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Episode 265:

From Anxiety to Advantage: Navigating Data’s AI Revolution with Barry McCardel of Hex

October 8, 2025

This week on The Data Stack Show, Barry McCardel, CEO and Co-Founder of Hex, joins Eric Dodds and John Wessel to discuss the transformative impact of AI on data teams and the broader data industry. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping workflows, team structures, and the very definition of data roles, while also addressing the anxieties and opportunities that come with rapid change. Barry shares Hex’s journey from having a dedicated AI team to fully integrating AI across the product, and offers insights on industry consolidation, the infinite demand for data insights, and the importance of embracing change. Key takeaways include the need for data professionals to adapt and focus on problem-solving, the growing value of context and curation, the competitive advantage for organizations that leverage AI-driven tools and foster a culture of innovation, and so much more.

Notes:

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

  • Alexander’s Background and Early Career at IBM (1:06)
  • Moving From Mainframes to Virtualization at VMware (4:09)
  • Transitioning to AWS and Machine Learning Projects (8:22)
  • What Was Missed From Mainframes and the Rise of Public Cloud (9:03)
  • Security, Performance, and Economics in Cloud Infrastructure (12:40)
  • The Five Pillars of Successful Machine Learning Projects (15:02)
  • Choosing the Right ML Project: Data, Impact, and Existing Solutions (18:01)
  • Real-World AI and ML Use Cases Across Industries (19:42)
  • Building Specialized AI Clouds Versus Hyperscalers (22:08)
  • Performance, Scalability, and Reliability in AI Infrastructure (25:18)
  • Data Center Energy Consumption and Power Challenges (28:41)
  • Cooling, Networking, and Supporting Systems in AI Data Centers (30:06)
  • Infrastructure as Code and Tooling in AI (31:50)
  • Lowering Complexity for AI Developers and the Role of Abstraction (34:08)
  • Startup Opportunities in the AI Stack (38:53)
  • When to Fine-Tune or Post-Train Foundation Models (43:41)
  • Comparing and Testing Models With Tool Use (47:49)
  • Skills and Advice for Entering the AI Field (49:18)
  • Final Thoughts and Encouragement for AI Newcomers (52:31)

 

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, customer data infrastructure that enables you to deliver real-time customer event data everywhere it’s needed to power smarter decisions and better customer experiences. Each week, we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

About the Podcast

Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

To keep up to date with our future episodes, subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or the player of your choice.

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