BigQuery to Databricks: A Strategic Framework

This Databricks guide outlines a BigQuery-to-Databricks migration framework across three pillars—Process, Technology, and People—covering estate assessment with the open-source Lakebridge profiler, BI-first or ETL-first entry points, wave-based migration, and dual operation via Lakehouse Federation. It describes moving data into open formats on Google Cloud Storage, migrating SQL logic through rule-based transpilation, LLM-assisted conversion, and engineers, plus three-level validation, and maps BigQuery governance into Unity Catalog. The People pillar covers shared Notebooks, Genie for natural-language code generation, and Databricks Academy training, closing with field lessons such as profiling before planning and defining parity criteria before dual-run starts.