Radovan Bacovic
About
My professional journey and friendship with data started 20 years ago. I've experienced many tools and modalities: from good old RDMS systems and various programming languages like Java and C# in the early days of my career, through private clouds, to MPP databases and multitier architecture. I also saw the emergence of cloud technology, and experienced the changes that came with it, up to the contemporary approach to data, which includes AI tools and practices. I am still excited to get new knowledge and solve problems in the data world. I always enjoy using SQL and Python as my primary "weapons" of choice together with other building blocks for successful data products like Snowflake, dbt, Tableau, Fivetran, Stich, Monte Carlo, DuckDB and more. I consider myself as an experienced data engineer and a wannabe "best bad Conference speaker."
When did you join the dbt community and in what way has it impacted your career?
I have been in the dbt Community for almost 3 years now. The biggest impact that dbt has had on my professional journey is that it has given me a trustworthy partner for data transformation, and a single source of truth for all our data modification needs. As a public speaker who travels internationally, I recognized the interest of the data community in dbt around the world and, in response, organised several workshops and talks to help people use dbt. Let's just say that jumping into a great partnership with the dbt Community has been the greatest takeaway for me!
Which dbt community leader do you identify with? How are you looking to grow your leadership in the dbt community?
A leader from the dbt Commuity who I have found to be the most prominent is Sean McIntyre from dbt Labs, as I've had the privilege to collaborate with him many times. We recognized that we had a similar passion and energy; it looks like we are on the same journey.
I wanted to be more involved in the dbt Community, spread the word, and share my journey through tutorials, conference talks, blogs and meetups. I think I am capable of addressing my influence in that direction. I am also interested in extending the dbt functionality and automating the deployment, testing and execution of dbt. In other words, I try to find good ways to leverage using DevSecOps for dbt to make our development faster and make dbt our trustworthy partner.
What have you learned from community members? What do you hope others can learn from you?
Being part of the community is always a two-way street and always has a positive result for all of us. Great ideas and sharing vision and energy are the number one things. On the other side, I always find the quick and "best in class" answer to my questions from the community and try to return the favour and be helpful whenever possible. As I said, through talks and tutorials, I think I am the most beneficial community member in that role.
Anything else interesting you want to tell us?
Nothing to add. Still passionate about discovering the tool and can't wait to see what the AI uprising will bring to us!