DATA Pill – the blue pill that (accidentally) works!

Ever felt overwhelmed by the flood of news about the latest technologies, tools, and trends in Data, AI, and ML? A new framework here, a revolutionary model there – but who has the time to filter through it all?

What if there was a blue pill that freed you from the chaos of information overload? Meet DATA Pill – a weekly newsletter that delivers the best of the data world to you in just one mail you can skim through in just a few minutes.

What is DATA Pill?

DATA Pill is your personal dose of knowledge curated from across the internet – perfect for data engineers, ML specialists, and cloud technology enthusiasts. Every Friday morning, your inbox will feature:

• Selected articles about tools, case studies, and the latest trends.
• Podcasts – inspiring conversations with industry leaders.
• Tools and frameworks – recommendations to optimize your workflow.
• Events and e-books – content worth your time, handpicked for you.

Think of it as the pill from The Matrix – it takes you to the data matrix, to a new level of data awareness.

Why is DATA Pill perfect for data and ML engineers?

1. We filter the noise, leaving the essentials

There are countless newsletters trying to "sell" you information. Data Pill has a different philosophy – we curate content with real value for engineers and ML specialists. No clickbait, just the good stuff. Weekly, we check more than 200 sources to select the essence of the data world.

2. By the community for the community

The story behind DATA Pill starts with an internal slack channel in GetInData (one of the first Big Data companies in Poland) where we share interesting content and discuss it. We didn't want it to be lost in channel history, so we started thinking about structuring and summarizing it. That is how the DATA Pill began. Then we thought: since we have such a superb newsletter, why not share it with others? The real value of DATA Pill is that it is made by the data community. 

3. Hard data, no fluff

Not a fan of theoretical musings about AI? Neither are we. That’s why our content focuses on real-world case studies showing how companies use ML and Big Data to solve actual problems.

4. Everything in one place

From the latest on DuckDB to deep dives into generative models – Data Pill is your shortcut to staying informed without spending hours scrolling LinkedIn and tech blogs.

What’s inside the DATA Pill?

In recent editions, we’ve covered topics like:

• "Exploring the Potential of Graph Neural Networks to Transform Recommendations at Zalando" – Dataform's capabilities through an entire code lifecycle, aiming to identify any pitfalls and compare it fairly with dbt
• "Airflow in a multi-teams / multi-tenant environment. Deployment strategies" – resource isolation, shared access options, and a glimpse at Airflow 3's upcoming capabilities.
• “Monte Carlo vs. Collibra vs. Talend Data Fabric vs. Ataccama One vs. Dataprep by Trifacta vs. AWS Glue DataBrew: Which Data Quality Tool is Right for You?” - Compare top data quality tools to find the right solution for governance, observability, and no-code prep.

"Don’t count rows in ETL, use Delta Log metrics!" – Leverage Delta Lake’s transaction log for automated ETL monitoring and performance optimization.

Each edition of Data Pill is a fresh dose of inspiration and insights tailored to your needs.

Check one of DATA Pills - this is DP 137 special edition with the most popular content of 2024 

From Slack to Global newsletter

As you already know, the idea of DATA Pill and knowledge sharing originated from the slack channel at GetInData. Since then, DATA Pill has become a global newsletter working with communities and data conferences from around the world, gaining thousands of subscribers. But still, at the core of this initiative is a small, authentic community sharing referrals like a few colleagues over coffee.

Commit here

What are some of our funniest mistakes?

We’re not going to pretend everything always goes perfectly – here are two moments that remind us we’re only human:

1. GCP? Or was it GPC?

In one of our newsletters, we wanted to share updates on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Unfortunately, a typo snuck into the headline, and instead of GCP, it said GPC. Naturally, our sharp-eyed subscribers were quick to notice. One even replied enthusiastically:
"Looks like Google has launched something new, and I’m out of the loop. What’s GPC?"
The lesson? Even the best data requires double-checking before it goes live.

2. Offline? Maybe not…

Another time, we decided to try something new and take Data Pill’s promotion offline. We prepared a stunning rollup for a tech conference. Sounds great, right? Well, it was – until the rollup broke in half within the first 30 minutes of the event.
The verdict? We’ll stick to the digital world, where our newsletter is far more reliable than physical ads. 😂

3. Why is it a blue pill? 

Remember the Matrix scene where Morpheus gives Neo two pills: red and blue - one will keep him in a “normal” life without knowing that there is another reality beneath, and the other pill will take him to the Matrix. Which one had what qualities? Yeees, the red one was the Matrix pill, not a blue one… but we just made a mistake in the first email. And it stayed that way. 

What do our subscribers say?

Don’t just take our word for it – here’s what fellow engineers and ML specialists have to say:

• “The header is energizing! I also feel that the descriptions under the links are more refined - I actually felt encouraged to click on some of the links. It looks great, in my view, it seems to provide value to subscribers.” – Piotr, Data Science & Analytics
• “These are actually really good links to check, the content is great!” – Mariusz, ML Engineer

Don’t miss your weekly dose of knowledge – the blue pill that works!

Sometimes, the best things come from happy accidents – and DATA Pill is the perfect example of that. Whether it’s our typo or your decision to click “subscribe,” one thing is certain: your journey in the data world is about to level up.

➡️ Sign up for DATA Pill and see how the blue pill can transform your daily work in the data universe.

➡️DATA Pill on LinkedIn 

No matter what Neo chose, we’re sticking with blue. And you can too. 😉