Stay ConnectedI’m Joe Reis, co-author of Fundamentals of Data Engineering, creator of Mixed Model Arts, international speaker, and long-time observer of the tech industry’s favorite recurring mistakes.
Weekly broadcasts from somewhere on the road. Expect raw solo rants and long-form conversations with the engineers and leaders actually building things. I dive into data, AI, architecture, and career survival.
This podcast is invitation-only. Unsolicited guest pitches and PR outreach are not considered.
Copyright: © Joe Reis
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 the intersection of streaming data and AI agents. Everyone is building agents, but without real-time context, they’re flying blind. We discuss why streaming is a missing link for agentic workflows, the shift from dashboards to automated decision-making, and why SaaS companies are racing to build walled gardens around their data.
We also get into the nitty-gritty of the UK vs. US tech markets, the resurgence of PR in the AI era, and StreamKap’s upcoming move into the Snowflake native app ecosystem.
Streamkap: https://streamkap.com/
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.
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 whether conversational interfaces will replace dashboards or simply complement them. We also dig into the growing demand for data engineering, the importance of watermarks and temporal semantics, and why data visualization remains a critical tool for "trust but verify" in an AI world.
Mike’s Podcast: Data Talks on the Rocks
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 review)
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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valliappalakshmanan
Generative AI Design Patterns (book): https://amzn.to/45v0xBO
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.
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 shareholders
We also dive into:
- The AI bubble: Cory’s case that parts of the sector are propped up by aggressive accounting and incentives, not durable value.
- The “Reverse Centaur”: How workers (from Amazon drivers to radiologists) are being reorganized to serve machine workflows, rather than machines serving humans.
- Software engineering vs. “vibe coding”: Why autocomplete isn’t engineering, and why AI can’t replace process knowledge and domain context.
- The Post-American Internet: What happens when the U.S. weaponizes platforms, and the rest of the world builds alternatives.
About Cory Doctorow: Cory is a multi-time international bestselling author, special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and creator of the blog/newsletter Pluralistic.
If you got value from this conversation, hit Follow and share it with one person who cares about the future of tech.
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 think there's more to the story. Listen and find out...
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-off point" rather than a destination, and how AI agents are finally closing the gap between having a question and getting a sophisticated answer.
We also discuss building tools people love, "commitment engineering", Barry's story, and much more.
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.
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