Introducing the Astronomer Champions Program for Apache Airflow
At Astronomer, we believe in the power of community and the collective strength of passionate individuals who champion Apache Airflow. The strength and scale of the Airflow Community took years to build and is the result of both the project maintainers who do so much to keep pushing the boundaries of what Airflow can do, as well as the practitioners who use it every day in their organizations. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Astronomer Champions Program for Apache Airflow, a global initiative designed to recognize and empower outstanding data practitioners who are dedicated advocates of this powerful open-source orchestration tool.
Overview of the Program
The Champions Program is a comprehensive initiative aimed at elevating the knowledge, influence, and leadership of its committed members within the Apache Airflow community. This program is not just about recognizing expertise but fostering a group of individuals who actively contribute to the growth and success of the Apache Airflow Community.
The strength and vibrancy of the project comes from community members who generously invest their time committing to it. However, not all users are able to contribute code back directly. This program is designed for those community members who may be unable to contribute to the codebase but are eager to support the community in other meaningful ways. They champion Airflow within their own organizations, organize Meetups, jump in on forums, speak at events, publish content, and more. We believe these commendable efforts deserve wider acknowledgment, and this program is dedicated to precisely that purpose.
Pilot Phase Unveiled
We are excited to introduce the Pilot Phase of our Champions Program, where we recognize outstanding data practitioners worldwide who have demonstrated excellence in leveraging the full capabilities of Apache Airflow in diverse capacities.
Our Inaugural Cohort of 10 was hand-selected based on the extra mile they go daily within the Airflow Community— whether that be answering questions on the forum, hosting a meetup in their city, or a number of other efforts.
Cohorts 1, 2, and 3 will all be members of the Pilot Phase of this project, and will be instrumental in helping us refine the program, and make it a success for years to come. If you are interested in being involved in the Pilot Phase of our Champions Program, please apply here.
Meet Our Inaugural Champions
We are delighted to announce the initial cohort of Champions, a group of exceptional individuals from around the globe:
Aman’s Airflow Journey:
Aman has been leveraging Apache Airflow for more than four years in his role as a Data Engineer at Sigmoid, Flipkart, and QuillBot. During this time, he has successfully implemented complex data pipelines and workflows, demonstrating the robustness and flexibility of Airflow.
His expertise includes writing complex ETL pipelines, setting up alerts, monitoring and writing custom hooks and operators, and integrating Airflow with various data systems.
Bhavani's Airflow Journey:
From being a user to becoming a contributor and advocate, Bhavani has evolved in her Airflow journey over the last three years. She actively consults data teams, builds resilient pipelines, and contributes to the Airflow community through blog posts and tech conferences.
Ryan's Airflow Journey:
Leading the Data Platform team at Ramp, Ryan is a seasoned Staff Software Engineer with a seven-year Airflow journey. Passionate about solving business problems with data, he not only utilizes Airflow but has also spearheaded the development of Ramp's Airflow platform.
Ross's Airflow Journey:
Ross works as a data engineer at Facet and started using Airflow there in 2022. Facet uses Airflow to orchestrate most of its ETL processes, with a goal to make it 100%. Ross has improved the scheduling logic and reliability of DAGs and taken advantage of Airflow features like TaskFlow, XComs, and dynamic DAG generation to make DAGs simpler and more extensible.
Victor's Airflow Journey:
Victor Iwuoha, a seasoned Data Engineer, embarked on his remarkable Airflow journey in 2021 while spearheading the establishment of a robust data platform for a multinational corporation spanning over 100 locations. Although the initial choice was SSIS, Victor swiftly recognized the unparalleled potential of Apache Airflow, seamlessly blending Python and SQL to streamline data workflows.
His passion for knowledge-sharing has led him to impart Airflow wisdom to over 500 data professionals in Africa through various events and content creation, with aspirations to contribute to the Airflow codebase and foster a thriving Airflow community within the African data engineering landscape.
Kyle's Airflow Journey:
After being exposed to Airflow at a previous startup, Kyle brought it to his next one when he was brought in to launch a Data Engineering practice. He replaced a legacy system cobbled together with Haskell, Spark, crontab and bash. He replaced all that with an elegant Python-based set of Airflow pipelines that now process over a dozen different data sources in production and at-scale.
Aakash’s Airflow Journey:
Aakash Balyan is part of the Digital Intelligence (DI) team at Airtel. As a Senior DevOps Engineer, he has been using, hosting, and managing Airflow for the Data Engineers and Other Dev Teams at Airtel. As per Aakash, Airflow has helped Airtel leaps and bounds in automating Data Workflows, Batch Jobs, Shell Scripts in Different execution environments across Data Lakes.
Evan’s Airflow Journey:
Evan is a cloud data architect and Airflow enthusiast focusing on helping organizations and data engineers make the most of their cloud-based data platforms. When Evan was first introduced to Airflow back in 2018, he was immediately attracted to its easy-to-use SDK and its robust set of capabilities.
Pooja’s Airflow Journey:
With a profound passion for data engineering, Pooja has amassed extensive expertise in Apache Airflow, showcasing a journey marked by innovation and precision. Her role involves not just designing but meticulously implementing intricate workflows, contributing to the seamless operation of data pipelines.
Pooja's commitment to excellence in navigating the nuances of Apache Airflow reflects not only her technical acumen but also her dedication to advancing the capabilities of this powerful orchestration tool.
Chris's Airflow Journey:
Chris currently works as the Director of Data Engineering at Linqto but previously was a Senior Data Engineer at Astronomer; he assisted companies in orchestrating data workflows with Apache Airflow.
Passionate about open-source initiatives, he led many customers to successfully adopt Apache Airlfow as an Airflow Subject Matter Expert, actively contributing to customer onboarding and product adoption. Chris initiated an open-source project for dbt core orchestration within Airflow called Astronomer Cosmos.
What It Means to Be an Airflow Champion
Impact Airflow Strategy
Champions play a vital role in shaping Airflow’s future by providing insights from the community to the Airflow team, influencing new features, products, and the roadmap.
Never Stop Learning
Champions enjoy beta access to certifications and training, constantly upleveling their Airflow skills to share with the broader community.
Share Your Knowledge
Through blog posts, speaking events, videos, or podcasts, Champions actively advance the Airflow mission by sharing their expertise with the larger community.
Benefits of Being a Champion
Exclusive Access and Recognition
Champions receive direct access to Airflow builders through a dedicated Slack channel, complimentary tickets, and speaking opportunities at the Airflow Summit, as well as webinars on new features and tutorials.
Pro Development and Education
Champions enjoy free Airflow Fundamentals or DAG Authoring Certifications, along with beta access to new Academy Courses.
Rewards and Support
Champions receive promotion of their personal brand through content creation, financial support for conferences with advocacy opportunities, and exclusive swag.
How to Become a Champion
We’re actively seeking fervent supporters within the Apache Airflow community to become part of our pioneering Champions Program. As a member, you’ll enjoy a range of exclusive benefits, including comped certifications, exclusive access to Airflow developers, beta access to new features, academy courses, and certifications…and of course, swag!
We invite data practitioners with a passion for Airflow to apply by sharing your community contributions.
