Unlocking dbt

Master the art of data transformation with the second edition of this trusted guide to dbt.

Building on the foundation of the first edition, this updated volume offers a deeper, more comprehensive exploration of dbt’s capabilities—whether you're new to the tool or looking to sharpen your skills. It dives into the latest features and techniques, equipping you with the tools to create scalable, maintainable, and production-ready data transformation pipelines.

Unlocking dbt, Second Edition introduces key advancements, including the semantic layer, which allows you to define and manage metrics at scale, and dbt Mesh, empowering organizations to orchestrate decentralized data workflows with confidence. You’ll also explore more advanced testing capabilities, expanded CI/CD and deployment strategies, and enhancements in documentation—such as the newly introduced dbt Catalog.

As in the first edition, you’ll learn how to harness dbt’s power to transform raw data into actionable insights, while incorporating software engineering best practices like code reusability, version control, and automated testing. From configuring projects with the dbt Platform or open source dbt to mastering advanced transformations using SQL and Jinja, this book provides everything you need to tackle real-world challenges effectively.

What You Will Learn

Understand dbt and its role in the modern data stack
Set up projects using both the cloud-hosted dbt Platform and open source project
Connect dbt projects to cloud data warehouses
Build scalable models in SQL and Python
Configure development, testing, and production environments
Capture reusable logic with Jinja macros
Incorporate version control with your data transformation code
Seamlessly connect your projects using dbt Mesh
Build and manage a semantic layer using dbt
Deploy dbt using CI/CD best practices

Who This Book Is For

Current and aspiring data professionals, including architects, developers, analysts, engineers, data scientists, and consultants who are beginning the journey of using dbt as part of their data pipeline’s transformation layer. Readers should have a foundational knowledge of writing basic SQL statements, development best practices, and working with data in an analytical context such as a data warehouse.