I agree but they've also been positioning Looker/BigQuery as a more open data stack recently. Specifically trying to market Looker modeler (the semantic layer part of Looker) as its own stand alone tool

Yeah I've been following cube for a while now, lots of great new developments from their product, and love how they are breaking the metrics/semantic layer further out of the BI tools

Anyone here used Looker (as a semantic/metrics layer) and Tableau together?

How is the native Looker to Tableau connector?

I never understood this, it's literally just extra lines of SQL code... because *reasons*

Is there going to be a Small data meetup in Vancouver or Seattle this year? @duckdb.org @motherduck.com Please make it happen!

There's so much value to add anywhere along the data chain.

Honestly, blending business context (analyst focus) with data modeling is an extremely impactful role.

Yes there's some shit AE models out there, but I've seen some terrible SQL written by data engineers too

Another analytics engineering (AE) LinkedIn bash post.

Hard to not react (my current job) but having an AE title does not assume you will build a spaghetti data architecture.

There are tons of data engineers who create perfectly optimized data models that are used by no one.

BigQuery just released UNION ALL BY NAME

It solves the issue of perfectly aligning each field properly in SQL. As long as the fields have the same name you're good!

I tried that for Google Analytics 4 issues and it didnt work 😀

2) Set up reverse ETL data feeds that power machine learning experiences on a website (fit predictor)

1) Designed and built an ecommerce data mart from scratch, integrating GA4 and GA UA data to provide continuous web analytics reporting before and after the Universal Analytics sunset

Complex measure calculations in raw SQL is driving me insane.

Yes we want to transform data in data warehouse/version controlled code, but these final mile calculations are so much easier/flexible to complete in a BI tool.

Really missing Power BI right now lol

Integrate their product? Or buy the [future] competition?

how is your neck not absolutely wrecked?

Very often I will see heavy sampling.. like 2% of available data with GA4 explorations

We use the GA4 UI less and less.. and BigQuery / data mart is our "source of truth" for everything.

I've never been to a data conference.

In 2025 I'm making it happen (even if I have to personally pay for it, or if it's just a small data meetup in Seattle)

Perpetually flip flopping on self serve analytics

Some days it feels like it could be the holy grail - enabling downstream users to do their own exploration and analysis on governed metrics. Fewer ad hoc requests! Reporting automation!

Other days: So what? Does that actually move the needle?

damn I've found my people

Some of you have never had to fight for BigQuery slots and it shows

andddd that fixed our paid session count bug:

I fixed it with this little bit of code:

CASE
WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(page_location, r'gclid=.+') AND traffic_source_source = 'google' THEN 'cpc'
/* Known GA4 misattribution bug */
ELSE traffic_source_medium
END
AS traffic_source_medium

There were records where traffic source medium was "organic", even though that same hit contained a GCLID and the traffic_source name was 'google'

This should be impossible, as the GCLID would only populate on an ad (and therefore should be cpc/paid traffic source medium)

Google Analytics 4 contains a known traffic source misattribution bug in the raw BigQuery export.

I fixed it with a few lines of code:

How to verify your Bluesky account - Bluesky Here's how to verify your Bluesky account by setting your website as your username.

Pretty easy to verify your bluesky account if you already have a domain. I just did mine using the below guide... does this mean I get a blue check now???

bsky.social/about/blog/4...

Any data folks from bench accounting, feel free to reach out to me, we’ve got some data roles open in Vancouver

Canadian fintech startup Bench announces abrupt closure | National Bench, North America's largest bookkeeping service for small businesses, has suddenly closed, leaving employees and clients scrambling.

It’s a damn tough market out there right now, particularly in Vancouver tech scene.

You never know where you could end up, I nearly applied for some data jobs at this company before getting my current role

dailyhive.com/canada/bench...

New [mountain] bike day! This thing is a beast, looking forward to the bigger brakes and suspension for north shore riding

Standing Desk Celebrates 4th Year At Lowest Possible Setting -The Onion

Standing Desk Celebrates 4th Year At Lowest Possible Setting

Your longest ticket took you 48 days