Visit the StrataConf 2012

On Monday and Tuesday I’ve been at the StrataConf in London. The Strata is one of the leading conferences regarding the hype topic “Big data”. Since I’m currently working with some data at shopping24 internet group, it seemed like a good fit. What have I learned:

(a) Big data is fun: Playing around with millions of datasets (like all tweets from one week) is challanging, but can reveal deep insights. Combining your own data (like log files) and with other data sources like twitter, you’ll find correlations you’ve never thought of. However, always start with the question you want to answer, not the data. (Quote: Jake Porway)

(b) Etsy is a pretty cool company to work at: I listened to a keynote of Dt. Jason Davis (Director of Search & Data) and was totally fascinated by the precision and pragmatism Etsy is working on difficult projects like rebuilding your search. I can highly recommend his presentation at Strata and the Etsy Tech Blog.