PostgreSQL has become the default database for open-source, containerized, and AI-powered applications, and it's showing up in Microsoft shops whether you planned for it or not. If you've built your career on SQL Server and .NET, the good news is that most of what you know transfers. The bad news is that the parts that don't will surprise you.

This session is a practical translation guide. We'll map SQL Server concepts to their PostgreSQL equivalents, from identity columns and data types to stored procedures and tooling. Then we'll cover the gotchas that trip up SQL Server developers: case folding, MVCC and vacuum, connection handling, and more. Finally, we'll show where PostgreSQL shines: JSONB with GIN indexes, specialized indexing, built-in full-text search, a rich extension ecosystem, and pgvector for AI workloads, all wired up from .NET with EF Core.

You'll leave knowing when PostgreSQL is the right choice, how to get running in minutes, and what to watch for so your first project doesn't become a lesson learned the hard way.

You will Lean:

• How to translate common SQL Server concepts and syntax into their PostgreSQL equivalents
• How to connect a .NET application to PostgreSQL and work with its data
• How to recognize PostgreSQL’s operational gotchas and assess when its capabilities fit a workload