KC Tech

  GCP PDE Badge I recently (June 22nd, 2024) appeared for and passed the GCP Professional Data Engineer certification. [1] In this blog, I'd like to share what I've learned in studying for and taking the exam. First off, here are the main GCP offerings that are tested on the exam: BigQuery: This is a data warehouse that can hold structured data. It is SQL compliant and you can perform data analysis with this tool. Despite seeming like a regular relational database, it is actually a columnar database. This database can go up-to petabyte scale! BigTable: Despite have 'Table' in the name, it's a NoSQL database. It is a non-relational database used for things like receiving large amounts of IoT/factory sensors' data, user's application data, etc. Got to learn about BigTable schema design (& especially row-key optimization) Cloud Storage: This service was covered even in the Cloud Associate Engineer exam but it's just a blob (Binary Large OBject) storge l...

Haven't been able to write down as much as I'd like on this blog lately. I've been down with the flu for the past couple of days and decided that the best way to spend this long weekend is to study and write down posts on my learnings.  Here's the plan for the weekend, it's really simple, the first thing is to learn SQL (structured query language) and master the basics through a lot of practice. Then, the second thing is to learn 'Angular' front-end framework since we use this at work along with 'Java' backend.  The last thing on my list that I'd like to accomplish is to finish my blog on the 'Helm'. Here's my reading list: [1] Sams teach yourself sql in 10 minutes - Ben Forta ( link ) [2] Angular Docs -  https://angular.io/docs Fig. 1 - SQL commands cheat sheet Fig. 2 - Angular commands overview

Spring Framework Having worked in my current role for about 8 months, I have realized that to be a lynchpin, I need to understand Java programming, especially using Spring Framework and Angular front-end. Towards this end, I've spent a lot of my time and energy learning and honing this skill. Spring Framework Spring MVC - Model-View-Controller: Spring MVC Spring implements a Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern which is a software architectural pattern that separates an application into 3 interconnected components. This separation helps manage complexity & promotes organized coding. Model: Represents the data and the business logic of the application. It is responsible for retrieving data from databases, encapsulating it, and defining the business operations. View: This is the user interface of the application. It displays the data from the Model to the user and also sends user commands to the Controller. Controller: Acts as an intermediary between View and Model. It receive...

Wow! It's December already. :) Wanted to pen down some of my thoughts from the books that I've gotten to read recently. 1. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer This book delves into the world of memory and memory competitions. At first glance, competing in these kind of competitions seems to be possible only by someone with Savant syndrome like the Raymond from the Rain Man movie. Dustin Hoffman (plays Raymond) next to Tom Cruise But, this is in fact a learnable skill and anyone with dedication and effort can improve their memory which this book highlights as it follows the author's journey to improve his memory and participate in the American memory competition.  Example memory competition event One of the things that I'm taking away from this book is the concept of Memory Palaces (which I first came across from Sherlock, the hit British TV show) and how to leave vivid, memorable images in it.  Another takeaway is the 'Major system' to remember numbers.  Th...

This blogpost is going to be quite different from my regular posts. I would like to write something down by myself instead of just being a proxy for chatGPT like I did in the past few posts. Books I've read this summer: Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows Extreme Ownership by Jockco Wilink and Leif Basin Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman Zero to One by Peter Thiel Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday Let's talk about my takeaways book by book: Thinking In Systems , after reading this book, I try to think of everything happening around me in terms of a simple flow chart, on the one side is a 'source', then the other side is the 'output', & in the middle is a box that is an effect which acts on the source to produce the output. Here's an example from the book: Most systems along with having a 'source' and an output, also have feedback loops, they can broadly be classified into 2 types. One is a corrective loop, e.g. a thermostat on a an Air...

  Hitch a Ride on the Vector Search Express! (This blog post was entirely generated by chatGPT but it makes for a really interesting read!) Hello, and welcome to my blog! Buckle up, because today, we're going to explore the exhilarating world of vector search. Don't worry, I know "vector search" sounds like it was dreamt up by a mad scientist at midnight, but trust me, it's much simpler than it sounds. I promise not to drown you in geek-speak. So, think of vector search like this: you're a mechanic looking for a missing bolt in a garage packed with parts. The bolt represents the data you need, the garage is your database, and vector search is the superpowered magnet that makes finding that bolt a cinch. The 'Vector Search' Engine In non-nerd terms, vector search is a type of search that works not just by looking at the data's exact match, but also at its context . So, instead of just finding a bolt, it can find a bolt that fits a '67 Ford Musta...