The Joe Reis Show
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
What I'd Do As a Junior Candidate in Mid-2026. Freestyle Fridays (June 26, 2026)
I get asked by junior-level graduates and candidates in data engineering, analytics, and data science about what to do to succeed in today's challenging job market. With AI rapidly changing employer expectations, there's understandably a lot of anxiety today, particularly among juniors.In this Freestyle Friday, I answer in terms of what I'd do if I was a junior candidate today - the necessary tech
From Airflow to AI Agents: Maxime Beauchemin on Building Agor and Running a Company with AI Agents
Maxime Beauchemin, the creator of Apache Airflow and Apache Superset, joins the show to discuss his transition from data engineering to the frontier of AI. Max shares the origin stories of his massive open-source projects, detailing how Airflow was born at Airbnb out of a need for better data orchestration. He also explains his shift toward user interfaces with Superset and the founding of his com
The AI Boom (and Bust?) Cycle: Lessons from the Gold Rush. Freestyle Fridays (June 19, 2026)
Finished a jog on the high plains near South Pass, Wyoming, where there's a lot of history. Standing near the old Oregon and Mormon trails, I look at the remnants of the 1800s gold rush to draw parallels to the current AI boom.
The Missing Half of AI: Context, Agents, and the AI-Native Enterprise w/ Prukalpa Sankar (Atlan)
In this episode, I sit down with Prukalpa Sankar, the founder of Atlan, to discuss the missing piece that makes artificial intelligence actually useful in the enterprise: context. We dive deep into building the "second brain" of a company, the reality of agent development, and how to transition a traditional business into an AI-native organization. If you're looking to understand why
Snowflake Summit 2026 Recap, Avoiding the Semantic Swamp, and more w/ Juan Sequeda
Juan Sequeda stops by after a massive month on the road to unpack the latest industry shifts, including takeaways from the Snowflake Summit. We dive into the real state of AI agents in the enterprise, separating the hype from the reality of adoption. We also explore the dangers of creating a "semantic swamp," (cousin of data swamps) the shifting landscape of vendor strategies with the ri
Data Work in the Real World (Detroit Edition) w/ Ryan Dolley. Freestyle Fridays (June 5, 2026)
In this Freestyle Friday episode, Ryan Dolly and I record straight from the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit to talk about life, tech, and data outside the San Francisco bubble. We had an amazing time connecting at the Data in the D town hall and exploring a city undergoing massive revitalization. Detroit was once the Silicon Valley of its time, peaking at nearly 1.9 million resident
Notes From the Field: AI, Energy Shocks & the End of the Old Playbook. Freestyle Fridays (May 29, 2026)
It's been a few months on the road, bouncing through San Francisco a bunch, across Asia and Europe, and a quick stop in Detroit. In this audio-only Freestyle Friday I unpack what I've been seeing out there. If I had to pick one word for the mood worldwide, it's uncertainty: energy and supply shocks rippling out of the Middle East, fuel and resource shortages, flights getting canceled w
How AI Agents Are Changing the Data Consultancy Game w/ Chris Tabb (Confluent Current London 2026)
If you're a consultant and you're not using AI agents yet, your competitors are. No surprise, but they're delivering faster, cheaper, and better than ever.Chris Tabb, founder of LEIT Data, joins me live at Confluent Current London 2026 to talk honestly about how AI agents are reshaping the consultancy model, from billing structures and team rollouts, to building internal tribal knowled
Why You Feel Behind in AI (And Aren't) w/ Eric Weber
Everyone in tech is telling you to go faster. Eric stepped away from his role to do the opposite.In this conversation, we get into why so many people feel like they're falling behind in AI, and why that feeling is mostly manufactured. Eric makes the case that we're miscalibrated: assuming what's true for the 0.1% (the SF AI inner circle) is true for the 10%, when by definition almost n
