How to turn data into gold – and what I want to share with you – Thijs Cobben

How to forge gold from data and what I would like to share with you

I see an incredible amount of hidden data value in organizations and in society. Far more than I could ever unlock on my own. That’s why, in the coming years, I want to help as many other data professionals as possible bring that hidden value to the surface.

That is my Why. Helping data professionals turn hidden data value into real, capitalizable assets — gold.

That realization is also why I started calling myself a Data Alchemist years ago. Because it is a magical, partly misunderstood process: the transformation of symbolic sequences into tangible value. And it’s what we as data professionals do every single day.

But when does data truly become gold?

The DIKW Pyramid — Where Alchemy Happens

Russell Ackoff gave us the DIKW pyramid in 1989: Data → Information → Knowledge → Wisdom. Modern versions add Impact on top. And it is exactly there, at the top, that the real alchemy takes place.

The DIKW pyramid rising from the deep — Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Impact at the top — The DIKW pyramid: from raw data at the base, through information and knowledge, to wisdom and impact at the top — where the real alchemy happens.

Living the Pyramid Through History

Now that I’ve been developing the History of Data course for the past few months — partly from my sailboat in France — as a pilot for datacademy.thijscobben.nl, I have come to truly understand this pyramid again. Not just as a theoretical model, but as a powerful tool to interpret historical developments and breakthroughs in data processing, and to understand the impact they made on human history.

While researching historical patterns, I see how raw facts slowly transform into something much more valuable. This process requires more than just knowledge. It requires distance, perspective, and time.

It starts with trivia: how the Romans kept their census, how Herman Hollerith — using punch cards — reduced the 1890 US Census from eight years to six and incidentally founded IBM, how the biggest leaps in data management have been at the front of the major revolutions in productivity and efficiency gain that drove our collective history to where we are now, at the brink of the “Age of AI”.

Those facts become information when you organize them. Information becomes knowledge when you connect the dots. But wisdom — real alchemy — cannot be forced. It arises when you step back. When you see patterns across centuries. When you notice inconsistencies, rearrange them, and place old stories in a new light.

It took me nearly forty years of building databases, a lifelong fascination with history, and plenty of life experience, walks, sailing trips, and silence for this to happen.

What I Want to Share

That is what I now want to share.

I will continue to take on interesting and challenging freelance assignments as a data architect in the coming years. I find that combination truly valuable. At the same time, at 54, with my children becoming more independent, I feel a strong drive to do more with everything I’ve built. Not instead of the hands-on work, but alongside it.

I want to bundle my experience, patterns, insights, and (especially) the expensive lessons from thirty years in the field and pass them on. As a knowledge partner. As a sparring partner. As someone who helps others see faster and deeper than the next tool or architecture alone.

For analysts, product owners, service managers, architects, and everyone who works in a data-intensive way and is curious about the deeper, almost philosophical layer of our profession. About how data has shaped the history of humanity — and how we are shaping it now.

Will You Join Me?

That’s why, in 2026, I am launching thijscobben.nl alongside datacademy.thijscobben.nl. A place where I bring together technology radars, historical insights, practical lessons, and courses. With a sailboat as my second workspace, because some things simply become clearer when surrounded by water.

I’m not looking for followers, but for conversation partners. People who want to think along, give feedback on the first courses, and discover together what really matters in our field. Let me know what you think below. Or sign up for the first updates. Who knows what we can build together in the next years — alongside all the great projects we each do individually.

— Thijs Cobben