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 with no notice, and AI scrambling the playbook for vendors, practitioners, and leaders alike. I get into why so many data tooling companies are quietly having existential conversations, how Atlan tore its product down to rebuild AI-native (a full conversation with Prukalpa is coming next week), and a fun experiment I shipped this week with DuckDB Quack. I also dig into the split I keep seeing: senior practitioners getting superpowers while juniors face a brutal job market, leaders being asked to do far more with less, and why I think the industrial-age org chart is finally on its way out. Plus some personal updates: the new book is now targeting late July and a companion course is on the way. Finally, I'm mixing audio and video formats going forward (Freestyle Friday will probably be mostly audio), the Practical Data Community newsletter is live, and there's a Salt Lake City conference brewing for late January. Lots in the hopper... ------------------ This episode is sponsored by Revefi, who gives you full cost and performance visibility for Snowflake by warehouse, user, and workload. One team cut Snowflake costs ~50% across 711 warehouses in under 48 hours. Book a demo at revefi.com/demo. ------------ Timestamps 0:00 — Intro & travel recap — Sets the stage: months of globe-trotting across Asia, Europe, and the US 1:10 — Global uncertainty & resource scarcity — Fuel/water shortages in Southeast Asia, flight cancellations in Europe, ripple effects of geopolitical tensions 5:30 — AI dominates every conversation — The #1 topic at conferences worldwide; vendors facing existential questions and forced to rethink everything (Atlan pivot, DuckDB agent idea) 10:14 — AI's impact on workers at every level — Senior practitioners gaining superpowers, juniors worried about jobs, leaders expected to do more with less 17:51 — Key takeaway: everyone feels behind — Even top AI insiders are uncertain; give yourself grace, upskill, and consider building something for yourself 20:38 — Announcements — Book drops July 27th, course coming, Practical Data Community Newsletter live, fall travel schedule (London, Paris, possible Salt Lake City conference)