Why AI Agents Are the New Consumers of Data with Tristan Handy (CEO @dbt Labs)
In this episode, Tristan Handy and I sit down to unpack a massive shift coming to the data industry: over the next 12 months, the primary consumers of data won't be humans. They will be AI agents. We dive deep into what this means for data infrastructure, compute costs, and the tools we use every day. We also talk about processing high-volume agent queries, building "context stores"
Why 90% of Data Teams Are Failing at Modeling - Freestyle Friday (May 15, 2026)
NOTE - Sorry for the edits in this video. I used Descript to edit out the umms and uhhs, and it was a bit too aggressive. Will make it less jarring in future videos. Thanks.Freestyle Friday, May 15, 2026Walking around Salt Lake City and unpacking the April 2026 data modeling survey results (334 respondents). Across three surveys now: January's State of Data Engineering (1,100), March's AI
The Hidden Costs of AI Agents & Cloud Data with Sanjay Agrawal (Revefi, co-founder ThoughtSpot, MS)
Are AI agents silently draining your cloud data budget? With the rise of consumption-based pricing and autonomous AI queries, data teams are facing a perfect storm of skyrocketing costs and operational chaos. In this episode, I sit down with Sanjay Agrawal, CEO and Co-founder of Revefi, to discuss the intersection of data engineering, cloud warehouse optimization, and FinOps in the age of AI.We ch
Zach Wilson - Data Engineering in 2026, Traveling, and more - Freestyle Fridays - May 8, 2026
Zach Wilson and I happen to be in Stockholm, Sweden, this evening. In this Freestyle Friday chat, we talk about what it takes to be a data engineer in 2026 and much more.
AI Agents Can't Fix Data - Josh Wills on Where AI Breaks in Data Engineering
Josh Wills has spent 25 years writing data pipelines, with a career spanning Cloudera, as Director of Data Engineering at Slack, on the dbt DuckDB adapter, and now training foundation models at Datology AI. He uses coding agents every day. And he keeps running into the same wall: the agents jump to conclusions, fix the wrong thing, and ship pipelines no one understands.In this conversation, we unp
TOKENMAXXING IS FOR FOOLS - Freestyle Friday (May 1, 2026)
Stop Tokenmaxxing and step off the AI hamster wheel. Welcome to another Freestyle Friday! What's the overwhelming vibe in the AI zeitgeist? "If you aren't maxing out AI every second, you're going to be left behind." Therefore, Tokenmaxxing is the way, right?I strongly disagree. We're burning ourselves out with fake productivity and a graveyard of abandoned AI-generated projects.In this episode, I
Why Snowflake Bought SelectStar - and What "Data Catalog" Means Now w/ Shinji Kim
Shinji Kim, founder of SelectStar (acquired by Snowflake in December), joins the show to discuss the deal, the integration into Snowflake's Horizon catalog, and where data cataloging is actually headed.We get into the weeds on a claim Shinji makes early: in a few years, we may stop calling these things "data catalogs" at all. The category is evolving into an AI context layer, a livin
WTF is a Software Moat in 2026? - Freestyle Friday (4/24/2026)
AI has completely inverted how we build and scale software, which begs the question: What exactly is a moat anymore? In this Freestyle Friday, recovering from jet lag and hiking through the beautiful hills of Salt Lake City, I’m breaking down a recent conversation with a VC friend about defensibility in the era of coding agents. I also look at this through Charlie Munger’s lens of "inversion&
The Future of Open Data Infrastructure with George Fraser (CEO of Fivetran)
Are vendors trying to lock down your data? In this episode, George Fraser breaks down why the "modern data stack" has evolved into "open data infrastructure". We discuss why data gravity is the most overrated concept in data management, how egress charges are often misunderstood due to poorly designed pipelines, and why companies must insist on having a true replica of their ow
We're in 1905: Why Electricity (Not Dot-Com) Is the Right AI Analogy - Freestyle Friday, 4/17/2026
