Tag Archives: Interview

SQL People Interviews MarkTab

Andy Leonard is technology professional and community promoter who started the SQLPeople.NET website. From his @AndyLeonard Twitter description, he characterizes himself as follows:

Husband, father, grandfather, SSIS [SQL Server Integration Services] guy, SQL Server Database dev, community mentor, author, blogger, tweeter, trainer, consultant, writer, chicken whisperer.

He invited a long list of people (who use SQL Server) to tell their personal stories (and I encourage you to explore the many other stories too). The questions he chose were generic technology, and touch more on the people side, putting a human face and emotion on to people who often face computer screens for much of a typical day. His interview with me posted recently, and already has 178 views (as of my reading it today). I provide a link at the end of this blog post.

I provided these answers in January 2011, and I have more comments on my responses. Also, unlike the posted interview, this blog post has some pictures. However, let me first list the questions that he asked in my round of interviews:
Continue reading “SQL People Interviews MarkTab” »

Jeopardy Competitor Interview

This year, IBM sponsored a competition against their machine learning and information retrieval system dubbed Watson.  The human competitors were Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.  I introduced this topic on this blog at http://www.marktab.net/datamining/2011/02/18/play-jeopardy-ibm-watson/

Several years ago, my friend Kevin Stanley earned a spot on Jeopardy, no easy feat.  I have to admire his determination to try out for the show and appear.  What Kevin did not know at the time was that he was at the beginning of Ken Jenning’s long winning run.  Ken is one of the most successful Jeopardy geniuses of all time, proven by being chosen for the Watson competition.

When Watson came into news, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk with Kevin about his experience on this show.  In this interview, we talk about Jeopardy as an intellectual challenge.  I also get Kevin’s perspective on the Watson competition.

JeopardyCompetitorKevinStanley Jeopardy Competitor Interview

Kevin A. Stanley is a thirty-six year old freelance writer (and aspiring author) born and raised in the Atlanta area. He has been a poet since the age of 11. His work has appeared in The North Avenue Review, The Georgia Tech Technique, Exposed: The Campus Voice and online at AABoomers.com, where he served as a contributing writer and editor.

Mr. Stanley was a competitor against all-time Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings in 2004. 

How and when were you first interested in competing on Jeopardy?
Continue reading “Jeopardy Competitor Interview” »

Galit Shmueli Interview, Lead Author of Data Mining for Business Intelligence

I’m happy to post this interview with Dr. Galit Shmueli Ph.D., lead author of Data Mining for Business Intelligence, which has just been released earlier this year (2010) in a new edition:

51mDxJorSJL. SL160 Galit Shmueli Interview, Lead Author of Data Mining for Business IntelligenceData Mining for Business Intelligence: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications in Microsoft Office Excel® with XLMiner®

I previously reviewed this textbook, which you can read from this link.  The price of the book is more than typical Microsoft technical books, but its cost is comparable to many data mining books.  Relatively fewer number of professionals perform data mining, and I believe this book is worth its value at full retail cost. 

Now, on to the interview.

gshmueli Galit Shmueli Interview, Lead Author of Data Mining for Business Intelligence

Galit Shmueli is a Professor of Statistics at the Robert H Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park MD. She is a researcher, author, teacher, advisor, and technology freak (among other things). Her current research focuses on statistical methods and data mining in information systems research (and particularly, eCommerce). Professor Shmueli has taught data analytics for over a decade to engineers and to business students and has won rewards for teaching excellence. She co-authors several books and has published her work in professional journals in statistics, marketing, information systems, and more. Professor Shmueli blogs about data analytics in business at blog.bzst.com. Check her website (galitshmueli.com) for papers, recorded talks, and more.

How and when did you start authoring books on data mining?

I started teaching a data mining course in our MBA program in 2004. I inherited a statistics-oriented course that used 3 different software packages. This clearly was not going to work from my point of view, and I went in search of a more holistic, data-mining oriented solution for software and a textbook. Continue reading “Galit Shmueli Interview, Lead Author of Data Mining for Business Intelligence” »

Irina Gorbach Interview — Microsoft Analysis Services

Irina Gorbach is a product development leader for Analysis Services (and these days SQL Azure, as she explains). In 2008, she was lead author on a book I have reviewed on this blog, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed. The book is available in either print or electronic format.

510cHjGCsUL. SL160 Irina Gorbach Interview Microsoft Analysis Services

I have known so many technical people since I started my own engineering journey in the 1980s, and I enjoy hearing about other people’s stories and insights into what they do. If you are interested in technology or have a specific interest in Microsoft Analysis Services, I know you will enjoy this interview. And, if you enjoy the product and happen to meet Irina at some conference, I’m sure she would like to hear your positive stories.

Your work on the Analysis Services 2008 book was enormous, and I admire the accomplishment. What did you learn on this project?

You are right, Mark. This project helped me to learn a lot. Continue reading “Irina Gorbach Interview — Microsoft Analysis Services” »

Raman Iyer Interview — Microsoft Analysis Services

Hi Everyone

I’m excited to present the first interview that I am posting to this blog. In these interviews, I’m generally looking for leaders and influential voices in business intelligence in general and data mining in particular.

This first interview is with Raman Iyer, and experienced leader and developer for Microsoft. Raman chose to write responses to my questions, and he included links too (knowing that the product would be web-based). You can find Raman supporting http://www.sqlserverdatamining.com and often responding to technical questions on MSDN Forums.

ramaniyer Raman Iyer Interview Microsoft Analysis Services

Quick bio:
Raman Iyer is Principal Development Manager for the Analysis Services Engine development team, responsible for building the server that powers Microsoft’s core Business Intelligence offerings in SQL Server, including OLAP, PowerPivot (In-Memory BI) and Data Mining. He was a founding member of the SQL Server Data Mining team, developing early prototypes and core DM engine features in the 2000 and 2005 releases before going on to lead the Data Mining development team through the SQL Server 2008 and DM Add-in releases.

How did you come to work for Microsoft?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (now part of the SAP universe), I was happily geeking out Continue reading “Raman Iyer Interview — Microsoft Analysis Services” »