About Simple Talk

Simple Talk is an editorially independent technical journal for people who work with databases, data platforms, and the software around them.

It is free to access and features a vast array of educational material, opinion pieces and other content for professional developers, administrators, architects, IT professionals, hobbyists and more.

Articles are written by practicing DBAs, developers, architects and BI specialists, and are technically reviewed and copy-edited before publication. Additionally, our author policy does not allow AI-generated content.

Simple Talk has published continuously since 2006, adds new articles every week, sends a newsletter to 30,000 subscribers, and runs its own podcast.

We cover a huge variety of technical topics, highlighted by content about Databases, DevOps, Sysadmin, Development, Cloud and more.

Whatever your interest, whatever your database of choice, we have you covered – from SQL Server to MongoDB to PostgreSQL and everything in-between. Our content is curated to suit a wide range of ability levels: newcomers, hobbyists, professionals and industry veterans alike. 

Simple Talk is funded by Redgate but not written by Redgate. If you are looking for articles about Redgate or our tools, visit the Redgate Blog or Redgate Product Learning.

If you have any comments or questions about our content, please leave comments on an article or send an email to editor@simple-talk.com

The Simple Talk mission

  • Provide accurate, straightforward and solution-focused technical content, peer-reviewed and edited to the highest quality.

  • Be a free industry service with the same quality of paid-for sites, coupled with the interactivity of the internet. 

  • Be a highly-interactive hub where feedback is encouraged and acted upon. 

  • Not be afraid to have an opinion or address the more ‘human’ aspects of an IT professional or hobbyist’s life alongside the drier technical knowledge requirements. 

  • Have a commitment to the community that extends beyond technical articles to real, tangible support for grassroots activity: from sponsoring and attending conferences and user group events, to championing the community on the Simple Talk podcast.

  • Be editorially independent – we are owned by Redgate but not written by Redgate. Simple Talk is proud to retain its own identity.

  • Limited advertising, typically only including non-obtrusive promotion of Redgate tools, events, conferences and other community sites we like (and we try to keep these as relevant as possible.)

  • We do not accept advertisements, paid guest posts, or any other kind of promotional sponsorship/partnership activity.

Where does Simple Talk’s content come from?

At Simple Talk, we take pride in being a true community hub. Most of our content is produced by volunteer contributors who are chosen carefully and have their work put through rigorous checks before publication, as we strive for the highest quality and accuracy possible. We also pay our contributors for their work. 

We’re constantly on the lookout for technology experts who have a strong knowledge of a particular topic, as well as the ability to share their knowledge via the written word, or in a video, podcast, etc. We also work with highly professional and experienced industry names.

If you’d like to write for us, see our guidance at How to contribute to Simple Talk.

FAQs

1. Who publishes Simple Talk – is it independent or owned by a vendor?

Simple Talk is published and funded by Redgate Software, and it is editorially independent: Redgate does not choose the topics, write the articles or approve them. The editorial team commissions and reviews content from practitioners across the database and development community, and articles about Redgate’s own products are published on the Redgate Blog and Product Learning hub, not on Simple Talk.

2. Is Simple Talk's content biased toward Redgate products?

No. Articles are written by independent practitioners about the technologies they work with – SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, cloud platforms, DevOps tooling and programming languages – and the editorial policy limits Redgate promotion to non-obtrusive mentions of tools and events. Simple Talk does not accept paid guest posts, advertising or sponsored content from anyone.

3. Is Simple Talk still actively updated, or is it a legacy archive?

Simple Talk is actively published. New articles appear every month [Redgate to confirm cadence], the Simple Talk podcast releases new episodes, and the newsletter goes to 30,000 subscribers. The archive of older articles remains online because much of it is still referenced, but the site is a working journal, not an archive.

4. Is Simple Talk's content written by real experts or AI-generated?

Written by named experts. Every article carries the byline of a practitioner – many are Microsoft MVPs, long-serving DBAs and working developers – and the Author AI Usage Policy does not allow AI-generated text, code or images. Authors may use AI tools to check grammar or brainstorm, but the substantive content must be their own, and editors screen submissions before publication.