Walking through Tokyo and breaking down the reality of the AI revolution. In this Freestyle Friday from Shibuya Crossing, I look past the current AI hype cycle to examine the real bottlenecks of AI adoption. Is the current AI boom just a repeat of the dot.com bubble? Why is simply buying Copilot subscriptions for your team failing to move the needle?Drawing parallels to the 40-year adoption curve
The Godfather of Data Governance: Bob Seiner on Data vs AI Governance, and The Data Catalyst Cubed
In this episode, I sit down with Bob Seiner, a true pioneer who has been working in data governance since before it was even called governance. We dive into why he calls BS on the trendy term "data enablement" and how his trademarked approach, Non-Invasive Data Governance, formalizes what organizations are already doing without beating employees over the head.We also unpack his latest concept, The
Do Data Fundamentals Still Matter in the Age of AI? - Freestyle Friday (April 10, 2026)
Do fundamentals still matter, or are we all just "vibe engineering" our architectures now? Coming to you live and sweating from the hillsides of Phuket, Thailand, this week's Freestyle Friday dives into the tension between chasing the newest tech and mastering first principles. After a recent LinkedIn debate suggesting teams "don't have time" for fundamentals anymore, I
Wes McKinney on AI Agents, The Mythical Agent Month, and His Wild AI Coding Setup
Wes McKinney is back to discuss his complete transition from AI skepticism to becoming heavily "locked in" on coding agents.Wes shares how he overcame his initial "existential dread" about the future of software engineering and completely rebuilt his personal productivity stack using tools like Claude and Codex. We dive deep into the reality of coding agents, why he believes Go has become the ulti
Surviving the AI Grind: Hustle Culture, Fear, and Finding Value w/ Eric Weber (Freestyle Friday Episode)
In this Freestyle Friday episode, I catch up with Eric Weber after our recent walk through downtown San Francisco. We dive deep into the very real fear and identity crises sweeping through the tech industry as AI accelerates. We discuss how packing a year of change into a single week is disorienting workers and how the constant hustle culture in SF might finally be hitting its threshold.We also ge
Why 90% of Your Data is Wasted (and How AI Reclaims It) w/ Amit Prakash
I recently sat down with Amit Prakash, the brilliant mind who co-founded ThoughtSpot and led AI teams at Google and Microsoft, to talk about a massive shift happening in the data world.For decades, we’ve been forcing the "messy reality" of business into rigid database tables, losing about 90% of the actual information in the process.Amit is now building Ampup to flip that script. We dive
Breaking Into Data Engineering in 2026: AI Tools, Standout Resumes, and more w/ Chris Gambill
In this episode, I sit down with Chris Gambill, a data strategy and engineering leader, fractional consultant, and career coach. We dive into the realities of the data engineering job market in 2026, exploring what it takes to stand out, the massive shift AI coding tools are causing, and why mastering the fundamentals of data engineering remains crucial.Chris shares his unfiltered thoughts on coac
AI in Healthcare - The Real-World Realities w/ Gowtham Chilakapati
In this episode, I sit down with Gowtham Chilakapati, an analytics veteran of 18 years and Executive Director at Humana , to pull back the curtain on the reality of Agentic AI in the enterprise.We dive deep into the recent wave of tech layoffs—like the news of Block cutting 40% of its workforce —and debate whether AI is truly driving these decisions or simply serving as a convenient excuse for bro
Freestyle Fridays - AI Changed Everything, Except the Hard Parts
The new Practical Data Community Pulse Survey for March 2026 just came out, and I unveiled some of the findings at yesterday's Undercurrent event in San Francisco. The short version is: AI is here to stay. Everyone's using it, but the hard parts we've always dealt with as an industry still remain unresolved. Listen and find out why.
