Professional

The Expert

A leading voice in Data Lakehouse architecture, Apache Iceberg, and AI — empowering developers and data teams worldwide through books, open source, and education.

Credentials & Expertise

35+
Books Published
34K+
LinkedIn Followers
3
O'Reilly & Manning Titles
2025
Dremio CEO Award
🧊 Apache Iceberg ⭐ Apache Polaris 🏗️ Data Lakehouse Architecture 🤖 Agentic AI 🎯 Developer Relations 🐍 Python 🦀 Rust 📊 DataOps ⚡ JavaScript / TypeScript 🗃️ SQL 🐳 Docker 🏢 Dremio

Flagship Publications

Published by O'Reilly and Manning — the industry standard for technical learning.

Apache Iceberg: The Definitive GuideO'Reilly
Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide
The comprehensive guide to Apache Iceberg and modern lakehouse architecture.
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Apache Polaris: The Definitive GuideO'Reilly
Apache Polaris: The Definitive Guide
Guide to open catalogs for Apache Iceberg lakehouses.
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Architecting an Apache Iceberg LakehouseManning
Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse
Architecture patterns for building Iceberg-based data platforms.
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Alex Merced with O'Reilly books

Technical Library

Self-published deep-dives on Data Lakehouses, AI, and modern data engineering.

Dremio and the Semantic Layer
Dremio and the Semantic Layer
The journey to providing meaning and context for AI.
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Hands-On Agentic Engineering
Hands-On Agentic Engineering
A practical guide to building multi-agent systems.
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The Lakehouse Built for Everyone
The Lakehouse Built for Everyone
From laptop prototypes to enterprise-scale agentic AI with Apache Iceberg and Dremio.
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The Book on Apache Polaris
The Book on Apache Polaris
Building the open data lakehouse with the industry standard Iceberg REST catalog.
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AI-Ready Data
AI-Ready Data
Designing Data Platforms for LLMs, Agents, and RAG.
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The AI Engineering Handbook
The AI Engineering Handbook
Full-stack reference for building AI systems.
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The 2026 Guide to Lakehouses, Apache Iceberg and Agentic AI
The 2026 Guide to Lakehouses, Apache Iceberg and Agentic AI
Comprehensive guide to lakehouse architecture and AI.
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The Book on Agentic Analytics
The Book on Agentic Analytics
Foundations of agentic data architecture.
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The Book on Using Apache Iceberg with Python
The Book on Using Apache Iceberg with Python
Hands-on guide using Iceberg with Python tools.
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Enabling Agentic Analytics with Apache Iceberg and Dremio
Enabling Agentic Analytics with Apache Iceberg and Dremio
Building AI-ready lakehouse systems.
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Using AI Agents for Data Engineering and Data Analysis
Using AI Agents for Data Engineering and Data Analysis
Practical guide to AI-driven data workflows.
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The 2026 Guide to AI-Assisted Development
The 2026 Guide to AI-Assisted Development
Prompt engineering and agent workflows for developers.
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Apache Iceberg for Agentic AI
Apache Iceberg for Agentic AI
Connecting structured enterprise data to agentic AI systems.
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The Agentic Enterprise
The Agentic Enterprise
Deploying AI Agents across the modern organization.
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Constructing Context and Semantics for AI Agents
Constructing Context and Semantics for AI Agents
Embeddings, Knowledge Graphs, Memory, RAG, and production agent systems.
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The Open Source Lakehouse
The Open Source Lakehouse
Architecting the decoupled analytical foundation.
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Evaluating AI Systems
Evaluating AI Systems
Testing LLMs, RAG, and Agents for production.
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Governing AI Systems
Governing AI Systems
Best practices for governing AI in the enterprise.
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Shipping AI: From Prototype to Production Systems
Shipping AI: From Prototype to Production Systems
Deploy AI systems that scale.
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Building Knowledge Systems for AI
Building Knowledge Systems for AI
Graphs, RAG, Memory, and Context for intelligent systems.
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The AI Lakehouse
The AI Lakehouse
Architecting data platforms for AI workloads.
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AI Application Architecture
AI Application Architecture
Patterns for building intelligent systems.
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The Economics of AI
The Economics of AI
Cost, latency, and infrastructure tradeoffs.
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The Economics of Labor in the AI Era
The Economics of Labor in the AI Era
Disruption, adaptation, and the future of work.
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Open Source Projects

🦀
Pangolin
Open-source Data Lakehouse Catalog written in Rust with Iceberg REST Catalog support.
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🖥️
Apache Iceberg UI
Desktop application for browsing and querying Iceberg Catalogs.
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🐍
Iceframe
Dataframe library & AI Agent for working with Apache Iceberg in Python.
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📊
DremioFrame
Specialized dataframe library for interacting with Dremio Cloud.
View Code →
⌨️
Dremio Python CLI
Python CLI for Dremio Software and Cloud.
View Code →
🗄️
SencilloDB
Lightweight, JSON-based JavaScript datastore.
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Content & Media

Blog, podcasts, video, and newsletters — stay connected with the latest in data and AI.

📝
Alex Merced's Blog
Data, Dev and AI — the professional blog
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Alex Merced's Tech Podcast
Deep dives on data, AI, and engineering
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YouTube — Data Channel
Video content on data lakehouses and Apache Iceberg
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YouTube — Dev Channel
Web development tutorials and courses
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Substack — Data Lakehouse
Newsletter on data engineering trends
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Medium
Technical articles and thought leadership
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LinkedIn Newsletter
Data Lakehouse Bytes with Alex
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DataLakehouseHub.com
The knowledge hub for data lakehouse architecture
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Conference Speaking

Sharing knowledge on the world's biggest data and technology stages.

Oredev Data Council (AI Council) Data Day Texas Confluent Current DataEngBytes SQLBits P99Conf Subsurface OSA Con and more...
Alex Merced speaking at a conference