SQLBits 2020

Value-Driven Analytics Development

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

You know the story - a new business application has been on-boarded, you've been told to get it into the warehouse. You build out a new star schema, work all weekend doing a production deployment and finally, release it to the wider users. Of course, noone is using it and you eventually find out why - whilst the model represents the real world... it has no actual business value.

There's a better way of working, partly driven by technology, partly by agile working practices, all bundled up into the hyped-up term of "DataOps". I'll take you through our preferred way of working, performing the absolute minimum up-front work before getting the model to the user, then productionising it later (if there's value!). Let me tell you about business Value-Driven Development and why you should be embracing it

Simon Whiteley's previous sessions

Behind the Hype - Architecture Trends in Data

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. Which is going to last and which is a sales gimmick? Which bandwagon might actually take you in the right strategic direction?

Nose-Dive Narratives: Slide Karaoke 2024

Get ready to wrap up a serious day of learning with a dash of humor, spontaneity, and friendly competition! SQLBits presents "Slide Karaoke" where SQLBits speakers reveal their hidden talents while vying for bragging rights. This session promises to be a one-of-a-kind experience that will leave you in stitches and awe, and the speakers scrambling for their non-existent notes!

Behind the Hype - Architecture Trends in Data

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 Platform

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 Purview

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 Development

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 You

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 Analytics

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)

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