Extract. Transform. Read.A newsletter from Pipeline Hi past, present or future data professional! For data engineering, a profession built on principles of automation, it can be counterintuitive to suggest that any optimizations or “shortcuts” could be negative. But, as someone who was once a “baby engineer”, I can tell you that a combination of temptation and overconfidence will inevitably drive you to say “I could do without x development step.” Doing so increases reputational risk (loss of credibility or trust) and, in a worst-case scenario, could even put your job at risk. If you’re job searching or beginning your first role, there are 6 areas where I’d never even attempt to take “the easy route.”
For an expansion on any of these areas, you can read the piece this was based on, “These 6 Data Engineering Shortcuts Will Burn You In Year 1” published in Pipeline earlier this week. Thanks for ingesting, -Zach Quinn |
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...