Andy Leonard

"Inconceivable!" from The Princess Bride

My latest newsletter is titled "On Democratizing Education" and is available at engineerofdata.substack.com/p/on-democra.... :{> #education #ai

I'm a Claude Power User and an Anthropic Copyright Claimant Affected authors, you have until 9 Feb 2026 to opt in

My latest newsletter is titled "I'm a Claude Power User and an Anthropic Copyright Claimant" and is available at engineerofdata.substack.com/p/im-a-claud.... #anthropic #copyrightsettlement #ai

Claude Opus 4.6 We’re upgrading our smartest model. Across agentic coding, computer use, tool use, search, and finance, Opus 4.6 is an industry-leading model, often by wide margin.

Claude Opus 4.6! www.anthropic.com/news/claude-...

Early-bird pricing for Using AI to be your Data Engineering Partner ends 31 Jan 2026

Hurry! Early-bird pricing for Using AI to be your Data Engineering Partner ends 31 Jan 2026! Join Stephen Leonard and me on 1 May 2026 for a full day of AI-Enhanced Data Engineering training - live and in-person - in Jacksonville Florida! Register today at www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket.... #ai #data

Data Driven Podcast interview with Dr. Jill Axline

Frank and I enjoyed an informative and awesome interview video with Jill Axline, Ph.D. on the Data Driven Podcast! Watch the full interview at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXCs.... Listen to the podcast at datadriven.tv/episodes/syn... #ai #synthetic #populations #data

24 Jan 2026 Hampden-Sydney Virginia ice forecast

Heads up, Virginia Peeps. The forecast changed overnight from 0.25-0.50 in to 1-2 in of ice.

Admerica Can we get a break?

My latest newsletter is titled "Admerica" and is available at engineerofdata.substack.com/p/admerica. I welcome your thoughts. Enjoy! :{> #technology #business #ads

Van Halen Mean Street album cover

This morning's writing and coding anthem is the Mean Street album by Van Halen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ak...

Daniel Beach and me on the Data Engineering Central Podcast

Daniel Beach and I recently had a conversation about data, data engineering, and how I got into it all. Check it out now at substack.com/home/post/p-...! :{> #dataengineeringcentral #podcast

Claude Code logo

On 8-Jan-26, I streamed Claude Code and I developing a Windows application. I blogged about it in a post titled "Video: One-Shotting an App with Claude Code – Jan 2026". You can view the post, which include the recording, at andyleonard.blog/claude-code-.... :{> #claudecode #ai

Claude Code update

Claude Code has been updated. The platform keeps itself up to date, and you will likely see v2.1.1 when you next start Claude Code. If you don’t, you can manually execute an update from you CLI shell with the command “claude update”:

Tinkering with Claude Memory Plus how my day's gone so far

“What Am I Up To?
Agents.
I want to learn to build AI agents.”

- From Tinkering with Claude Memory

engineerofdata.substack.com/p/tinkering-...

I did not have overtly political conversations over the holidays. I had several technology-related conversations and many of them wandered into the politically-adjacent. When those parts of the discourse emerged, the most-asked question I heard was, "Why haven't I heard this perspective?"

Day of Data Jax 2026 logo

My latest blog post is titled "Honored to Present Using AI To Be Your Data Engineering Partner at Day of Data Jax 2026" and is available at andyleonard.blog/jax-2026-ai-.... #DayofDataJax #SQLSatJax #Jax_Data #DayofData

Tinkering with Claude Memory Plus how my day's gone so far

My latest newsletter is titled "Tinkering with Claude Memory" and is now available at engineerofdata.substack.com/p/tinkering-.... #claude #aiagents

Paid subscribers score a 50% discount on my Enterprise Data & Analytics training, and gain access to an individual license for my AI-Assisted Data Engineering Development Playbook ($49 value) at no additional cost.

Engineer of Data logo

For a limited time, subscribe to my newsletter (Engineer of Data) and save 20%! Details at engineerofdata.substack.com/p/thank-you-.... #dataengineering #newsletter

The author of the quote was speaking about a minister engaging in controversy, but the quote equally applies to technology and entrepreneurs.

I read this quote in a newsletter today:

"A man whose reputation has already been demolished by years of relentless attacks is strangely free. Free to go where others will not. Free to speak without calculation. Free to risk being misunderstood."

SQL Server Countdown Function newsletter image

Happy New Year! My latest newsletter - titled "A SQL Server Countdown Function" - is now available at open.substack.com/pub/engineer.... #newsletter #sqlserver #countdown

AI-Assisted Data Engineering Development Playbook

Paid subscriptions to Engineer of Data (engineerofdata.substack.com) include access to my latest playbook titled “AI-Assisted Data Engineering Development Playbook” (delmsuite.com/ai-data-e…) -a $49 value, 200+ page PDF subtitled How I set up a virtual server for modern data engineering development.

Today is the last day of 2025.
Seize it.

Doh! I now view Unsubscribes as a sign of a healthy community. I am an acquired taste, I’m not for everyone. And that’s ok.

“And that’s ok” is the theme of my latest post/newsletter. Enjoy “2025: A Number Containing Two 2’s, One 5, and a 0: My whack at a year in review”.

2025: A Number Containing Two 2’s, One 5, and a 0 My whack at a year in review

I confess, it used to bug me when subscribers unsubscribed every time I posted a newsletter. And then it dawned on me: “Andy, you’re sending thousands of people an ‘Unsubscribe’ link every. single. time.”

(And yes, I also share how Stephen Leonard and I are approaching this pragmatically in our upcoming work.)

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AI, Data Engineering, and 2026 I recently crossed my 50th year working with computers.

I wrote about this in my latest Substack newsletter, including why “wait and see” is no longer a neutral position heading into 2026.

If you’re curious about AI and uneasy about it, this one’s for you.

Read the newsletter here: engineerofdata.substack.com/p/ai-data-en...

AI, Data Engineering, and 2026 I recently crossed my 50th year working with computers.

AI feels like one of those moments.

Not because it’s perfect. It isn’t. Hallucinations are real. Skepticism is healthy.

But the productivity gap between engineers who learn where AI belongs - and those who don’t - is starting to open.

AI, Data Engineering, and 2026 I recently crossed my 50th year working with computers.

AI, Data Engineering, and 2026

I recently crossed my 50th year working with computers.

Most of that experience is useless.

What is useful is recognizing early signals - the moments when something changes productivity enough that ignoring it becomes the risky choice.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.