AI-Native Data Engineering with Microsoft Fabric On September 7th, I'll be running a live, 4-hour virtual workshop for all data engineers who want to level up their game in the era of AI. courses.data-mozart.com
Nikola Ilic
@datamozart.bsky.social
I'm making music from the data🎶 #PowerBI addict, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, O'Reilly Instructor, Pluralsight Author, blogger, speaker, learner...Father of 2, Barca and Messi fan⚽
NEW BLOG POST! Recently, I went down this rabbit hole twice within a week:) If you’ve tried to check how much storage your #MicrosoftFabric warehouse tables consume, you’ve probably discovered that the usual SQL Server approaches don’t work. data-mozart.com/how-to-check...
How to check table sizes in a Microsoft Fabric warehouse - Data Mozart
If you've tried to check how much storage your Fabric warehouse tables consume, you've probably discovered that the usual SQL Server approaches don't work. This post explains why, what else doesn't wo...
data-mozart.com
NEW ARTICLE! The medallion design pattern is probably the most widely adopted pattern of the lakehouse era, and in almost every implementation I've seen, all three layers are physically materialized. But why exactly is the silver layer a set of tables? data-mozart.com/dont-stop-ma...
(Don't) Stop materializing your silver layer! - Data Mozart
Why is your silver layer a set of tables? Challenging the fully materialized medallion pattern - with benchmark numbers and reproducible demo scripts.
data-mozart.com
Are you considering becoming a certified #MicrosoftFabric Data Engineer? I'll be running one of my most popular live bootcamps at @oreilly.bsky.social on August 26th/27th. We cover every single skill measured in the DP-700 exam. www.oreilly.com/live-events/...
Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer Associate Bootcamp (DP-700)
Learn in-demand skills and become a certified Fabric data engineer
oreilly.com
The most expensive code your data team ships this year won't be written by a human. It'll be generated by AI assistant. It'll look correct, but it'll quitely drop 14% of your rows because the join type was wrong. AI-assisted data engineering is here. courses.data-mozart.com
AI-Native Data Engineering with Microsoft Fabric
A live 4-hour, code-first workshop on Fabric implementation, agentic scaffolding, metadata-driven ingestion, validation, cost, and production trust.
courses.data-mozart.com
I'm thrilled to announce that my 26th course at Pluralsight has just been released! Enterprise data succeeds when it is managed as a shared business asset. This course will teach you to recognize common data challenges and recommend practical improvements. www.pluralsight.com/courses/ente...
Introduction to Enterprise Data Management
pluralsight.com
Manuscript done, and we are now entering the final production stage! The "Analytics Engineering with #MicrosoftFabric and #PowerBI" book, that @shbwatson.bsky.social and I are writinh for @oreilly.bsky.social is already available for pre-ordering at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Analytics-En...
amazon.com
Humbled and honored to be recognized as Microsoft Data Platform MVP for the 6th consecutive year😊 Especially honored to receive the award in the Real-time Intelligence category for the first time! #MVPbuzz #MicrosoftFabric #CommunityRocks
Full day, hands-on: build a production-grade Fabric lakehouse end to end. Metadata-driven ingestion, medallion, Delta optimization, Direct Lake. Real invoice-to-cash scenario, 3 sources. FabCon Europe 2026, Barcelona. espc.tech/conference/f...
NEW BLOG POST! “AI will replace data engineers”… “Agents write better code than humans”… “If you’re not vibe coding, you’re already behind”… “Nikola, should we let AI write our pipelines?” Yes… but not the way you probably think. data-mozart.com/liar-liar-wh...
Liar, liar! What to do when AI writes your pipelines confidently wrong? - Data Mozart
Should we let AI write our pipelines? YES...But not the way you probably think.
data-mozart.com
Flights booked for #SummitNA - Nashville, here I come! I'll be delivering two full-day academy classes: 📆 Oct 10th Building Agentic and Conversational Analytics with Fabric IQ 📆 Oct 11th Fabric Fast Track: From Data Foundation to AI Innovation summitna.com/academy/?se=...
