Josh Devlin
About
Josh Devlin has a rich history of community involvement and technical expertise in both the dbt and wider analytics communities. Discovering dbt in early 2020, he quickly became an integral member of its community, leveraging the platform as a learning tool and aiding others along their dbt journey. Josh has helped thousands of dbt users with his advice and near-encyclopaedic knowledge of dbt. Beyond the online community, he transitioned from being an attendee at the first virtual Coalesce conference in December 2020 to a presenter at the first in-person Coalesce event in New Orleans in 2022. He has also contributed to the dbt-core and dbt-snowflake codebases, helping improve the product in the most direct way. His continuous contributions echo his philosophy of learning through teaching, a principle that has not only enriched the dbt community but also significantly bolstered his proficiency with the tool, making him a valuable community member. Aside from his technical endeavors, Josh carries a heart for communal growth and an individual's ability to contribute to a larger whole, a trait mirrored in his earlier pursuits as an orchestral musician. His story is a blend of technical acumen, communal involvement, and a nuanced appreciation for the symbiotic relationship between teaching and learning, making him a notable figure in the analytics engineering space.
When did you join the dbt community and in what way has it impacted your career?
I have been a subscriber to 'The Data Science Roundup' (now 'The Analytics Engineering Roundup') since its inception, so I knew that dbt existed from the very beginning, since the time that dbt Labs was still called Fishtown Analytics. Despite that, I never really understood what the tool was or how it fit in until early 2020 when I first started experimenting with the tool. I immediately joined the community and found it warm and welcoming, so I started to help people where I could and never stopped!
What dbt community leader do you identify with? How are you looking to grow your leadership in the dbt community?
I like to think I represent the warm, helpful vibes of the early days of the Community, where folks like Claire Carroll warmly welcomed myself and others!
What have you learned from community members? What do you hope others can learn from you?
I've learned that the more you give, the more you get. I've put hundreds of hours into helping other people in the community, but I've gotten all that back and much more. I hope I can encourage others to give of themselves and reap the rewards later!
Anything else interesting you want to tell us?
In a previous life I was an orchestral musician!