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Field notes from the systems frontier

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Notes from the systems frontier

PySpark internals, orchestration, cloud costs, and the lessons learned building reliable data pipelines at scale.

// the blog by the numbers

3 articles
5k words
8 topics
4 cheatsheets
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I build robust data pipelines, optimize cloud infrastructure, and specialize in transforming raw data into reliable analytics. This site serves as my digital garden—a place to document field notes, architecture blueprints, and the hard-learned lessons of data engineering.

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new deep dive · 20 min read · 4041 words

GC Pressure in Spark: How to Find It, Read It, and Actually Fix It

GC pressure is the most misdiagnosed failure in Spark, and the one most often ‘fixed’ by adding heap, which usually makes it worse. Here is where to look in the UI and the logs, how to tell it apart from data skew, and the levers that actually move the number.

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Pick the format that matches the moment: scan the commands, review the architecture patterns, or choose the right tool for the pipeline.

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Oct 11, 2026

Welcome to the Field Notes

A short tour of what this site is, the problems I write about, and how to get the most out of the cheatsheets.

2 min read Site Notes
Oct 11, 2026

The Real Math Behind PySpark Resource Sizing

Most Spark tuning guides teach it backwards. Here’s the data-first approach that production engineers actually use, with visual flows and …

7 min read System Design

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GC Pressure in Spark: How to Find It, Read It, and Actually Fix It

Oct 12, 2026 · New Article

Welcome to the Field Notes

Oct 11, 2026 · New Article

The Real Math Behind PySpark Resource Sizing

Oct 11, 2026 · New Article

The Ultimate SQL Cheatsheet

Oct 11, 2026 · Cheatsheet Updated

Apache Airflow

Oct 11, 2026 · Cheatsheet Updated

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