NEW BLOG POST! Starting Aug 1st, Microsoft is changing how your Fabric Warehouse (and SQL EP of the lakehouse) workloads are metered within the capacity. I cover what's changing (and what stays the same) and how the new model compares to Snowflake and Databricks. data-mozart.com/one-minute-t...
One-minute trap! How new Fabric Warehouse CU metering affect your workloads - Data Mozart
Microsoft is moving Fabric Warehouse CU metering from per-query CPU time to per-workspace virtual-node time. That brings Fabric closer to Snowflake and Databricks, but it also changes the cost equatio...
data-mozart.com
"What if your entire medallion pipeline could be a few SELECT statements?" @datamozart.bsky.social explains what materialized lake views (MLVs) are, how they work, and where they fit (or don't) in your architecture.
Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric: When Your Medallion Fits in a SELECT Statement | Towards Data Science
Five surfaces collapsed into one declarative layer. Here's the full story of Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric - from syntax to the new GA capabilities
towardsdatascience.com
This Thursday, I'll be talking at the Microsoft Fabric UK User Group, about transitioning from data analyst to data engineer and upgrading your skills from Dataflows Gen2 to notebooks. It's free and it's online, so RSVP: www.meetup.com/microsoft-po...
Transition from Data Analyst to Data Engineer, Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 6:00 PM | Meetup
Join our Microsoft Fabric - UK User Group for our latest webinar. This session we are excited to announce our host Microsoft MVP Leon Gordon and co-host Microsoft MVP Prag
meetup.com
My latest article at @towardsdatascience.com has just been published! This is a deep dive on Materialized Lake Views in #MicrosoftFabric. towardsdatascience.com/materialized...
Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric: When Your Medallion Fits in a SELECT Statement | Towards Data Science
Five surfaces collapsed into one declarative layer. Here's the full story of Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric - from syntax to the new GA capabilities
towardsdatascience.com
NEW COURSE ALERT! I'm thrilled to announce that my 24th course at @pluralsight.bsky.social, Managing Enterprise Data for Analytics and AI, has just been published! www.pluralsight.com/courses/ente...
Managing Enterprise Data for Analytics and AI
pluralsight.com
The last dance! Today and tomorrow, I'll be running the DP-600 #MicrosoftFabric Analytics Engineer Bootcamp for the last time at @oreilly.bsky.social. After 2+ years and 1000+ learners, this live training goes into well (un)deserved retirement. learning.oreilly.com/live-events/...
NEW SUBSTACK ARTICLE! ICYMI, I'm writing a series about Logical Data Management. In part 3, we follow Sara "the analyst" through a single Tuesday, starting with a 9:14 message and a confident "this will take 20 minutes." It does not take 20 minutes... datamozart.substack.com/p/logical-da...
Logical Data Management: Why "Just a quick number" is never quick...
A true life story about the gap between available data and a trusted number.
datamozart.substack.com
Still getting your head around #MicrosoftFabric? Not sure if you should take lakehouse or warehouse path? What changes in #PowerBI workloads? Next Monday, I'll be running live online training at @oreilly.bsky.social to help you get started with the Fabric. www.oreilly.com/live-events/...
Getting Started With Microsoft Fabric
Learn the fundamental skills to work with Microsoft Fabric
oreilly.com
NEW SUBSTACK ARTICLE! The story I wasn't ready to tell two years ago and how AI changed that... My first article in Logical data management series is live. Why the reports became fast, while the answers are slow? And why AI made the old problem louder? datamozart.substack.com/p/logical-da...
Logical Data Management for mere mortals
The story I wasn't ready to tell two years ago. AI changed that...
datamozart.substack.com
NEW BLOG POST! Quick question for Fabric Warehouse folks: If clustering reduces CPU by 40% and I/O by 69%, but elapsed time stays the same, is it working? Yes. And the explanation is more interesting than the answer. 100M-row demo with real numbers: data-mozart.com/cluster-by-i...
