Hi fellow data professional! On a recent holiday, a family member and I were strolling along a beach, talking about AI disruption (relaxing, I know). He, an attorney, assured me his job was AI-proof and jokingly offered to hire me when AI takes my data engineering job. If you ask executives at most companies, they’d find several flaws in that argument. Over 80% of technical executives, including Chief Data Officers and Chief AI Officers, consider data engineering to be an essential role...
16 days ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional! Ken Jee, who you heard from last week, drops some sobering career advice in one of the earliest editions of AI Survival Guide: Making a senior-level tech role is no longer about advancement; it’s about survival. The post talks about the growing moat or "wall" between those breaking into the industry, those in entry-level roles and those in a mid-career phase. In the spirit of AI Survival Guide’s advice to bridge the gap separating the early and mid-career...
23 days ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional!' Today I’m turning the newsletter over to my friend Ken Jee (writer of AI Survival Guide, creator of Newsletter Hero) to share how he cuts through the noise of shiny AI products to find tools that enhance technical work. My Simple Framework For Adopting AI Tools Ken Jee As new AI tools launch almost daily, a quiet tax is emerging. Decision fatigue. Every new model, agent, or workflow tool carries the same implicit question. Should I switch, or should I go deeper...
30 days ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional! Quick question: How much could I pay you to switch your job? Conventional wisdom in the tech industry in the last handful of years is that the way to supercharge growth and max out your career earnings is to frequently change jobs. On average, job switchers could and should target an increase of 15-20% of their current salary. But in a rocky economy (at least here in the U.S.), career experts are urging would-be switchers to consider the benefits of a stable role...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional and Happy New Year! In the second half of 2025, I made a radical choice: I (largely) stopped blogging. Over the past year, Medium (where I host my content) made a series of changes that de-prioritizes technical content, leading to the departure of several major publications, including Toward Data Science. Pair that platform disillusionment with a bit of burnout, and the result is a feeling that it’s time for a change. For 75+ weeks, I’ve preferred concise,...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Since an email is probably one of the least exciting things to open on Christmas morning, I'll keep this brief. As a thank you for subscribing and reading the newsletter this year, I'd like to offer a gift: My FREE guide to web scraping in Python. Centered around 3 "real world" projects, the guide highlights the importance of being able to retrieve, interpret and ingest unstructured data. Get your guide here. Have a restful...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi fellow data professional! Once thought to be a purely back office role, data engineering is undergoing a radical transformation and gaining a new responsibility: Front-end deployment. The folks already deploying applications in this capacity are known, incidentally, as forward deployed software engineers or forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Before you worry about needing to learn JavaScript or other web programming paradigms, know that I’m referring to the preparation, deployment and...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi past, present or future data professional! As time in 2025 dwindles, I wanted to share what I learned about optimizing design, development and troubleshooting time while working 3 days per week this fall. Quick background: If you’ve been a long-time reader, you’ll know that in March my wife and I had our first child. Consequently, through my employer, I was eligible for several months of parental leave. Anticipating my wife’s return to work (after much needed time off!) I allocated the...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi past, present or future data professional! As the winter holidays approach, we’re entering a period of downtime for most orgs. Assuming your employer has hit goals (or accepted losses), allocated coverage for the slew of inevitable vacation requests and maybe even entered a “code freeze”, you’re entering data & tech’s slow season. If you’re working, during this time you may be asked to do any number of “downtime” (actual free time, not data outages) tasks ranging from code refactors to...
2 months ago • 1 min read