We’re thrilled to resurface this special post from 2022, celebrating our very first Databricks Community Champion, Werner Stinckens ⭐
This spotlight was one of the earliest Champion features on our platform — it went missing during a content migration, but we’re bringing it back where it belongs.
Werner’s passion, curiosity, and contributions set the tone for what it means to be a Databricks Champion, and his story continues to inspire our community today.
👉 Here’s @-werners- in his own words:
Role: Data Engineer @ Van de Velde
Three words your coworkers would use to describe you:
Helpful, accurate, inquisitive.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
The variety of tasks keeps things exciting, especially tackling unique challenges that come with the fashion industry — like forecasting fashion trends.
What does a typical workday look like?
My top priority is ensuring accurate data is delivered to users on time. That means building and maintaining ETL data pipelines — with Databricks as our core tool.
I also focus on keeping our platform and architecture reliable and future-proof, not just in terms of tools but also in data design. It’s incredible how fast the data landscape evolves!
Do you have any mentors who’ve inspired you?
I wouldn’t say I have formal mentors, but I’ve learned a lot from industry experts such as Andrew Ng, Holden Karau, and mathematicalmonk on YouTube — and from the brilliant minds at AMPLab, especially Matei Zaharia, who sparked my interest in big data.
When did you start using Databricks and join the Community?
I’ve been using Databricks since around 2018 (back when it launched on Azure), though I’d worked with Spark before that.
I joined the Databricks Community as soon as it went live — because a strong community is essential for growth. It’s been amazing to see it expand over the years, and I love seeing new names pop up on the Top Contributors list!
Favorite Databricks features:
Without a doubt — Delta Lake, followed by auto-scaling clusters and Repos.
A feature you’d love to see in the future:
Better IDE integration and more focus on graph processing.
Outside of work:
I’ve been playing guitar for over 30 years and still find joy in improving my craft. I’m part of a band that plays 80s music — it’s a great creative outlet!
Connect with Werner on LinkedIn to follow his data journey and insights! 🚀
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