Data Matas

A show to explore all data matters. From small to big, every company on the market, irrespective of their industry, is a data merchant. How they choose to keep, interrogate and understand their data is now mission critical. 30 years of spaghetti-tech, data tech debt, or rapid growth challenges are the reality in most companies.Join Aaron Phethean, veteran intrapreneur-come-entrepreneur with hundreds of lived examples of wins and losses in the data space, as he embarques on a journey of discovering what matters most in data nowadays by speaking to other technologists and business leaders who tackle their own data challenges every day. Learn from their mistakes and be inspired by their stories of how they've made their data make sense and work for them.This podcast brought to you by Meltano - "Unlock the Insights in your Data"

Data Matas is a technology podcast hosted by Meltano, with 23 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Meltano hosts Data Matas, a technology show with 23 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #23

  S4E2 - Will AI Replace Data Engineers? Dashboards, Semantic Layers & What Dies Next

  May 19, 202629 minS0

  <p>"AI won't replace data engineers. But engineers using AI will."</p><p>In Season 4, Episode 2, we sit down with Julian [add last name + role] to unpack what's actually changing in data engineering — and what's about to disappear.</p><p>We get into:</p><p>→ Why dashboards as we know them are dying (and what replaces them) → Does AI really need a semantic layer? Julian's answer might surprise you → The low-code trap quietly racking up tech debt across data teams → Where AI is genuinely useful today: tech debt, testing, and data governance → The one skill that still matters most when AI can write...

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  Episode #22

  S4E1 - Why AI Breaks Without a Semantic Layer.

  May 7, 202631 minS0

  <p>Season four, episode one of the Data Matas Podcast.</p><p>Aaron Phethean sits down with Kevin Sampson, the first data hire at Vertex Service Partners, who joins us after four and a half years at Amazon. The conversation is about what it actually takes to build a data and analytics platform from zero.</p><p>We cover dashboard sprawl at Amazon, the gap between insights and answers, why "confidently wrong" is the worst failure mode an LLM can have inside a real business, and a hot take on whether AI even needs a semantic layer anymore.</p><p>...

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  Episode #21

  S3E7 - Building High-Performance Data Teams Starts With People, Not Tools

  Feb 12, 202641 minS0

  <p>Data Engineering as a Team Sport: Coaching, Accountability, and Pragmatism</p><p>In this episode, Sam Wrench, Lead at Reality Mine, joins us to explore what actually makes data teams perform at a high level.</p><p>We cover:</p><p>Why data engineering breaks down when teams optimise for tools instead of people<br> How coaching principles translate directly from elite sport to data leadership<br> Why dogfooding your own data creates faster feedback loops and better quality<br> How to think about AI as a managed colleague, not an autopilot<br> Why pragmatic, security-first tooling often beats chas...

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  Episode #20

  S3E6 - Analytics Engineering: Internal Risk vs. External Rigor

  Jan 15, 202640 minS0

  <p>Analytics Engineering: Internal Risk vs. External Rigor | Ft. Jack Doherty (Fresha)<br>The stakes are higher than ever for Analytics Engineers. When your data becomes a core, customer-facing product, the game changes.</p><p>Jack Doherty (Head of AE, Fresha) discusses the massive difference between internal and external analytics:</p><p>Risk vs. Rigor: Why internal projects can move fast (risk), but product-facing data demands DevOps-level rigor, testing, and governance.</p><p>Real-Time Data: The technical shift from scheduled batches to CDC for meeting customer demands for speed and consistency.</p><p>The Missing Link: Why the Semantic Layer...

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  Episode #19

  S3E5 - Building Data Platforms That Actually Solve Business Problems

  Dec 19, 202543 minS0

  <p>Stop Coding, Start Diagramming: How to Build Data Platforms That Deliver</p><p>If you're rushing to hire a data engineer before you have a clear business question, you’re doing it backwards.</p><p>I'm joined by Teddy Bernays (Freelance Data Engineer) to unpack his "business first" approach. Teddy shares his journey and explains why simplicity and a solid plan always beat the latest tech stack.</p><p>His top advice: "Find the problem you want to solve first. Is data the answer? Only then should you start building."</p><p>In this episode, we cover: <br>▶️ Why you sho...

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