Inside the AI "Frankenact" Disaster & The Fight for Developers w/ Jake Ward
In this episode, I sit down with Jake Ward, founder of the Application Developers Alliance. We dig into the AI "Frankenact," aka the EU AI Act, and why policymakers regulating tech they fundamentally misunderstand creates a cold wind for software innovation.Jake drops some harsh truths about why giving developers a voice in Washington is harder than it looks, why collective bargaining an
Freestyle Fridays - Thoughts on the Data Job Market, Going Solo, and More
The data job market is evolving, but it's still there. In this episode, I give my thoughts on the data job market, ways to navigate it, going solo and having a Plan B, and more.
Is SaaS Cooked? Why "Local First" AI Agents Are Taking Over w/ Demetrios Brinkmann
In this episode, I sit down with Demetrios Brinkmann (godfather of the MLOps Community) to talk about the absolute Wild West of AI right now. We cover how fast coding agents are changing the game, the reality of "vibe coding" your own CRM , and how Demetrios's community saved $20,000 just by ditching bloated enterprise tools.But we don't just talk tech. We get into the weeds on the content creatio
The Buzzword Industrial Complex, AI Agents & The Future of Data w/ Matt Housley
In this episode, Matt Housley and I reunite for a Friday catch-up, bringing back some of that classic Monday Morning Data Chat energy. We dive into the absurdity of the "buzzword industrial complex," and why declaring it the "Year of Context" is mostly just industry hype, per usual.We also tackle the chaotic reality of deploying AI agents (including the ultimate YOLO, OpenClaw)
The Tech Job Market is Brutal. Is Freelancing Your Plan B? w/ Jody Hesch
The white-collar tech industry isn't what it used to be, and anyone could be on the chopping block at a moment's notice. With tens of thousands of highly skilled people getting laid off from Big Tech on a seemingly bi-weekly basis, competing in the traditional job market is brutal right now.In this episode, Jody Hesch and I discuss why building a freelance data consulting business isn'
The OGs of AI Analytics: Building Data Agents Before It Was Cool w/ Paul Blankley and Ryan Janssen
In this conversation, Paul Blankley and Ryan Janssen, founders of Zenlytic, drop in to discuss the massive shift in how we build software and handle data. We trace their journey from studying early NLP and Transformers at Harvard right when the BERT paper dropped, to building a company that relies on cutting-edge LLMs. As far as I know, they're the first to use LLM's for analytics.We dive
Freestyle Fridays - The AI Skills and Competence Gap
We often hear about the AI skills gap, where people need to get training on the latest AI tools. There's also the AI competence gap, where people might not have the skills or competence in a field, and use AI to mask over those shortcomings. The results are what you expect - chaos. In this episode, I unpack these two gaps, and do my usual ranting about learning the fundamentals and investing i
Are Software Engineers the New Data Engineers? w/ Tim Delisle & Chris Crane (514)
In this conversation, I sit down with Tim Delisle and Chris Crane, co-founders of 514, to discuss bridging the gap between software development and data engineering. We cover their experience leading global data engineering at Nike and why software teams are increasingly taking ownership of heavy analytical workloads.We also dive into how they are building the Moose Stack to give developers a loca
The AI Orchestrator & Building Human-Machine Teams w/ Sadie St. Lawrence
Sadie St. Lawrence joins me to unpack her concept of the "AI Orchestrator," explaining how it shifts our mindset from being a musician to a conductor in the age of AI. She shares insights from her work at the Human-Machine Collaboration Institute (HMCI), detailing how her team is building AI-powered solutions and tackling complex problems. We also chat about the common pitfalls in AI ado
Freestyle Fridays - The Great Data Reckoning
This week, I published an article called "2028, the Great Data Reckoning," which got a ton of response. Although I originally meant it to be satire, when I re-read it I felt like it was actually a glimpse into what's happening in our field right now. In this episode, I chat about the implications of the Great Data Reckoning on practitioners, leaders, and founders. Article: https://jo
