Simon Whiteley

Director of Engineering for Advancing Analytics Ltd, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Databricks Beacon. Simon is a seasoned solution architect & technical lead with well over a decade of Microsoft Analytics experience, who spends an inordinate amount of time running the Advancing Spark YouTube series. A deep techie with a focus on emerging cloud technologies and applying "big data" thinking to traditional analytics problems, Simon also has a passion for bringing it back to the high level and making sense of the bigger picture. When not tinkering with tech, Simon is a death-dodging London cyclist, a sampler of craft beers, an avid chef and a generally nerdy person.

Simon Whiteley's Sessions

Behind the Hype - Architecture Trends in DataSQLBits 2023

In this session, seasoned data engineer and youtube grumbler Simon Whiteley takes us on a journey through the current industry trends and buzzwords, carving through the hype to get at the underlying ideals.

Building a Lakehouse on the Microsoft Intelligent Data PlatformSQLBits 2023

This session session aims to give you that context. We'll look at how spark-based engines work and how we can use them within Synapse Analytics. We'll dig into Delta, the underlying file format that enables the Lakehouse, and take a tour of how the Synapse compute engines interact with it. Finally, we'll draw out our whole Lakehouse architecture

Bringing Data Lakes to your PurviewSQLBits 2022

A short, fast dive into the specific elements of Azure Purview that work well with Data Lakes, and how you implement them yourselves

Value-Driven Analytics DevelopmentSQLBits 2020

Ever spent an age releasing a data model, only to find no-one uses it? There's a better way of working, driven by both technology & agile working practices, let me tell you about Value Driven Development & DataOps

Databricks, Delta Lake and YouSQLBits 2020

Databricks, Lakes & Parquet are a match made in heaven, but explode with extra power when using Delta Lake. This session will dive into the details of how Databricks Delta works and how to make the most of it.

The Azure Spark Showdown - Databricks VS Synapse AnalyticsSQLBits 2020

Azure now has two slick, platform-as-a-service spark offerings, but which one should you choose? A separate specialist tools or a one-size-fits-all solution? Join Simon as he compares and contrasts the spark offerings.

Azure SQL DataWarehouse: 0-100 (DWUs)SQLBits 2017

Azure SQLDW - WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and HOW to use it.