Joe's Nerdy Rants #2
My weekend newsletter about data and tech
How to Learn in a Rapidly Changing World
Do you find it challenging to stay current with the latest news, trends, and tools in tech and data? You're not alone. With an overwhelming amount of new technologies and AI emerging every day, it feels like our industry is constantly evolving at a pace faster than light. When conversing with fellow professionals, there's a common belief that keeping up with everything is impossible. While I agree that it's challenging to filter out the noise (especially with generative AI on the rise), I have managed to stay informed for decades by keeping things simple. My advice may or may not be applicable to your situation, so adjust accordingly.
Find your True North
What motivates you to learn? Learning can be challenging and often goes against our natural tendencies. It's similar to exercising - you recognize its benefits, but it's easy to find excuses not to do it. To succeed with continuous learning, it's important to identify your ultimate goal or purpose.
Jeff Bezos has a handy illustration of the True North for Amazon - focus on what doesn’t change. For Amazon, True North means customers will always want better deals on high-quality products delivered as quickly as possible. I'll be waiting if you can show me a world where customers want crappy and overpriced products delivered as late as possible.
For data professionals, I see True North as data needs to be as accurate and believable as possible, delivered as quickly and seamlessly as possible, promoting the best data-driven decisions and outcomes. Please let me know if you can show me a world where people want the opposite.
For your situation, understand what will hold true for the next several years. This is the basis upon which to grow your knowledge.
Master the Fundamentals
People seem to jump from trend to trend, often learning from baseline tutorials but never diving deep into the subject. This shortchanges you in a few ways. First, knowledge is best when you understand something from end to end. If you’re learning superficially, what do you think you’re accomplishing? This is fine for surface-level investigation, where you’re trying out new technologies. But don’t equate this with mastering the fundamentals of a topic.
Second, instead of focusing on what’s in front of you, wouldn’t it be better to learn how it works from first principles? First principles mean getting back to basics. It means understanding how things work at an atomic level. This takes a ton of work, and there are no shortcuts if you want to call yourself an expert in something. For example, you could learn the basics of SQL. That’s handy but not nearly as useful as understanding what happens you understand how SQL is used in a database. How does a database use SQL in a query execution plan? How do you analyze problems from first principles and translate this to SQL? These problems have first principles decoupled from the technology you interface with. Put in the time and master the first principles.
Third, jumping around will get utterly exhausting at some point. If you read Through the Looking Glass, you’ll learn about the Red Queen Effect, where you run harder and harder to stay in the same place. Avoid this treadmill trap. The fundamentals don’t change nearly as fast as the latest tech de jour. Focus on what doesn’t change and build from there.
Be Patient. Read a lot and read widely
Knowledge compounds. But, it happens very slowly, similar to compound interest. You need to be patient. Personally, I’m gifted to read extremely fast with high comprehension. You might be the same or different. Regardless of your reading speed and comprehension, make reading a major part of your day. This is no different than exercise and diet. Your mind needs a workout. Try reading things related to your true north and fundamentals outside your experience. I find that reading widely helps tie various ideas together. You might read a book on databases, then an article on fine wine, and somehow these concepts interconnect. That’s the beauty of the human mind - we can connect random ideas into something original and new.
Hard work pays off.
Listen to the audio clip above on this topic, which is also my 5 Minute Friday on Spotify.
Cool Weekend Reads
Tech, AI & Data
As you can see, AI and LLMs have sucked the oxygen out of this newsletter. I talk with a LOT of people every week, and it’s literally the only thing people want to talk about. So here ya go. - Joe
Introducing Microsoft Fabric: Data analytics for the era of AI
Microsoft never ceases to amaze me. They went from the smart shark Bill Gates to a very sweaty Steve Ballmer to the calm and wise Satya Nadella, who I consider one of the best CEOs of this century. Microsoft seems to really understand its customer’s needs around data (make it simple), and Fabric demonstrates this very clearly.
Windows and the AI Platform Shift (Stratechery)
More Microsoft analysis
The open-source AI boom is built on Big Tech’s handouts. How long will it last? (MIT)
“The future of how AI is made and used is at a crossroads.”
