Top data engineering writer on Medium & Senior Data Engineer in media; I use my skills as a former journalist to demystify data science/programming concepts so beginners to professionals can target, land and excel in data-driven roles.
[ETR #31] Master An Underappreciated DE Skill
Extract. Transform. Read.A newsletter from Pipeline. *Today's edition was initially published on Medium on 12/10/24 Hi past, present or future data professional! I’ve recently been honing a data engineering skill that might not occur to you—drawing. When I first started my data engineering job 3+ years ago, any description or information related to my code would be in written form. This meant everything from README documentation to illegible legal pad scribbles would be all I had to inform decisions about design and implementation. Lately, however, my tasks have grown in both complexity and volume. What I need to convey to myself and my team won't fit on one sheet of paper. And if it did, it wouldn’t make a bit of sense. So I’ve turned to diagramming tools. I use tools like Microsoft Visio and Draw IO to create clear depictions of pipelines. This makes it easy to:
And, finally, the act of creating an architecture (arch) diagram subtly communicates something: That significant thought went into what you want to propose or present. Anyone can scribble in a shared doc or reference a notebook of ideas. Taking the time to spend time compiling a visualization demonstrates intent and care. This translates to you communicating your investment in making sure your build is possible and functional. Otherwise, it’s back to the (literal) drawing board. Feel free to scribble down this week’s links.
Questions? zach@pipelinetode.com Thanks for ingesting, -Zach Quinn |
Pipeline To DE
Top data engineering writer on Medium & Senior Data Engineer in media; I use my skills as a former journalist to demystify data science/programming concepts so beginners to professionals can target, land and excel in data-driven roles.
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from Pipeline Hi past, present or future data professional! For years, a start-up cliche was being the “Uber” of (product, service, etc.). Now, it seems like any content platform wants to be the “Tik Tok” of a given subject area. Case in point for the latter: A fun app I came across called, fittingly, “Gittok.”* Like Tik Tok, Gittok feeds users an endless stream of distraction but instead of dance challenges it serves up a random GitHub repository, like...
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from Pipeline For a STEM discipline, there is a lot of abstraction in data engineering, evident in everything from temporary SQL views to complex, multi-task AirFlow DAGs. Though perhaps most abstract of all is the concept of containerization, which is the process of running an application in a clean, standalone environment–which is the simplest definition I can provide. Since neither of us has all day, I won’t get too into the weeds on containerization,...
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from Pipeline Hi past, present or future data professional! From 2014-2017 I lived in Phoenix, Arizona and enjoyed the state’s best resident privilege: No daylight saving time. If you’re unaware (and if you're in the other 49 US states, you’re really unaware), March 9th was daylight saving, when we spring forward an hour. If you think this messes up your microwave and oven clocks, just wait until you check on your data pipelines. Even though data teams...