About
Hey all! I was born and raised in Florianopolis, Brazil, and I'm a Senior Data Engineer at phData. I live with my fiancée and I enjoy music, photography, and powerlifting. I started my career in early 2022 at Indicium as an Analytics Engineer, working with dbt from day 1. By 2023, my path took a global trajectory as I joined phData as a Data Engineer, expanding my experiences and creating connections beyond Brazil. While dbt is my main expertise, because of my work in consultancy I have experience with a large range of tools, specially the ones related to Snowflake, Databricks, AWS and GCP; but I have already tried several other modern data stack tools too. I actively participate in the dbt community, having organized dbt Meetups in Brazil (in Floripa and São Paulo); writing about dbt-related topics in my Medium and LinkedIn profiles; contributing to the dbt Core code and to the docs; and frequently checking dbt Slack and Discourse, helping (and being helped by) other dbt practitioners. If you are a community member, you may have seen me around!
When did you join the dbt community and in what way has it impacted your career?
I was not truly happy with my academic life. My career took a new turn when I enrolled in the Analytics Engineer course by Indicium. That was my first contact with dbt, and I didn't realize how much it would transform my career. After that, I was hired at the company as an Analytics Engineer and worked extensively with dbt from day one.
It took me some time to become an active member of the dbt community. I started working with dbt at the beginning of 2022 and became more involved towards the end of that year, encouraged by Daniel Avancini. I regret not doing this earlier, because being an active community member has been a game-changer for me, as my knowledge of dbt has grown exponentially just by participating in daily discussions on Slack. I have found #advice-dbt-help and #advice-dbt-for-power-users channels particularly useful, as well as the various database-specific channels. Additionally, the #i-made-this and #i-read-this channels have allowed me to learn about the innovative things that community members are doing.
Inspired by other members, especially Josh Devlin and Owen Prough, I began answering questions on Slack and Discourse. For questions I couldn't answer, I would try engaging in discussions about possible solutions or provide useful links. I also started posting dbt tips on LinkedIn to help practitioners learn about new features or to refresh their memories about existing ones.
By being more involved in the community, I felt more connected and supported. I received help from other members, and now, I could help others, too. I was happy with this arrangement, but more unexpected surprises came my way. My active participation in Slack, Discourse, and LinkedIn opened doors to new connections and career opportunities. I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of incredible people and receiving exciting job offers, including the ones for working at phData and teaching at Zach Wilson's data engineering bootcamp.
Thanks to the dbt community, I went from feeling uncertain about my career prospects to having a solid career and being surrounded by incredible people.
What dbt community leader do you identify with? How are you looking to grow your leadership in the dbt community?
I identify with Gwen Windflower and Joel Labes, or at least they are the kind of leader I admire. Their strong presence and continuous interaction with all types of dbt enthusiasts make everyone feel welcomed in the community. They uplift those who contribute to the community, whether it's through a LinkedIn post or answering a question, and provide constructive feedback to help them improve. And of course they show a very strong knowledge about dbt and data in general, which is reflected in their contributions.
And that is how I aspire to grow as a leader in the dbt Community. Despite of being an introvert, I like interacting with people, helping solve problems and providing suggestions. Recognizing and acknowledging the achievements of others is also important to me, as it fosters a positive environment where everyone's contributions are valued. And I am continuously learning about dbt to improve my skills, and to become a trustworthy reference for others to rely on.
What have you learned from community members? What do you hope others can learn from you?
I have learned that regardless of one's level of expertise, each person's voice is valued and respected in the community. I have also learned the importance of helping others and thinking critically, not just answering questions, but assuring that is the right question. By actively engaging with others, sharing knowledge and insights, we can collectively improve our understanding and use of dbt. Moreover, I have discovered that having fun with dbt and fostering a positive, supportive community culture can greatly enhance the learning experience.
I hope the others can learn from me that it doesn’t matter who you are, where are you from and how old you are, you can make a difference in the community. I hope to inspire others to become more involved in the community, and to not be afraid to share their thoughts or ideas, or to post something because they think it is not cool enough. Through this process of mutual learning and support, we can accelerate our professional development and achieve our goals. So don't hold back, take initiative, and be an active contributor to this amazing community!
Anything else interesting you want to tell us?
I would like to mention my very first contribution to the community, a dbt commands cheatsheet. I made it because I was very new to dbt and wanted a resource where I could quickly check the available commands and what I could do with them. I made it for me, but then I thought it could help other beginners and shared it. I was incredibly surprised when it appeared in a dbt newsletter, and I think that was the starting point for me in the community. At this point, I knew everyone could contribute and felt more comfortable to do more of that.