Marketing to Developers During the AI Gold Rush w/ Prashant Sridharan
In this episode, I sit down with Prashant Sridharan, a 30-year veteran of developer marketing who has shaped go-to-market strategies for tech giants like Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, AWS, Facebook, and Twitter, and currently runs product marketing at Supabase. We dive deep into the origins of DevRel and how marketing to developers has evolved in an increasingly noisy, AI-saturated landscape.Topics
Freestyle Fridays - The Data Industry is the Definition of Insanity
For 40+ years, the data industry has tried to teach good practices and get adoption, often in the same way. And for 40+ years, that approach keeps failing over and over. Based on the recent Practical Data Community Survey, practitioners face challenges like time pressures, lack of direction, and lack of clear ownership. Do we need to try something else as an industry? Or do we continue to be the p
From ODBC to ADBC: Modernizing the Data Stack for AI and Analytics w/ Ian Cook
Why are we still using row-based protocols like ODBC and JDBC in a column-oriented world? In this episode, I sit down with Ian Cook, co-founder of Columnar and a long-time Apache Arrow contributor, to discuss the critical infrastructure changes needed to speed up modern analytics and AI.We dive deep into the technical bottlenecks of legacy standards - specifically the "serialization tax"
Freestyle Fridays - The State of Data Engineering in 2026, Book Writing, and More
The 2026 Practical Data Community State of Data Engineering dropped this week. It's full of some obvious and very counterintuitive information about the state of data engineers around the globe, in all sizes and types of organizations. Check it out!Also, I talk about the book writing process, where I messed up on this latest book, it's progress toward publication, and more.Survey: https://
Vibe Coding, Agents, and The Future of Streaming Data w/ Paul Dudley and Ricky Thomas (Streamkap)
I sat down with Paul Dudley (CEO) and Ricky Thomas (CTO) from StreamKap to catch up on where the world of streaming data is heading—and things have changed fast since we last spoke.We dive into the concept of "vibe coding" and how AI is radically accelerating how we build software (I even share a story about building a data analysis tool in an hour). But the real meat of this conversation is about
Freestyle Fridays - The SaaS Slump and the Rise of Disposable Software
This week was a doozy with new AI releases, the stock market, and more. It really feels like this was the first tremor in AI's impact on the SaaS market. What's do I think is next? Listen and find out.
Dashboards vs. Agents: Navigating the New Era of BI and Analytics with Mike Driscoll
In this episode, I sit down with Mike Driscoll, founder of Rill Data, to discuss the evolving landscape of business intelligence and data engineering. We explore why the industry keeps "rediscovering" old concepts like the semantic layer and how the rise of AI agents is forcing us to rethink how we structure data.Mike shares his insights on the "shape" of analytics, debating wh
Freestyle Fridays - Why AI (Might) Mean More Work, Not Less
As I use AI, I'm finding that I create MORE work for myself, not less. One task completed means five more to do. This is the paradox of today - AI might actually mean more work, not less. I talk about this, the Data Day Texas final episode, and more.Check out the review I did of Cube's new analytics agent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3frGJOUl1E(Thanks to Cube for partnering on the rev
"I Needed to Be Back in the Game": Leaving PE & Big Tech to Build Vertical AI w/ Lak Lakshmanan
Lak Lakshmanan had a successful career in Private Equity and Big Tech, but he realized he couldn't just "coach the game" while the rules were changing. He had to get back on the field play it. We discuss vertical AI, the "foolhardiness" required to start a company , the reality of the AI technology wave, and why sitting on the sidelines is the biggest risk of all.LinkedIn:
Freestyle Fridays - The 99% of Businesses and AI, and More.
In this episode, I talk about how I'm kind of living in a bubble of cool tech and AI, and how the 99% of businesses out there are still grappling with the same old data and tech problems they've always dealt with.I also talk about how me and my friends are using AI to automate the boring stuff and scratch our own itches.
