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The Joe Reis Show

The Joe Reis Show

Joe Reis 386 Episodes Oct 2, 2026

Joe Reis, a best-selling author and recovering data scientist, hosts this podcast where he shares candid thoughts on the data, tech, and AI industry. Each week, he broadcasts from wherever he is in the world, sometimes solo ranting and other times chatting with smart people he knows. The show offers an unfiltered perspective on the state of AI, data, and tech.

Episodes

The Pendulums of Data
The Pendulums of Data Oct 2, 2026 00:12:48 The data industry rarely moves in a straight line. We swing from centralized to decentralized, batch to real-time, general-purpose to specialized, abstraction to control, and governance to self-service.In this episode, I unpack why these cycles keep repeating, what forces push the pendulum in each direction, and why every successful architecture eventually creates the conditions for its own backla
This Year’s Better Mousetrap: New Tech, Same Old Problems
This Year’s Better Mousetrap: New Tech, Same Old Problems Sep 25, 2026 00:16:32 We see a lot of hype cycles in our industry - Data mesh. Generative AI. Agents. Now context. Every cycle brings a new label and a familiar promise: this will finally make your organization’s data useful.The technology has improved enormously. So why do the same problems keep coming back?In this episode, I explore how communication, incentives, and organizational politics shape what our tools actua
DuckDB - The Past, Present, and Future, DuckLabs, and More w/ Hannes Mühleisen
DuckDB - The Past, Present, and Future, DuckLabs, and More w/ Hannes Mühleisen Sep 22, 2026 00:43:37 Hannes Mühleisen (co-creator of DuckDB) joins me to chat about the past, present, and future of DuckDB, Ducklabs (recently acquired by AWS), and more.Note - parts edited due to AWS's request.
Designing the AI-Driven Data Foundations: Architecture, Principles, and Practice w/ Sanjeev Mohan
Designing the AI-Driven Data Foundations: Architecture, Principles, and Practice w/ Sanjeev Mohan Sep 18, 2026 01:00:17 Former Gartner VP Analyst and principal at SanjMo, Sanjeev Mohan, joins me to break down the reality of AI adoption, data foundations, and why enterprises are hitting roadblocks with agents and LLMs. From comparing the current AI boom to the dot-com era to unpacking his new concept, ECL (Extract, Context, Link), Sanjeev explains why moving data around is no longer viable and why "there is no
Why Write Books?
Why Write Books? Sep 18, 2026 00:16:26 This week at dbt Summit, Tristan Handy (co-founder of dbt) asked me why I write books. It's a good question, especially today when reading is declining and any answer is seemingly at your fingertips.In this Freestyle Friday, I discuss why I write books, why they still matter, and much more. If you're interested in writing a book, this episode is definitely a must-listen.
Nobody Knows...
Nobody Knows... Sep 11, 2026 00:16:42 I talk to executives and practitioners around the world about AI and what comes next. Everyone has predictions and pontifications, and everyone seems to think someone else has the answers. But the more conversations I have, the clearer it gets that nobody knows what's next. In this episode, I explore that uncertainty and how we move forward anyway.Because in the end, nobody knows...
Why AI Agents Will Break Modern Data Engineering (And How to Fix It) w/ Christophe Blefari (Nao)
Why AI Agents Will Break Modern Data Engineering (And How to Fix It) w/ Christophe Blefari (Nao) Sep 10, 2026 00:57:43 In this episode of The Joe Reis Show, I catch up with my good friend Christophe Blefari, co-founder of NAO, to dig into what's actually happening on the front lines of AI agents and data engineering. We talk about the evolution from building SQL IDEs to agentic analytics harnesses, how prompt-driven workflows are reshaping data teams, and why age-old problems like data discovery, modeling, and
The Return of Conceptual Data Modeling w/ Sami Hero (CEO of Ellie.ai)
The Return of Conceptual Data Modeling w/ Sami Hero (CEO of Ellie.ai) Sep 8, 2026 00:49:30 In this episode, I sit down with Sami Hero, CEO of Ellie.ai, to talk through the evolution of data modeling and why foundational conceptual modeling is more critical now than ever. With the explosion of AI agents, LLMs, and semantic layers, many teams assume they can bypass data modeling and just let an AI infer meaning directly from raw tables. We dig into why that mindset leads to bad decisions,
Agents, Self-Service BI Redux, and "Death of Data Teams"
Agents, Self-Service BI Redux, and "Death of Data Teams" Sep 4, 2026 00:19:43 AI agents are being pitched as the “death of the data team,” with CEOs supposedly able to do the work themselves. We’ve heard versions of this promise before, from self-service BI to low-code analytics.In this episode, I revisit that history and ask what agents actually change. Who prepares the data, resolves conflicting definitions, and checks the answers? What does the hiring research tell us ab
Bringing Distributed Compute & AI to the Edge w/ David Aronchick (CEO of Expanso)
Bringing Distributed Compute & AI to the Edge w/ David Aronchick (CEO of Expanso) Sep 1, 2026 00:52:44 In this episode of the Joe Reis Show, I sit down with David Aronchick, co-founder of Expanso and one of the early pioneers behind Kubernetes, Kubeflow, and the CNCF. We dive deep into the evolving data landscape and discuss why the architectural pendulum is swinging back from pure cloud centralization toward distributed edge compute. David breaks down the real operational nightmares of edge data c
Are You Still Hands-On?
Are You Still Hands-On? Aug 28, 2026 00:24:09 I get asked all the time whether I’m still “hands-on.” The short answer: not in the traditional sense. My work has shifted toward writing, teaching, advising, investing, building companies, and working with the people building what comes next. In this episode, I argue that technical relevance isn’t about staying trapped in the same operating mode forever, and that AI is drastically changing what “
Building with AI, DuckDB + RDF, and the Semantic Future w/ Dan Bennett (Head of Tech @ S&P Global)
Building with AI, DuckDB + RDF, and the Semantic Future w/ Dan Bennett (Head of Tech @ S&P Global) Aug 27, 2026 00:52:04 On this episode of The Joe Reis Show, I’m joined by Dan Bennett, Head of Technology for the Enterprise Data Organization at S&P Global.We get into what it actually looks like to build with modern AI coding tools like Claude Code. Not just as a toy, but for writing production-grade C++. Dan walks through how he built an open-source RDF extension for DuckDB, why rock-solid test coverage is non-n

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