top of page

THE OWL MOUNTAIN BLOG
Tim Burns
The Owl Mountain Blog is the authors views on the Fascianting World of Data
Search


Turn JSON into Actionable Data - Lunch
Psychology says that humans are able to process up to 7 pieces of information at a time in our short-term memory. That's why we have...

Tim Burns
May 22, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


From Vulgar Mechanick to Nimble Developer: Machine Learning with PySpark and AWS
Introduction Apache Spark is a powerful tool for processing data, but I've found it's easy to get stuck when learning the technology. If...

Tim Burns
May 14, 20214 min read
Â
Â
Â


How to add /usr/local/apache-spark as Content Root on a Mac
After fighting with AWS Glue and realizing that in order to use Glue beyond the point of a dumb scheduler, I need to learn the hell out...

Tim Burns
May 11, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


AWS for Data Scientists: From VPC to Spark
VPC Endpoints are the key to connecting AWS services privately with each other. When you use VPC endpoints, all traffic stays on the AWS...

Tim Burns
May 8, 20213 min read
Â
Â
Â


E. W. Dijkstra Archive
E. W. Dijkstra is a very important computer scientist and prolific writer. I like to keep a reference to his work handy. Very inspiring...

Tim Burns
May 3, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Refactoring Scrum from Basic Principles
Photo by Author Scrum is a Software Development Lifecycle Methodology In its most basic form, Scrum is a Software Development Lifecycle...

Tim Burns
May 1, 20215 min read
Â
Â
Â


AWS Networking for Data Scientists: The VPC
The AWS cloud opens a whole new level of frustration for data scientists. You now have access to a cornucopia of amazing tools, but one...

Tim Burns
Apr 28, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Some Math: Log2 and Factorial Functions
My ongoing side project involves using data techniques to match people across data sources. It is a useful and surprisingly subtle...

Tim Burns
Apr 24, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Learning from Slack's Data Platform
Big Data Systems Development is filled with complexity, and more often than not, interesting and elegant shortcuts. It is such a vast set...

Tim Burns
Apr 19, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


Interesting Critique of Agile
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile_27.html The article is from 2006, so much has changed. Scrum turned out to...

Tim Burns
Apr 18, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


User Story Mapping
I was reading LinkedIn comments and posting and ran across a post that referenced Jeff Patton's "User Story Mapping." I hadn't heard of...

Tim Burns
Apr 17, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Agile Thoughts of the Day
This Dog understands Persistence Agile belongs to developers. It's our methodology and tool for working with customers in a better way. ...

Tim Burns
Apr 16, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â
The Mentor who inspired my interest in "Nonnumerical Analysis"
In my excellent and satisfying job as a "Data Architect, " most of what I do is explore data with "nonnumerical analysis." I've been...

Tim Burns
Apr 10, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


Integrating Snowflake with Glue
Snowflake is an excellent modern database that couples the power of traditional SQL with modern data lake architecture. AWS Glue is a...

Tim Burns
Apr 7, 20215 min read
Â
Â
Â
I wasn't a good student
I filled out a form a few days back where they asked about my college transcripts. It made me realize that I wasn't a good student in...

Tim Burns
Apr 7, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


AWS and Snowflake - DevSecOps Style
I find many articles whose purpose is to check a box on a feature checklist. Yes, (check), Snowflake does integrate with Glue. It...

Tim Burns
Apr 5, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


Taking back Scrum - Defects Over Stories
I describe myself as a reluctant Scrum enthusiast. Scrum is a great agile tool if you recognize it as a feature lifecycle process and...

Tim Burns
Apr 1, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


Treat Service Passwords like Cattle - Not Pets
The Author believes Passwords should be Easy as Cake Most people understand the value of treating servers like cattle, not pets. It's...

Tim Burns
Apr 1, 20211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Olympics Person-Level Data
The Author at Rhode Island Fencing Club As a fencer am getting excited about the Olympics This Summer. As a data scientist, I am...

Tim Burns
Mar 24, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â


Product Owners and Accountability
I am returning to a Product Owner role on a Scrum team and it excites me. Scrum is a true software development process and it belongs in...

Tim Burns
Mar 23, 20212 min read
Â
Â
Â

bottom of page