November Featured Member Christopher Shehu shares what makes him a Community Champion
Name: Christopher Shehu (He/His)
Community nickname: @Christopher Shehu
Databricks Certifications: Lakehouse Fundamentals; Working on Data Engineer Associate Certification
Meet Chris, a data engineer at Community Health Network. He is known for being creative, intelligent, and hard-working amongst his co-workers. In his free time he loves to volunteer at his local animal shelters. He feels animals play such a critical role in our lives as family members, and is a proud furparent to Sophia and Freya, a d0g and a cat respectively. His favorite activities are reading, and he’s currently interested in the power hypnosis can play in business. Feel free to reach out and chat more about this cool budding hobby! 😀
Chris is also a veteran in IT with a rich career spanning multi-technical disciplines. He started his career in high school as a computer support specialist, went on to hold multiple positions in the field of machine operations, forensics and 3D designer. Over the course of his career, he also held positions such as Software Support, Helpdesk Analyst, Reporting Analysts and Developer in both large and small organizations.
His ultimate goal was to become a data engineer, and, sure enough, through study and hands-on training, he reached this milestone after mastering Apache Kafka, SQL, Python, Databricks and Microsoft Azure. Chris is the go-to guy for complex problems with a “can do” attitude that makes him a joy to be around.
When asked what motivates him to participate in the Community, he says that he wanted to collaborate with other people and work towards improving the Community for fellow data practitioners. He also mentioned that he loves learning from what everyone else is talking about in our own Databricks Community.
A few weeks ago, someone approached him and asked if it was possible to extract data from a PowerPoint slide so that it could be used as a Power BI dashboard. Using Databricks Python, there really aren't any limitations on what can be done - Chris feels this is the most interesting use case with Databricks.
As Databricks is capable of handling big data and other complex tasks, he started using it when he wanted a way to harness the power of the Apache Spark framework. These frameworks suit his needs because they let him use Python, which is much more customizable than SQL.
‘The History feature in Databricks is a MUST! Ever run into a spot where your code breaks and you can’t remember what you did? Go back a few hours, days, weeks, whatever it takes to find the working version and cross compare or just restore.’ This saves tons of time, recommends Chris!
Social media handles:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-shehu-7b945321
Twitter: @ThisIsShehu
Personal: cshehu.com
@chris Shehu Thank you so much for taking time to share your experience and learnings with peers in the Community! You continue to inspire us, motivate us, and keep us going. We and your peers on Community celebrate you!
“Community - Drop a comment below to say hi to Chris and share any questions you might have for him!"
