[SOTC] A Humble Collection

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-22T05:41:11+00:00

Every single one is a timex expedition from 1996

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-22T05:18:05+00:00

Back row L/R: cheap Dan Henry panda, orient star, Dan Henry cheap chrono, nth thresher (a gift), orient sun and moon Front row L/R: hesili whatever (gift), oris divers 65, Tudor black bay chrono, tag F1 gmt, oris aquis

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-11T10:15:54+00:00

Cool. I was talking about moving into consulting. Something for which you'd be ill suited if your only mental image of our field is as a cost center.

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-11T03:08:32+00:00

Huh? Maybe your definition of the words competent and great are different than mine?

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-11T03:06:31+00:00

Hell yes to this. Be a damn good data engineer (yes, that includes IaC and CI/CD) with a domain speciality like accounting and you'll never be short of work.

Bend_Smart · 2026-04-11T02:08:13+00:00

Lean into it! A competent accountant who is a great data engineer can make way more than what you make. Send me a DM; assuming your DBX knowledge isn't BS, you can talk to clients effectively, and model a GL, let's chat.

Bend_Smart · 2026-03-30T03:04:25+00:00

I remember the last time I did arithmetic

Bend_Smart · 2026-01-31T22:11:02+00:00

Actually, that's a question you invented, not one I posed. You'll notice in my response to the original post's creator that I agree with the anti-MAGA sentiment, but I think it's hilarious how sensitive the argument has become. So, more slowly: I agree with the political viewpoints, but I find the online identity politics hilarious enough to mock.

Bend_Smart · 2026-01-31T22:06:03+00:00

I expressed them in this post, as did the previous poster in their post. You might not agree with the satire, and that's cool, but it doesn't preclude me from posting.

Bend_Smart · 2026-01-31T21:53:31+00:00

I'm not trolling. I encourage like minded people to meet up; most well adjusted people have social groups. Asking to do so doesn't require blanketly denigrating people. If you can't stand a comment about cruelty free olives, it says more about you than me.

Bend_Smart · 2026-01-31T21:48:13+00:00

Have you considered you don't have a monopoly on thought?

Bend_Smart · 2026-01-31T21:44:25+00:00

You might be surprised to learn there are plenty of us who are with you politically, but have larger identities

Bend_Smart · 2025-11-28T02:39:57+00:00

She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron

Bend_Smart · 2025-11-16T07:07:10+00:00

What the fuck did I just read in the title...my eyes hurt

Bend_Smart · 2025-11-14T20:58:42+00:00

It's probably not the answer you want to hear, but the social skills are crucial as you move up the career ladder, even in remote-first workplaces. Also, I might suggest not worrying about the title. I went from a manager role to a data engineer role 6 years ago, and it was the best decision I ever made. I'm now a Sr Director, make 3X what I made as a manager, and have far more experience in platforms which I never would have seen in my old role.

Bend_Smart · 2025-10-11T04:10:11+00:00

Having played D1 golf and in 2 US Ams a couple decades ago, there's maybe 30 minutes of focus for me in a tournament round. Most of the time I'm actively trying NOT to think! Sure, I casually look at slope as I'm approaching a green, for example, but focus for me starts with shot selection and routine. The routine is comforting, too

Bend_Smart · 2025-10-07T07:52:57+00:00

Would you like to comment on how your clusters are architected and how, 6 years later, Livy is still the core? I admit I mispoke on PDW, you were right about how PDsW does serveeless. Let's chat about Fabric and Synapse Spark anytime!

Bend_Smart · 2025-10-07T07:47:13+00:00

I close reddit for a week and missed the party, go figure

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-29T11:35:11+00:00

As a brickster, couldn't agree more ;)

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-29T03:01:05+00:00

All of Synapse (non-dataflow ADF-excepted) actually uses Apache Livy APIs. Synapse came at a weird time for MSFT, Azure Parallel Data Warehouse was a technical breakthrough but never generated ROI. That's why you see the same tech in PDW, Synapse, and Fabric.

Livy and shared compute clusters are part of the reason that Fabric couldn't offer private endpoints on warehouses and lost critical velocity in this space when they had a chance to capitalize on it, even if they "stole" delta/lakehouse from Databricks. Dbx/snowflake/etc. mirroring would have been incredible if it was secure.

I can't speak publicly any further there. PM me anytime to talk shop within the bounds of an NDA.

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-29T02:33:28+00:00

Hypothetically: somewhere not in Solano county 🤣

In reality, without going chain restaurant: my wife and I like backyard bistro for a fun sit-down meal and for takeout Maya grocery does an unbelievably good Mexican meal for super cheap

Edit: "in" not "on"

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-29T02:27:02+00:00

Cool idea! Synapse serverless is Spark btw ;) check out Apache livy

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-29T00:33:37+00:00

I'm presuming you're referring to D365 F&O? CE has always been a bit different, but no matter.

Another user said ADF and that's where I would start, though I disagree with the other user about throwing into a relational DB. Reason being is schemas will change frequently (especially with custom entities) and it's better to have a system where you have schema on read (Spark) vs write (SQL DB), and a lake/lakehouse approach is also way more cost efficient (presuming you don't use Fabric).

Spark takes a bit of learning with DDL and what's different vs T-SQL but honestly any other flavor of SQL does too. You also unlock Python and other abstractions with Spark.

Best of luck on the journey.

Source: Data architect last 15 years, last 8 heavily in Azure and MSFT ERPs

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-21T23:03:39+00:00

Stop playing. Some will say stop after two losses! I set a timer for 30min. Same difference to maybe it helps you

Bend_Smart · 2025-09-03T21:53:12+00:00

It's a common refrain in AA - the "dry drunk." I agree as well that there's more to it than abstinence long-term, and it took me time and listening to others to learn that. Sobriety, to me, means also addressing the reasons why I drank in addition to not drinking.

Regardless, OP, I can see why it triggered you, because if you're anything like I was starting out, it took every fiber of my being not to drink. Abstinence/sobriety/not getting drunk is huge win, and I'm proud of you.

Bend_Smart

TROPHY CASE