💊 DATA Pill #128 - dbt™ at BlaBlaCar, What CDC is (and isn’t)
Hi,
This week's DATA Pill delivers actionable insights: discover how BlaBlaCar scaled their data ops with dbt™, get clear on what CDC is and why it's crucial, plus dive into top reads on semantic layers, dynamic data pipelines and the latest innovations like Apache Polaris. Let's get into it!
ARTICLES
The Semantic Layer Movement: The Rise & Current State | 11 min | Data Product Platform | Animesh Kumar | Modern Data 101 Blog
Find out how the semantic layer changes modern data systems by adding context to raw data, making it more accessible across tools. This post examines how this layer solves challenges like "semantic mistrust" and powers scalable, purpose-driven data applications.
What The Heck is Apache Polaris? | 5 min | Data Engineering | Shawn Gordon | Personal Blog
Curious about the new kid on the block, Apache Polaris? This article shows how Snowflake’s latest open-source project is shaking up the table format landscape, making it easier to manage metadata and work across multiple engines.
Scaling Success: dbt™ at BlaBlaCar | 11 min | Data Science | Tushar Bhasin | BlaBlaCar Blog
BlaBlaCar leveled up their SQL transformations by adopting dbt™, which helped them manage over 4,000 tables with ease. Learn how dbt™ improved collaboration, automation, and the overall developer experience for their team.
TUTORIALS
Why Do I Need CDC? | 7 min | Data Management | Robin Moffatt | Decodable Blog
Change Data Capture (CDC) extracts incremental data changes for analytics and system synchronization without affecting operational databases. This tutorial breaks down the benefits of log-based CDC, highlighting its efficiency and low impact on performance.
The Rise of the Declarative Data Stack | 10 min | Data Engineering | Simon Späti | Rill Data Blog
Explore the shift toward declarative data stacks, which make data processes simpler and more flexible. This approach lets engineers focus on what must be done while the system handles the details.
Dynamic Data Pipelines with Airflow Datasets and Pub/Sub | 4 min | Data Engineering | Nawfel Bacha | Astrafy Blog
Airflow Datasets bring automation to trigger workflows based on specific events. This tutorial walks you through using Google Cloud Pub/Sub with Airflow Datasets to create dynamic, event-driven pipelines.
NEWS
Azure Databricks Mirrored Catalog | 9 min | Data Engineering | Jose Mendes | Telefonica Tech Blog
Microsoft announced the public preview of Azure Databricks Mirrored Catalog, enabling direct access to Databricks Unity Catalog tables from Fabric. Users can now create a read-only, replicated copy in OneLake via the UI and explore data with SQL Endpoint or Power BI. This blog covers setting up the mirrored database and its pros and cons.
Preview Release of Apache Flink 2.0 | 9 min | Data Streaming | Xintong Song |
Flink Blog
The Apache Flink community is preparing for Flink 2.0, the first major release in 8 years, bringing new features and compatibility-breaking changes. A preview release is now available to help users and partners adapt early and provide feedback.
DATA TUBE
How Heineken Is Brewing Success With Generative AI | 35 min | Gen AI | Bernard Marr, Tony Costella | Personal Channel
Heineken shares how it uses generative AI to drive consumer insights and streamline operations. This session offers practical insights into how AI is reshaping large-scale businesses.
CONFS, EVENTS AND MEETUPS
Big Data Technology Warsaw 2025 - CFP | 24th November
The Big Data Technology Warsaw Summit returns on April 9-10, 2025! Submit your speaking proposal and join over 500 professionals as they dive into the latest in data engineering and big data technology.
Infoshare Katowice | Conference | November 26-27
We are a community partner of Infoshare Katowice, an event for developers and architects, as well as for IT team leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs from tech companies and the GameDev industry.
3 stages:
Promo code for our community: ISK24-DP10
MLOPS WORLD | Conference | November 7-8 | Austin TX
The event for the Ml/Gen AI community comprised over 20,000 ML researchers, engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs across several disciplines.
Taken from the real-life experiences of practitioners, the Steering Committee has selected the top applications, achievements, and knowledge areas to highlight across the event.
You can use code DataPill for 20% off all tickets.
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