I had a great question asked of me the other day and thought I would turn the answer into a blog post. The question is “I’m an experienced DBA in SQL Server/SQL DB, and my company is looking to build their first data warehouse using Microsoft Fabric. What are the best resources to learn how to do your first data warehouse project?”. So, below are my favorite books, videos, blogs, and learning modules to help answer that question:
?? Foundational Books (Start Here)
I highly recommend starting with the classics from Ralph Kimball. Though they predate modern cloud platforms, their core concepts remain essential (I talk about all his books here).
| Book | Main Focus | Primary Audience | When to Use It | Modern Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1?? The Data Warehouse Toolkit | Dimensional modeling—designing fact/dimension tables and schemas. | Data architects, data modelers | Early design phase—defining the logical data model. | Still foundational; all modern warehouses (Fabric, Snowflake, Redshift) use dimensional modeling concepts. |
| 2?? The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit | End-to-end methodology—scoping, planning, modeling, ETL, deployment. | BI/DW project leads, architects, PMs | Before/during the first implementation—as a roadmap. | Conceptually useful, but technical examples are on-premises. Use for governance and methodology. |
| 3?? The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit | Data pipelines—extraction, transformation, loading, metadata, quality. | ETL/ELT developers, data engineers | During implementation—when building the pipelines. | Still highly relevant—logic applies to Fabric Dataflows, Data Factory, Synapse pipelines. |
They also sell all three books as a bundle on Amazon. I used these same books when I was a DBA building my first warehouse.
Shameless plug: My own book is a continuation of what has transpired since the Kimball era. Order here.
Shameless plug: My own book is a continuation of what has transpired since the Kimball era. Order ?? Learning Modern Architectures
Kimball’s books don’t cover data lakes or lakehouses (they weren’t around yet), so I recommend the following:
- Building Medallion Architectures – A great book that introduces the medallion pattern (bronze/silver/gold layers) for lakehouse design.
- Learning paths on Fabric if using it to build your data warehouse:
- Implement a data warehouse with Microsoft Fabric – A guided Microsoft Learn path.
- Get started with Microsoft Fabric – Helpful if Fabric is brand new to you – you may first want to start with the overview modules.
- Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse End-to-End Tutorial – A practical walkthrough.
- Books on Fabric if using it to build your data warehouse:
- Fundamentals of Microsoft Fabric: Designing End-to-End Analytics Solutions
- Learn Microsoft Fabric: A Practical Guide to Performing Data Analytics in the Era of AI
?? YouTube Videos to Check Out
My own videos:
- Deciphering Data Architectures: Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, Data Mesh
- Data Architectures and Microsoft Fabric
- Microsoft Fabric: Lakehouse vs Warehouse
Other recommended videos:
- Creating Your First Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric (by Guy in a Cube – they have many great Fabric videos)
- Data Warehouse vs Data Lake vs Data Lakehouse
- What’s the Best Big Data Architecture for You?
?? Blogs to Follow
- James Serra’s Blog (another shamless plug)
- Navigating Modern Data Architecture: DW, Lakehouse, and Lakebase Explained
- Bill Inmon
- Ralph Kimball
- Piethein Strengholt
?? Workshops Worth Taking
My own workshops:
- Deciphering Data Architectures (via eLearningCurve)
Others I recommend:
- DAB0126: Data Architecture Bootcamp: Practical Exercises in Architecture Design – Dataversity (Jan 20-22, 2026)
- Data Warehousing 101 – EWSolutions
- Data Architecture Essentials: Building a Data Foundation for Enterprise Analytics – TDWI
Final Thoughts
Final ThoughtsIf you’re a DBA transitioning into data architecture, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Lean on the enduring frameworks from Kimball, combine them with modern cloud-based architecture strategies, and pace yourself through trusted books, tutorials, and workshops.
Have go-to resources that helped you build your first data warehouse? Share them with me in the comments below or via my email jamesserra3@gmail.com—I’m always on the lookout for great new content.
The post Starting Your First Data Warehouse: A Practical Learning Guide first appeared on James Serra's Blog.