Cory Doctorow on Enshitification, The AI Bubble, Reverse Centaurs, and The Post-American Internet
In this episode, I sit down with science fiction author, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow to unpack his viral concept of Enshitification, the three-act tragedy of platform decay: 1. be good to users 2. lock them in 3. extract value from users to feed advertisers and shareholdersWe also dive into:- The AI bubble: Cory’s case that parts of the sector are propped up by aggressive accounting and
Why Smart Ideas in Tech Keep Failing (And Why We Suck at Selling)
Tech is full of smart people with smart ideas - enterprise data models, ontologies, data mesh, proprietary AI strategies - that repeatedly fail to gain traction. When they fail, the blame usually goes to "stupid users", "lazy and immature organizations." Perhaps, but I don't think that's the whole story, and if you adopt that mindset, you're sure to keep failing.I t
Is the BI Dashboard Dead? Barry McCardel on Hex, AI Agents, and the Future of BI
In this episode, I visited the Hex office and sat down with Barry McCardle (CEO of Hex) to talk about the massive shift we’re seeing in the data stack. Countless companies have spent decades buying BI tools in the hope of "self-serve Nirvana," yet most dashboards still raise more questions than they answer. Barry and I dive into why the traditional dashboard is becoming a "jumping-o
Freestyle Fridays - Status Games
What status game are you playing? Are you trying to outcompete others, or playing your own game? In this episode, I talk about status games in data and careers in general.
A History of Technology & Computing w/ Bill Inmon and Roger Whatley
The technology industry is prone to moving fast and forgetting its history. This is a shame because our industry is built on the shoulders of many giants, often long forgotten. Bill Inmon, Roger Whatley, and I discuss the history of technology and computing, covered in their new book, From Stone to Silicon. We talk about the big people and moments in technology and computing, and much more.From St
Live with Joe Reis - January 2026 AMA. Ontologies, Data Modeling, Data Engineering, and More
Welcome to 2026! In this spontaneous Friday AMA, I take listener questions on ontologies, the “leaky abstractions” of AI coding tools, why the “button pusher” era of engineering is a professional dead end, and the shifting landscape of data engineering.I also provides an update on my upcoming book, Mixed Model Arts (launching in March 2026), and discuss the unexpected convergence of library scienc
Freestyle Fridays - The Law of Leaky Vibes, Making Your First Dollar, and More
Happy 2026! In this episode, I rant about whether vibe coding and AI coding agents makes the Law of Leaky Abstractions obsolete, making your first dollar (or whatever currency), and more.The Law of Leaky Abstractions: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-abstractions/If you like this podcast, please take 10 seconds and give it a rating or review on your podcast platform of ch
Freestyle Fridays - 2026 "Predictions", Kimball vs Inmon Thoughts, and More
2025 is nearly gone, and in this episode, I give some thoughts on what I think might happen in 2026. I also chat about this week's surge of interest in Kimball vs Inmon (and the podcast I tried to organize with them) and much more.
Freestyle Fridays - Have Good Taste and Keep Building
“What I built today might be obsolete tomorrow.”This is something I heard this week from a developer, and this is not uncommon given the warp speed nonstop advancement of AI models every week. We used to measure the rate of change in months or years. Now it’s days or weeks.In this episode, I talk about why writing code is rarely hard part, and why having good taste and shipping things that people
Bootstrapping a Data Consultancy Amidst The Great AI Grift w/ Nikhil Suresh (CEO @ Hermit Tech, Blogger)
In this episode, Nik Suresh returns to the show to discuss his first year running a bootstrapped services company. And no, he probably will not throat punch or pile drive you.Nik explains why he moved away from hourly billing to fixed pricing, why writing code is often the least profitable part of a project, and how to spot "status games" in the tech industry. We also dive into the curre
The "Oh Word" - Why Ontologies Are Suddenly Popular
Oh yeah...ontologies. In this mini-clip from Matt Housley and I, we chat about why ontologies are super popular now.
