lafs01e01

content/post/lafs01e01.md

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+---
+draft: false
+title: 'Learning Apache Flink S01E01: Where Do I Start?'
+date: "2023-09-29T12:57:04Z"
+image: "/images/2023/09/h_IMG_5288.webp"
+thumbnail: "/images/2023/09/t_IMG_5443.webp"
+credit: "https://twitter.com/rmoff/"
+categories:
+- Apache Flink
+- LAF
+---
+
+Like a fortunate child on Christmas Day, I've got a brand new toy! A brand new—to me—open-source technology to unwrap, learn, and perhaps even aspire to master elements of within. 
+
+I [joined Decodable](/2023/09/21/an-itch-that-just-has-to-be-scratched-or-why-am-i-joining-decodable) two weeks ago, and since [Decodable](https://decodable.co/) is built on top of [Apache Flink](https://flink.apache.org) it seems like a great time to learn it. After six years learning Apache Kafka and hearing about this "Flink" thing but—for better or worse—never investigating it, I now have the perfect opportunity to do so. 
+
+<!--more-->
+
+![An image of a squirrel at a laptop looking at a map, preparing to navigate the wonderful world of Apache Flink](/images/2023/09/20230929134244.webp)
+
+Just like the aforementioned kid with a new toy, what else would I do except run around (figuratively) with wild excitement, clicking on all the Apache Flink links and demos and tutorials and presentations and videos that I could find! And then I realised I should take somewhat of a more measured approach to my learning, and started to map out the different areas. 
+
+![A mindmap of the areas of Apache Flink about which I want to learn](/images/2023/09/learningflink.webp)
+
+Breaking this out into sub-topics gives me nice little nuggets to start exploring (and blogging about, of course!). These include: 
+
+* What _is_ Flink (high level)
+	* Uses & Users
+	* How do you run Flink
+	* Who can use Flink?
+		* Java nerds only, or ~~normal~~ non-Java folk too? 😜
+	* Resources
+* Flink Architecture, Concepts, and Components
+* Learn some Flink!
+* Where does Flink sit in relation to other software in this space? 
+	* A mental map for me, not a holy war of streaming projects
+
+Some of these are going to be fairly self-contained (what _is_ Flink) whilst others (learning Flink) are going to be a multi-year journey :)