🔗 About the Blog
This Blog focuses on genuine news about the open-source data ecosystem. Topics covered mostly are: #dataengineering, #opensource, #python, #ETL. But I’m also passionate about #writing, #pkm, #productivity, #neovim and many others.
A Brief History
- 2004: Registered sspaeti.com, my first endaver into web development with HTML, CSS, PHP
- 2005-2014: Ran a local forum and party guide (this was before FB :)
- 2015: Published my first data-related blog post
- 2016-2018: Regular blogging on Business Intelligence and data topics
- 2019: Focus on Open-Source Data Engineering
- 2021: Migrated from WordPress to GoHugo, fully powered by Markdown
- 2022: Started my Second Brain and sharing my notes publicly.
- 2023: Registered the domain ssp.sh
- 2024: Launched as a freelance Technical Author & Data Engineer
- 2025: Founded the company SSP Data GmbH
For two decades, I’ve been exploring the world of data and technology. What started as a hobby has grown into a passion for sharing knowledge about open-source data engineering. Through this blog, I aim to craft valuable & educational content for data engineers, BI specialists, and anyone eager to learn about data.
👨💻 About Me, Simon Späti
👋🏻Hi there! I’m Simon, a dad and family person with over 20 years of experience in Data Engineering who pivoted into Technical Writing. My passion is using technology and writing to make a positive impact.
I’m the author of this Blog, a top-ranked Data Engineering blog, and I’m currently writing a living book on Patterns of Data Engineering. My work has been featured in publications like Towards Data Science and freeCodeCamp, and I’ve been recognized as a top writer on Quora and Databand.
One of my key contributions is the «Data Engineering Vault», a connected knowledge hub that revolutionizes how people learn about Data Engineering. I’m also passionate about Personal Knowledge Management, which led me to create my Public Second Brain.
I’m always excited to learn about new open-source technologies and share knowledge. If you’re interested in Data Engineering, Technical Writing, Neovim, or innovative learning approaches, I’d love to connect. For more about my journey and current projects, check out my Pathless Path, my Gigs (Podcasts, Videos), CV or GitHub.
Thanks for stopping by.
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📖 What I’m doing now
(This is a Now Page, and if a website, you should create one, too.)
A little update after the one in August 2025. I still run my business at ssp.sh/services and it keeps me busy. I still enjoy creating new articles, which hopefully are interesting to read. My focus shifted a bit, and I try to focus more on storytelling, making it more encouraging to read, with a great structure and a red line to follow, going from high-level to low-level.
I gave an interview about blogging - that is soon to be published - but it made me dive deeper into the why I still blog, and as I am writing for more than a decade now, I shared a full-blown essay on the topic Why I Still Blog — and Why the Future of Blogging Is Connected. Mostly going into what I believe is the Future of Blogging, and the connective part of blogging, comparing Sharing as Second Brain Note vs a Blog Post and much more.
I have published a new chapter in my book about the Dynamic Query Design Pattern, which goes into more detail on how to develop a mechanism for ad-hoc querying in your data platform. It’s my first data engineering design pattern in my book; many more to come. I plan to spend some more time on it next time, but it’s hard to do a book on the side, so let’s see how it goes. I managed to fix the strucutre each chapter and add lots of new chapters that I plan to write and converted my notes from my second brain into lists and notes into the chaptes, so it’s easier for me to write oppose to constantly digging my brain onr research related ideas, tough this is the most fun for me, and where most interesting ideas come, so I won’t stop doing it. Still, I also can’t do it infinitely.
I read some more new great books, update on these another time. Still, I uploaded all my recommendations from my recent newsletters on my website at book recommendations, so feel free to check it out if you are in search of a new book, or are interested in what I liked in the last few years. It starts in 2018 and ends in 2025.
Apart from my deep dives into data engineering blogs, I have written some interesting topics around Well Being in Times of Algorithms, Boredom is the New Luxury, and Why I Don’t Research; and Write from Experience. Feel free to check them out and find related links.
I also added an interactive graph below each blog article, as well as in each chapter of my book. Check out the books, and I hope they’re useful if you like a chapter or a blog post, to find related and relevant information that connects to that topic. Please let me know what you think and whether there’s anything else I should add to my website that would help you.
Otherwise, spring has started, and I look forward to the warm weather after a winter with lots of snow and a couple of days on the cross-country skis.
This update was on March 16th, 2026.
💼 Professional Services
In addition to sharing my knowledge through this blog and my free resources, I also offer professional services to help businesses and individuals in the data engineering field—mainly technical blog writing and sponsorships for my book. Check Out My Services and My Craft for Data Engineering Writing for more details.