Data Modeling and Schema Evolution

Designing a model that survives contact with change: star and snowflake schemas and when normalising costs more than it saves, DynamoDB single-table design driven by access patterns, the open table formats (Iceberg, Hudi, Delta Lake) and what they actually buy, and evolving a schema without breaking every reader downstream.

Content current as of 2026-10.

Lessons

  1. Dimensional modeling for the warehouse
  2. Modeling for DynamoDB
  3. Iceberg, Hudi, and Delta Lake
  4. Evolving a schema safely
  5. Slowly changing dimensions

Sources