CLUSTER BY in Fabric Warehouse: when the magic shows up and when it doesn't! - Data Mozart
Microsoft's announcement post for data clustering in Fabric Warehouse promised 24x speedups. So I built a 100-million-row clickstream table and tested it myself. The result is more nuanced than the ma...
data-mozart.com
When should you process data in real time, and when does batch processing make the most sense? @datamozart.bsky.social shares a clear and thorough tutorial for current (and aspiring) data engineers.
Batch or Stream? The Eternal Data Processing Dilemma | Towards Data Science
"Should we process our data in batches or in real-time?" It's not batch vs. stream: it's "when does the answer matter?"
towardsdatascience.com
NEW BLOG POST! Two policies, three storage states, one rule connecting them. A newcomer's guide to caching, retention, and tiered storage in #MicrosoftFabric Eventhouse. data-mozart.com/hot-cold-gon...
Hot, Cold, Gone: Caching and Retention in Microsoft Fabric Eventhouse - Data Mozart
Two policies, three storage states, one rule connecting them. A newcomer's guide to caching, retention, and tiered storage in Microsoft Fabric Eventhouse.
data-mozart.com
NEW SUBSTACK ARTICLE! If I had a euro every time someone asked me “should I use Warehouse or Lakehouse in #MicrosoftFabric?” - I’d have enough to fund an F64 for a month:) And, my answer has been the same for a while now: you’re asking the wrong question! datamozart.substack.com/p/same-lake-...
Same lake, different shores: Warehouse vs. Lakehouse in 2026
If I had a euro for every time someone asked me "should I use the Warehouse or the Lakehouse?" - I'd have enough to fund a month of exclusive vacation...
datamozart.substack.com
NEW BLOG POST! Five surfaces collapsed into one declarative layer. Here's the full story of Materialized Lake Views in #MicrosoftFabric - from syntax to the new GA capabilities announced last month at #FabCon Atlanta. data-mozart.com/materialized...
Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric: When your medallion fits in a SELECT statement - Data Mozart
Five surfaces collapsed into one declarative layer. Here's the full story of Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric - from syntax to the new GA capabilities announced at FabCon Atlanta
data-mozart.com
My 24th course at @pluralsight.bsky.social is live! "Analyze Data in Power BI with Copilot" The real skill isn't finding the Copilot button. It's knowing HOW to ask and how to verify the answer. From structured prompts to DAX queries to narrative validation. www.pluralsight.com/courses/powe...
Analyze Data in Power BI with Copilot
pluralsight.com
NEW BLOG POST! A naming framework is the cheapest piece of architecture you'll ever set up in #MicrosoftFabric. It's also the most expensive one to retrofit. data-mozart.com/the-name-gam...
The Name Game - Naming Microsoft Fabric from tenant to table - Data Mozart
A reference framework for naming everything in Microsoft Fabric - from capacities down to gold-layer fact tables. Patterns, examples, and strong opinions.
data-mozart.com
I asked Claude Opus 4.7 to create a thumbnail for my upcoming YouTube video (btw, it's a small teaser of what to expect soon😉).
NEW SUBSTACK ARTICLE! If you ever tried to debug a silver layer that didn't update because a notebook failed 3h ago, you know why materialized lake views matter. The promise is simple: what if your entire medallion pipeline could be a few SELECT statements? datamozart.substack.com/p/materializ...
Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric: When your medallion fits in a SELECT statement
Five surfaces collapsed into one declarative layer. Here's the full story of Materialized Lake Views in Microsoft Fabric - from syntax to the new GA capabilities announced at FabCon Atlanta
datamozart.substack.com
In need of a thorough and accessible primer on data modeling? @datamozart.bsky.social presents a one-stop resource for analytics engineers.
Data Modeling for Analytics Engineers: The Complete Primer | Towards Data Science
The best data models make it hard to ask bad questions and easy to answer good ones.
towardsdatascience.com