HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Matija Lah

Interview with Matija Lah

Matija Lah is the author of ETL with Azure Cookbook, Mastering SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2017 Integration Services Cookbook.

With his new release ETL with Azure Cookbook you will explore the latest Azure ETL techniques both on-premises and in the cloud using Azure services such as SSIS, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Databricks.

Q: What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?

Matija: Rather than focusing on a specific technology, I’d recommend learning as much as you can about the business problems, and about the domain in which they exist. You should understand *what* your objectives are before even thinking about trying to understand *how* to go about achieving them.

With the abundance of technologies and tools available out there, more often than not, you’re going to have to determine which tools not to use to solve a specific problem. Find or design the tool that fits the problem, rather than trying to fit the problem around a specific tool.

Q. How do you keep up-to-date on your tech?

Matija: When learning about new technologies, I prefer to start with the vendor documentation. Not only is this the official resource, it also provides a view of the technology from the perspective of the team who designed it (or, at least, from the perspective of the team tasked with documenting it). Typically, vendor documentation provides the answers to some questions, but it also opens new ones. If you’re lucky, you won’t be the first to be faced with them. Someone else might already have worked on finding the answers, which is where I prefer to go next – to learn from the experience of someone else, and hopefully avoid the same mistakes. If you’re less lucky, you might end up being that someone, the explorer, the one who makes mistakes that others can learn from.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but make sure you make them in a controlled and safe environment – never in production.

You can find Matija’s book on Amazon by following this link’s below the cover image:

ETL with Azure Cookbook – Available on Amazon.com
Mastering SQL Server 2017 – Available on Amazon.com
SQL Server 2017 Integration Services Cookbook – Available on Amazon.com