It's all about acquisitions, acquisitions, acquisitions! Matt Housley joins me to tackle the biggest rumor in the data world this week: the potential acquisition of dbt Labs by Fivetran. This news sparks a wide-ranging discussion on the inevitable consolidation of the Modern Data Stack, a trend we predicted as the era of zero-interest-rate policy ended. We also talk about financial pressures, vendor exposure to the rise of AI, the future of data tooling, and more.

Madison Schott joins me to chat about about her journey from working as an analytics engineer to creating content about dbt, SQL, data modeling, and more.

Last week I posted about the gulf in the data industry between people in favor and opposed AI. The data industry has an atrocious track record of success over the decades. Shall we keep repeating the same mistakes with AI?

I think AI denialism is holding back and AI has the potential to help us correct a lot of the sins of the past, namely quick delivery of value. Whether we get there is another question...

Thanks to dbt, GoodData, and Ellie.ai for sponsoring this podcast.

dbt: https://www.getdbt.com GoodData: https://www.gooddata.com Ellie.ai: https://www.ellie.ai

Ryan Russon is an ML Engineer. He stopped by my house for a practical and grounded chat about ML and AI. Enjoy!

Join dbt Labs May 28 for the dbt Launch Showcase to hear from executives and product leaders about the latest features landing in dbt. See firsthand how features will empower data practitioners and organizations in the age of AI. Thanks to dat Labs for sponsoring this episode.

Some people speculate that AI will make software and data engineers obsolete. If the only thing engineers do is write code, sure.

But we do a lot more than that, and I believe we'll actually need more engineers, not fewer.

In this episode, I discuss how I think AI will change the craft of software and data engineering. Spoiler - I think it will make it way more fun and productive.

Thanks to dbt and GoodData for sponsoring this episode. Please support them, as they're awesome.

dbt Launch Showcase Join dbt Labs May 28 for the dbt Launch Showcase to hear from executives and product leaders about the latest features landing in dbt. See firsthand how features will empower data practitioners and organizations in the age of AI.

GoodData Webinar Analytics and data engineering used to live in separate worlds—different teams, different tools, different goals. But the lines are blurring fast. As modern data products demand speed, scale, and seamless integration, the best teams are embracing engineering principles and best practices. In this no-BS conversation, Ryan Dolley, Matt Housley, and Joe Reis, dive into how engineering principles are transforming the way analytics is built, delivered, and scaled. 📆 May 27, 2025🕘 9:00 AM PDT, 12:00 PM EDT, 6:00 PM CEST🔗 Register here!

For decades, siloed data modeling has been the norm: applications, analytics, and machine learning/AI. However, the emergence of AI, streaming data, and “shifting left" are changing data modeling, making siloed data approaches insufficient for the diverse world of data use cases. Today's practitioners must possess an end-to-end understanding of the myriad techniques for modeling data throughout the data lifecycle. This presentation covers "mixed model arts," which advocates converging various data modeling methods and the innovations of new ones.

Speaker: Joe Reis Author Nerd Herd

Read the blog to learn about the latest dbt Cloud features announced at Coalesce, designed to help organizations embrace analytics best practices at scale https://www.getdbt.com/blog/coalesce-2024-product-announcements

Tristan Handy and I chat about balancing competing tensions, both personally and leading dbt Labs. We also discuss the power of organizational behavior, naming problems to solve, and home remodeling.

This is different from the normal interviews you'll hear with Tristan, and I hope you enjoy it!

dbtlabs #data #analyticsengineering

If you like this show, give it a 5-star rating on your favorite podcast platform.

Purchase Fundamentals of Data Engineering at your favorite bookseller.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://joereis.substack.com/

The word "model" is used a lot by data professionals. There are dbt models, machine learning models, relational models, and conceptual, logical, and physical models. My concern is we're missing the bigger picture of what data modeling was initially supposed to accomplish, which was to represent reality and structure it as data. The bigger implication is that our various "models" will become too myopic and miss the larger broader context of the reality of how we use data to serve our organizations.

If you like this show, give it a 5-star rating on your favorite podcast platform.

Purchase Fundamentals of Data Engineering at your favorite bookseller.

Subscribe to my Substack: https://joereis.substack.com/

I recap the Joe Reis + dbt roadshow in Denver (thanks to everyone who showed up) and discuss the divide between IT and "The Business."

If you like this show, give it a 5-star rating on your favorite podcast platform.

Purchase Fundamentals of Data Engineering at your favorite bookseller.

Check out my substack: https://joereis.substack.com/