Freestyle Fridays - The Kids are Alright
Had an interesting discussion with my 15 year old son. He and his friends see white collar work as “cooked.” They see it as a rat race where the work is increasingly insecure, abusive, and meaningless. Then there’s the looming question of AI…Instead, they’re interested in careers they find meaningful and not as exposed to whatever AI does to work. And if they own a company, they’ll just hire “clan
The Truth About AI Agents, Hardware Wars, and Mixed Model Arts. Freestyle Fridays w/ Matt Housley
It's Friday! Matt Housley and I catch up to discuss the aftermath of AWS re:Invent and why the industry’s obsession with AI Agents might be premature. We also dive deep into the hardware wars between Google and NVIDIA , the "brain-damaged" nature of current LLMs , and the growing "enshittification" of the internet and platforms like LinkedIn. Plus, I reveals some details ab
Data Contracts Are For Software Engineers, Not Just Data Teams w/ Mark Freeman and Chad Sanderson
In this episode, I sit down with Mark Freeman and Chad Sanderson (Gable.ai) to discuss the release of their new O’Reilly book, Data Contracts: Developing Production-Grade Pipelines at Scale. They dive deep into the chaotic journey of writing a 350-page book while simultaneously building a venture-backed startup.The conversation takes a sharp turn into the evolution of Data Contracts. While the con
Freestyle Fridays - To Succeed in 2026, Use December Wisely!
I meet a lot of people who want to accomplish major goals next year. Then the year comes and goes and most people are still waiting to get started.It's almost December. Rather than wait until the New Year to get going, use December to plan how you'll execute on "that thing" you're itching to accomplish. Time waits for nobody, so get going.
Why AI Agents Need a New Lakehouse. Ciro Greco (Bauplan) on “Git for Data”
In this episode, Ciro Greco (Co-founder & CEO, Bauplan) joins me to discuss why the future of data infrastructure must be "Code-First" and how this philosophy accidentally created the perfect environment for AI Agents.We explore why the "Modern Data Stack" isn't ready for autonomous agents and why a programmable lakehouse is the solution. Ciro explains that while we trust agents to write code
Freestyle Fridays - So You Want to Grow on Substack
Just launched your Substack? Great! Here’s what to do next.This episode covers the realities of writing long-form in public, the traps that cause most writers to stall, how to build consistency, and how to grow an engaged audience from day one.
From Data Engineering to Context Engineering w/ Nick Schrock
Data engineering is undergoing a fundamental shift. In this episode, I sit down with Nick Schrock, founder and CTO of Dagster, to discuss why he went from being an "AI moderate" to believing 90% of code will be written by AI. Being hands on also led to a massive pivot in Dagster’s roadmap and a new focus on managing and engineering context.We dive deep into why simply feeding data to LLM
The 2026 Data Career Roadmap: What’s Changed? w/ Maggie Wolff
The days of easy entry into data jobs over. Maggie Wolff joins the show to discuss the new reality of the data career landscape. We dive into why the bar is higher than ever and why "cold DMing" on LinkedIn is a terrible strategy.Maggie also breaks down her secret strategy for networking as an introvert: treating events like a game or role-playing a more extroverted friend. Plus, we disc
AI Bubbles & "Vibe Coding" Dangers. Freestyle Fridays w/ Matt Housley
Matt Housley joins me for our monthly round-up of topics. This time, there's danger everywhere - The AI Bubble, how vibe coding is evolving, AI slop, and more.
Why Most Chief Data Officers Fail w/ Malcolm Hawker
After 1,500+ conversations with CDOs and VPs of data , guest Malcolm Hawker noticed a disturbing pattern: a "limiting mindset" that causes data leaders to fail. He argues that too many leaders blame external factors such as "culture" , "data literacy", or a lack of support rather than taking accountability for delivering value.In this conversation, Malcolm breaks down how this mindset is reinforce
We're Losing Our Ability to Be Human w/ AI Ethicist Cecilia Dones
In this conversation, Dr. Cecilia Dones and I discuss the social skills we're losing as AI becomes more integrated into our lives. We explore the erosion of social norms, from AI companions joining Zoom calls without consent, endless enshitified content, to my son's generation calling AI girlfriends "clankers".Is there hope? We break down the "rage currency" that domina
Freestyle Fridays - Eroding the Edges. What Does AI Mean For Products?