This is one of the best articles I’ve read in ages on the limits of neural network-based AI and why we’re often confused and misled about its potential.
How Rogue AIs may Arise (Yoshua Bengio)
Yoshua knows a thing or two about deep learning and AI.
“Although I also believe that we could design AI systems that are useful and safe, specific guidelines would have to be respected, for example limiting their agency. On the other hand the recent advances suggest that even the future where we know how to build superintelligent AIs (smarter than humans across the board) is closer than most people expected just a year ago. Even if we knew how to build safe superintelligent AIs, it is not clear how to prevent potentially rogue AIs to also be built.”
Great…
Chatbots Don’t Know What Stuff Isn’t (Quanta)
Not Hotdog
There’s no such thing as data (Ben Evans)
“Data is the new oil, we are told. Every country needs a data strategy, and all of us should own our data, and be paid for it. But really, there is no such thing as data, it’s not yours, and it’s not worth anything.”
A majority of Americans have heard of ChatGPT, but few have tried it themselves (Pew Research)
Interesting skew between hype and usage.
The Simple Joys of Scaling Up (Motherduck)
Scaling out was the default way to handle “Big Data” for the last couple of decades. Jordan Tigani explains why scaling out isn’t always necessary with today’s insanely powerful computers.
Business & Startups
Snowflake Q1 2024 Earnings (Snowflake)
Growing, but slowing. Many companies are re-evaluating their data workloads, so the next few quarterly results from Snowflake and competitors will be a bellwether for the industry.
The “return to the office” won’t save the office (Vox)
“Everything is going against the office sector right now.”
The United States of Bed Bath & Beyond (Epsilon Theory)
“The story of Bed Bath & Beyond is the story of grown men, weak men, making wagers that they lose over and over again.
The story of Bed Bath & Beyond is the story of grown men, rapacious men, whose nature is to bust-out the weak men as cruelly and certainly as possible, over and over again.
The story of Bed Bath & Beyond is our story, the story of the United States”
Really good read that encapsulates the state of affairs in American business today.
AI boom could expose investors’ natural stupidity (Reuters)
Good read on the behavioral economics of the latest AI frenzy and why we can’t ever get past our limitations.
This Is Catfishing on an Industrial Scale (Wired)
This story is absolutely insane…Be careful who you connect with online.
New Content, Events, and Upcoming Stuff
This week
5 Minute Friday - How to Learn in a Rapidly Changing World (Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts)
Monday Morning Data Chat - Product Management as a Data Scientist w/ Santona Tuli (YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts)
The Joe Reis Show - Why Data Leaders Struggle w/ Aaron Wilkerson (Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts)
Softserve Big Data Fest 2023 - I did a panel about “big data” (whatever that is), data engineering, and more. Fundraiser for Ukraine. (YouTube)
Upcoming
Monday Morning Data Chat (Monday, 5/29) - it’s the rare 1:1 show with Matt Housley. People really seem to like us together for some reason. It will be streamed live on LinkedIn and YouTube (stay tuned for links). Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend!
The Joe Reis Show - new episodes with Brian Greene, Jon Kutay, John Giles, and more
Here are some cool upcoming in-person events I’ll be at in June and beyond for 2023
Vancouver BC DAMA. Friday 6/23
Ethan Aaron Low Key Happy Hour - Vegas Edition. Monday 6/26.
Data Engineering Meetup, San Francisco Edition - Tuesday, 6/27 (register here)
Striim event in San Francisco - Wednesday, 6/28. Details TBD
Joe Reis + dbt roadshow - Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, and more. Details are coming soon.
Taking July off…🏔️
DataEngByes. I’ll be on the continental tour in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. August 2023 (more info and registration)
Big Data London - I’m keynoting. Big up the London Massive. September 2023.
Europe September 2023 TBA
Dubai - October 2023.
Vegas for ReInvent 2023.
More to come…
Thanks! If you mind helping out…
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You can also find me here:
Monday Morning Data Chat (YouTube / Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts)
The Joe Reis Show (Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts)
Fundamentals of Data Engineering (Amazon, O’Reilly, and wherever you get your books)
Be sure to leave a good review if you like the content.
Thanks! - Joe Reis
NIce cool weekend reads! :D