Data Vault 2.0 Explained: Hubs, Links and Satellites in SQL
A hands-on Data Vault 2.0 guide: hubs, links and satellites, hash keys and hashdiffs, SQL load patterns, PIT and bridge tables, and common pitfalls.
Posted inUK Guides
UK Earned Settlement Rules, 2 November 2026: ILR Changes and Who’s Affected
Earned settlement explained: ILR moves from 5 to 10 years, with 5 years over £50,271 and 3 years over £125,141. Care workers, students and families.
Posted inUK Guides
UK Tax Codes Explained: What 1257L, BR, 0T and M1 Mean
What your UK tax code means in 2026/27: 1257L, BR, 0T, K, S and C codes, emergency W1/M1 codes, and how to check and fix a wrong tax code with HMRC.
Posted inUK Guides
Driving Test Changes 2026: New Booking Rules, Fees and Proposals
Driving test changes in 2026: learner-only booking, 2 changes per booking, 3 nearest centres, test fees, theory test facts and what is still only a proposal.
Posted inUK Guides
UK Visa Changes: October 2026 Update and What’s Coming in 2027
UK visa changes in 2026: Skilled Worker B2 English, Graduate visa cut to 18 months from 1 January 2027, B2 for ILR from March 2027, fees and earned settlement.
BigQuery Partitioning vs Clustering: Cut Query Cost and Time
A hands-on guide to BigQuery partitioning and clustering: when to use each, DDL and SQL examples, pruning rules, INFORMATION_SCHEMA checks and common pitfalls.
dbt Data Quality Testing: Generic, Singular and Unit Tests
A practical guide to dbt data quality testing: generic and singular data tests, unit tests for model logic, severity thresholds, stored failures and CI setup.
Fixing Data Skew in Apache Spark: AQE, Salting and Broadcasts
Learn how to detect and fix data skew in Apache Spark using Adaptive Query Execution, broadcast joins, hot-key isolation and salting, with PySpark examples.
What’s New in Snowflake in 2026: Summit Highlights and Autumn Updates for Data Engineers
Iceberg v3, Openflow, Snowflake Postgres mirroring, smarter Dynamic Tables, CoWork and CoCo: the Snowflake features that matter for data engineers in 2026, with GA vs preview status and a practical checklist.
Incremental Pipelines in Snowflake: Dynamic Tables vs Streams & Tasks (Hands-On)
Build the same incremental pipeline two ways in Snowflake, with Streams & Tasks and with Dynamic Tables. Full SQL, monitoring queries, 2026 updates and a clear guide to which one to use.