Deep dives across data, automation & AI

Fuzzy Matching and Deduplication in SQL: Using Similarity Functions and Blocking Strategies to Find Near-Duplicate Records

Exact-match SQL queries can't catch "Jon Smith" and "John Smith" as the same person. This hands-on lesson teaches you to build a complete fuzzy deduplication pipeline using similarity functions, smart blocking strategies, and composite scoring — on tables with hundreds of thousands of rows. Walk away with production-ready SQL you can actually use.

Integrating Power Automate with Microsoft Dataverse: Querying, Creating, and Updating Records in Business Process Flows

Go beyond basic drag-and-drop and build production-grade Power Automate flows that read, create, and update Dataverse records with real efficiency. This lesson covers OData filtering, lookup field handling, upsert patterns, and how to architect a complete business process flow from trigger to summary notification.

Canvas App Error Handling: Building Resilient Apps with IfError, Notify, and Graceful Failure Patterns*

Implementing Power BI Deployment Pipelines with Git Integration and Azure DevOps for Automated CI/CD of Enterprise Reports

Manual Power BI deployments are a production incident waiting to happen. This lesson walks you through building a complete CI/CD system that connects `.pbip` Git repositories, Power BI Deployment Pipelines, and Azure DevOps YAML pipelines into a fully automated, approval-gated delivery workflow. Every section includes production-ready PowerShell and YAML you can deploy today.

Building Dynamic Benchmarks in DAX: Compare Actuals Against Targets, Budgets, and Peer Groups Using SELECTEDVALUE and Virtual Relationships

Learn how to build a flexible benchmark comparison system in DAX that lets users switch between budget, company average, and peer group comparisons on the fly — without cluttering your data model. This lesson covers SELECTEDVALUE routing, TREATAS virtual relationships, and dynamic peer group calculations with real production-grade code.

Mastering Power BI Deployment Pipelines: Promoting Reports Across Development, Test, and Production Workspaces

Stop promoting Power BI reports by downloading and re-uploading .pbix files. This lesson teaches you how to build a real deployment pipeline with environment-specific configuration, selective deployment, and a team workflow that keeps development, test, and production genuinely separate. By the end, you'll have the infrastructure that separates hobbyist Power BI from enterprise Power BI.

Building Multi-Stage ETL Pipelines in Power Query M: Orchestrating Dependent Transformations with Modular Query Chains

Most Power Query pipelines collapse under their own complexity because they mix extraction, transformation, and business logic in the same queries. This lesson teaches you to architect multi-stage ETL pipelines where each query has a single job, dependencies are explicit, and the whole chain is debuggable and maintainable — the way serious production pipelines are built.

Managing Many-to-Many Relationships in Power Query: Deduplication, Bridge Tables, and Safe Merge Strategies

Many-to-many joins are the most common source of silent data corruption in Power Query — and they produce no error messages. Learn how to detect M:N relationships before they inflate your totals, and master three strategies to handle them correctly: deduplication, bridge tables, and defensive merge patterns.

How to Build a Data Portfolio From Scratch (When You Have Zero Freelance Experience)

No client work? No problem. This lesson teaches you how to use public datasets, volunteer projects, and spec work to build a data portfolio that convinces real clients to hire you — before you've had a single paying gig.

What to Expect in Your First 90 Days as a Data Analyst: A Practical Survival Guide

Starting a data analyst role is disorienting in ways nobody warns you about. This guide breaks down exactly what to focus on in each of your first three months — so you build trust, navigate messy data, and establish a reputation that carries your career forward.

Version Controlling Your dbt Project with Git: Branching Strategies, CI Checks, and Safe Deployments to Production

Shipping dbt changes without Git is like editing a financial spreadsheet with no undo button. This lesson teaches you the complete workflow: feature branches, automated CI checks with GitHub Actions, and controlled production deployments — with real code you can use today.

Connecting to Databases, Flat Files, and Cloud Storage for Data Pipeline Ingestion

Every pipeline starts with ingestion — but pulling data from databases, CSVs, and S3 is trickier than it looks. This hands-on lesson teaches you the patterns and code that professional data engineers actually use, including secure credential management and schema validation.