In conversations I've been having with leaders and practitioners, there's some open-ended questions about the impact of AI on vendors and open-source projects. If you don't have a moat, you need to start thinking about how AI coding tools will erode the edges of your product. And what about getting users and traction? I cover this and much more in this episode. Enjoy!
Data as the Fourth Pillar: How CDOs Can Move from "Cost Center" to "Offense" with Sujay Dutta and Siddharth Rajagopal
Sujay Dutta and Sidd Rajagopal, authors of "Data as the Fourth Pillar," join the show to make the compelling case that for C-suite leaders obsessed with AI, data must be elevated to the same level as people, process, and technology.They provide a practical playbook for Chief Data Officers (CDOs) to escape the "cost center" trap by focusing on the "demand side" (busine
The 2025 MAD Landscape w/ Matt Turck
Matt Turck (VC at FirstMark) joins the show to break down the most controversial MAD (Machine Learning, AI, and Data) Landscape yet. This year, the team "declared bankruptcy" and cut over 1,000 logos to better reflect the market reality: a "Cambrian explosion" of AI companies and a fierce "struggle and tension between the very large companies and the startups".Matt di
Freestyle Fridays - The Road Warrior. Why I Travel, Travel Tips, and More
I travel a TON, and the most frequent questions I get relate to traveling: Why I do it and any tips I have for traveling. Here, I answer those questions and more.
The Surprising Rise of FastMCP, a 1M+ Download/Day Hit w/ Jeremiah Lowin
Jeremiah Lowin, founder of Prefect , returns to the show to discuss the seismic shift in the data and AI landscape since our last conversation a few years ago. He shares the wild origin story of FastMCP, a project he started to create a more "Pythonic" wrapper for Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP).Jeremiah explains how this side project was incorporated into Anthropic's official SDK and the
Freestyle Fridays - Choosing Tools and Vendors, Having a Plan B, and More
I'm back, and give some notes from the road, thoughts on choosing tools and vendors, having a plan B for tools, and more.
Why 90% of Data Engineers Will Never Become Leaders w/ Yordan Ivanov
There's no shortage of technical content for data engineers, but a massive gap exists when it comes to the non-technical skills required to advance beyond a senior role. I sit down with Yordan Ivanov, Head of Data Engineering and writer of "Data Gibberish," to talk about this disconnect.We dive into his personal journey of failing as a manager the first time, learning the crucial "people" skills,
The Agentic Future: How Streaming is Evolving for AI w/ Tyler Akidau
The world of data is being reset by AI, and the infrastructure needs to evolve with it. I sit down with streaming legend Tyler Akidau to discuss how the principles of stream processing are forming the foundation for the next generation of "agentic AI" systems.Tyler, who was an AI cynic until recently, explains why he's now convinced that AI agents will fundamentally change how businesses operate a
Freestyle Fridays - Scared Money Don't Make Money
I still see some companies acting sheepish with AI, too scared to even try it out. That's a massive mistake. Now is the time to play offense with incorporating AI into your company and reimagining what it can become.
From Dashboards to Agents: How Salesforce is Redefining Data Interaction w/ Irina Malkova
Are dashboards dead? For complex enterprise use cases, the answer might be yes. In this episode, I'm joined by Irina Malkova (VP Data & AI at Salesforce), to discuss her team's transformational journey from building complex dashboards to deploying AI-powered conversational agents.We dive deep into how this shift is not just a change in tooling, but a fundamental change in how users acc
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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, vendo
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