author(s) None Ferrari and Enrico Pirozzi are seasoned database professionals with extensive experience in PostgreSQL. They bring practical expertise and a real-world perspective to the subject, ensuring you get hands-on knowledge and apply it effectively. Their approachable writing style simplifies even the most complex database concepts. Who is it for? This book is perfect for database professionals, developers, or tech enthusiasts looking to gain mastery over PostgreSQL. Whether you are new to PostgreSQL or have a fundamental understanding of databases, you'll find this book highly insightful in achieving your database management goals.

PostgreSQL 11 Server Side Programming Quick Start Guide introduces you to the world of database programming directly at the database level. This book delves into the concepts of server-side programming, providing you with the necessary tools to author stored procedures, triggers, and extensions for your PostgreSQL instance. What this Book will help me do Learn how to create stored procedures and functions for efficient database logic. Understand how to use triggers and rules to maintain data integrity. Gain expertise in developing extensions to extend PostgreSQL functionality. Master techniques for handling inter-process communication and background workers. Explore custom data types and integration with programming languages like Java and Perl. Author(s) None Ferrari, a seasoned database administrator and developer, specializes in delivering insightful PostgreSQL training. With extensive experience in both database management and software development, None brings practical knowledge and real-world examples to guide readers through mastering PostgreSQL server-side programming. Who is it for? This book is tailored for database administrators, developers, and engineers who have a basic understanding of PostgreSQL and are looking to expand their knowledge into server-side programming. If you're aiming to implement advanced database functionality or streamline data management tasks in PostgreSQL, this book is for you. It is ideal for those who wish to apply database programming techniques to enterprise-grade challenges. Beginner-friendly but designed to empower professionals with actionable insights.