I was selected as a finalist for the Snowflake Community Awards, so I looked back on my communication activities up until now #Snowflake #SnowflakeCommunity #CommunityAwards
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This is Kawabata.
I am honored to announce that I have been selected as a finalist in the "RISING COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR" category (APJ region) of the Snowflake Community Awards. This is all thanks to everyone who has been reading my articles. I am truly grateful.
I have also been overwhelmed by the many words of encouragement I have received since being selected as a finalist.
I will continue to do my best to share information for all of you who are supporting me.
In this article, I will look back on my content creation activities so far and introduce the mindset that forms the foundation for continuing to share information, aimed at those who want to start sharing content in the future.
What are the Snowflake Community Awards
This is an award that recognizes individuals and organizations who contribute to the Snowflake community.
"RISING COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR" is a category that honors emerging contributors who made a meaningful impact during their first year of activity in the Snowflake community.
Community voting for finalists is currently underway.
Voting instructions are summarized in the "Request for Votes" section at the end of the article.
Activities I Have Been Involved In
Since joining Classmethod in July 2025, I have continued sharing content centered on Snowflake and the Modern Data Stack space.
- Blog writing: 113 articles on DevelopersIO (as of August 19, 2026). Mainly focused on Snowflake new feature verification, data governance, and dbt integration
- Sharing on X and LinkedIn: Announcing article publications and sharing new feature information
- Webinar presentations: Presenting at internal webinars on topics such as the basic usage and utilization of data infrastructure products including Snowflake
- Technical support: Supporting customers in building and utilizing data infrastructure through presales and implementation assistance
The story of how I reached 100 blog posts in my first year is recapped in the following article.
Looking Back on Snowflake Articles
I will look back on the articles I have published so far, organized by theme. I hope this will be helpful for those who are just starting out and are looking for topic ideas.
New Feature Verification
These are articles where I quickly test features that have become Public Preview or GA, and organize the steps, notes, and limitations.
I am mindful of checking actual behavior that is difficult to grasp from official documentation alone, and then sharing that information.
Data Governance and Policy Verification
This covers verification of data governance-related features such as aggregation policies, projection policies, and masking policies.
Recently, I have also been working on topics that combine AI and governance, such as access control during AI agent usage via IS_AGENT_ACTIVATED.
Integration with dbt and Surrounding Services
These are verification articles on configurations that combine Snowflake with dbt, Fivetran, Azure Data Factory, and more, rather than Snowflake alone.
I am mindful of covering themes that are close to real-world data infrastructure construction and operation.
Monthly New Feature Summaries and Event Reports
These are monthly summaries of Snowflake's new features and changes, as well as event reports from events like Snowflake Summit.
The monthly summary is an ongoing series that also serves as my own way of keeping up with information. Each month, team members collaborate to write it.
I also plan to write an event report for the upcoming Snowflake World Tour Tokyo 2026. Please look forward to it.
Mindset I Value in My Content Sharing Activities
Here I will introduce two key ideas that form the foundation for continuing to share content.
Three-Way Satisfaction: Customers, Community, and Myself
"Three-way satisfaction" (Sanpo-yoshi) is a phrase well known for succinctly expressing the business philosophy cultivated by Omi merchants.
The concept of "good for the seller, good for the buyer, good for society" is something I reframe in my case as "good for the customer, good for the community, good for myself."
(Source: Higashiomi City Omi Merchant Museum)
In my first-year retrospective article, I touched on my customer-focused writing policy. Here I will dig one step deeper.
The starting point is putting full effort into the work right in front of me.
My main work involves presales and technical support, which, in abstract terms, is "solving what customers want to do and the challenges they face."
When I think daily about customers' challenges, I naturally become more attuned to things.
I start to notice things like:
"Could this new feature solve this challenge?"
"If we combined it with this product, it seems like we could achieve what they want."
Some of that verification content is published as blog posts.
I progress while keeping the SQL and execution results from my verification, and use that directly as the skeleton of the article.
Customer challenges are often common among other users as well, and I feel that my articles are indirectly serving the community.
Also, my own technical skills improve through the process of creating output.
When I try to explain steps and constraints in an article, I cannot leave anything vague, and the act of writing itself raises the resolution of my verification.
By positioning content sharing not as an activity separate from my main job, but as part of my work — understanding customer challenges, verifying solutions, and improving the quality of the next support engagement — I am able to continue sharing information consistently.
In this way, I believe that being able to connect the starting point of solving customer challenges to both contributing knowledge back to the community and improving my own technical skills is the foundation that sustains my continued information sharing.
The Appeal of Snowflake Is Best Conveyed Through Comparison
I believe that if you only work with Snowflake, you have no basis for comparison, and it becomes truly difficult to convey what makes it great.
It is precisely because I also work with and compare other products like Databricks and dbt that I can specifically say "it's good because of ○○."
What I am aiming for is not simply introducing new features, but delivering evaluation criteria for practical use through verification.
What users are looking for is a means to achieve what they want to do, and Snowflake is just one of those options.
While keeping this perspective in mind, I will continue to broaden my own range of expertise and share information that conveys the appeal of Snowflake.
Request for Votes
Community voting is currently being held from Saturday, August 15, 2026 to Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
If the articles I have published have been even a little helpful to you, I would be very grateful if you could show your support by voting.
The winner is scheduled to be announced at Expedition 2026, to be held in November 2026.
Voting Instructions
Voting is accepted through the Google Form at the URL below.
- Open the voting form and enter your email address
- Proceed to the "(4 of 6) RISING COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR" section
- Select "Tomohiro Kawabata | Classmethod, Japan" in the APJ slot
- Proceed to the final page and submit the form
【Voting URL】
In Closing
Once again, thank you so much for always reading my articles.
I will continue to share technical information about Snowflake and other technologies in a form that is easy to apply in practice.
I hope this article will be of some use to you!
