Cathrine Wilhelmsen
Data & Analytics Solutions Architect in Evidi | Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Oslo, Norway
Cathrine loves data and coding, as well as teaching and sharing knowledge 🤓 She is based in Norway and works as a Data & Analytics Solutions Architect in Evidi, focusing on Data Integration and Data Warehousing. Her core skills are Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL, SQL Server and T-SQL development, but she enjoys everything from programming to data visualization. Outside of work she’s active in the Azure and Microsoft Data communities as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, international speaker, blogger, organizer, and chronic volunteer. She blogs at cathrinew.net and tweets at @cathrinew.
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Uhms and Bunny Hands: Tips for Improving Your Presentation Skills
Are you considering becoming a speaker, but feel nervous about getting on stage for the first time? Have you already presented a few sessions and want advice on how to improve? Do you learn more from seeing examples of what you should NOT do during a presentation instead of reading a list of bullet points on how to become a better speaker?
Don't worry! I have made plenty of presentation mistakes over the years so you won't have to :)
In this session, we will go through common presentation mistakes and how you can avoid them, as well as how you can prepare for those dreaded worst-case scenarios. Don't let those "uhms" and "uhhs" dominate your presentation, help the audience focus on the key message you're delivering instead of making them read a wall of text in your slides, recover gracefully from any demo failures, and stop distracting your attendees with floppy bunny hands.
All it takes is a little preparation and practice. You can do this!
Session Level: 100 / Beginner
Session Length: 30-75 minutes
Prerequisites: None :)
Introduction to Azure Data Factory: The What, When, and Why
As Data Engineers and ETL Developers, our main responsibilities are to ingest, store, transform, integrate, and prepare data for our end users as quickly and efficiently as possible. With the ever-increasing volume and variety of data, this can often feel like a daunting task.
Azure Data Factory (ADF) is a hybrid data integration service that lets you build, orchestrate, and monitor complex and scalable data pipelines - without writing any code!
In this session, we will first go through the fundamentals of Azure Data Factory and see how easy it is to build powerful data pipelines. Then, we will explore some of the major improvements in Azure Data Factory v2, including Mapping and Wrangling Data Flows for creating visual data transformations. Finally, we will look at how to trigger and schedule our data pipelines, and how to monitor our solution once it has been deployed.
Session Level: 100-200 / Beginner-Intermediate
Session Length: 45-75 minutes
Prerequisites: Should be familiar with Data Integration and/or ETL concepts and scenarios.
Building Dynamic Data Pipelines in Azure Data Factory
You already know how to build, orchestrate, and monitor data pipelines in Azure Data Factory. But how do you go from basic, hardcoded data pipelines to making your solution dynamic and reusable?
In this session, we will dive straight into some of the more advanced features of Azure Data Factory. How do you parameterize your linked services, datasets, and pipelines? What is the difference between parameters and variables, and when should you use them? And how does the expression language and built-in functions really work?
We will answer these questions by going through an existing solution step-by-step and gradually making it dynamic and reusable. Along the way, we will cover best practices and lessons learned.
Additional Information
Session Level: 300 / Intermediate
Session Length: 45-75 minutes
Prerequisites: Must have experience with Azure Data Factory development.
Understanding Azure Data Factory Pricing
Azure Data Factory pricing is easy, right? No upfront costs. Pay only for what you use. It's a wonderful world for developers. Just a few clicks and your solution is ready for production!
But what do you present to management when they ask for cost estimates? "I guess we just have to wait for the next invoice" is rarely an acceptable answer. It is definitely not an acceptable answer if that invoice turns out to be unexpectedly high.
Bring your calculator! In this session, we will go through some common ETL patterns to explain the Azure Data Factory pricing model. Once we have our monthly estimates, we will discuss which patterns are good candidates - and which patterns you probably want to rethink before deploying to production...
Session Level: 100 / Beginner
Session Length: 20-30 minutes
Prerequisites: Should be familiar with Azure Data Factory concepts.
Take Control of Your Career by Building a Personal Brand
Are you ready to take your career to the next level?
Whether your goals are finding a new job, getting recognized for your technical skills, or becoming an international speaker, investing in your personal brand is the first step in setting yourself up for success.
I know, I know, I know - the idea of building a personal brand and promoting yourself can feel both awkward and uncomfortable. But like it or not, you already have a personal brand. People will search for your name and talk about you when you are not in the room. Would you rather help shape what they say about you or let them fill in the blanks where the information is missing?
In this session, we will explore different ways of building your personal brand. First, how the heck do you figure out what your personal brand is, and what you want it to be? Then, we'll look at practical tips for tweaking your LinkedIn profile, creating a website, sharing knowledge through blogging and vlogging, helping others by volunteering and speaking, and finding the balance between professional and personal content on social media.
Spoiler alert! You have the power to define who you are. Take control of your personal brand - and take control of your career :)
Session Level: 100 / Beginner
Session Length: 30-60 minutes
Prerequisites: None :)
Cathrine Wilhelmsen
Data & Analytics Solutions Architect in Evidi | Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Oslo, Norway