Josh Devlin
About
After "discovering" dbt in early 2020, I joined the community and used it as a learning tool while I tried to get dbt introduced at my company. By helping others, I learned about common pitfalls, best practices, and the breadth of the tool. When it came time to implement it months later, I already felt like an expert! In December 2020 I attended the first virtual Coalesce conference, attending all 4 days across 3 time zones! I found my quirky-nerdy-purple-people, and felt at home. 3 years later I had the pleasure of presenting at my first dbt Meetup in Sydney, and then at the first in-person Coalesce in New Orleans. My passion is helping people, and I'm glad that the dbt community gives me a place to do that!
When did you join the dbt community and in what way has it impacted your career?
I have been a subscriber to 'The Data Science Roundup' (now 'The Analytics Engineering Roundup') since its inception, so I knew that dbt existed from the very beginning, since the time that dbt Labs was still called Fishtown Analytics. Despite that, I never really understood what the tool was or how it fit in until early 2020 when I first started experimenting with the tool. I immediately joined the community and found it warm and welcoming, so I started to help people where I could and never stopped!
What dbt community leader do you identify with? How are you looking to grow your leadership in the dbt community?
I like to think I represent the warm, helpful vibes of the early days of the Community, where folks like Claire Carroll warmly welcomed myself and others!
What have you learned from community members? What do you hope others can learn from you?
I've learned that the more you give, the more you get. I've put hundreds of hours into helping other people in the community, but I've gotten all that back and much more. I hope I can encourage others to give of themselves and reap the rewards later!
Anything else interesting you want to tell us?
In a previous life I was an orchestral musician!