The Latest From Pipeline: Your Data Engineering ResourceHi past, present or future data professional! I hope you’ll indulge my sharing of an important career milestone; unfortunately, I’m not retiring with a gold Rolex snug on my wrist. Instead, this week marks 3 years in data engineering. I’m excited about this work-iversary because it marks a period of time in which I’ve been working in data engineering longer than my prior non-data job. If you’ve read my work you know I’ve taken an unconventional path to break into data engineering and to advance to a senior role. Ideating, writing and publishing code, projects and stories has been central to my success in standing out as a candidate with nearly zero pre-job experience. Additionally, here are 3 lessons that have helped me break in, gain proficiency and advance in a competitive and complex role.
To understand how I learned and put these lessons into practice, read the latest here. And if you want to know one of the most surprising lessons I’ve learned in 3 years, read this. Until next time–thanks for ingesting, -Zach Quinn |
Reaching 20k+ readers on Medium and nearly 3k learners by email, I draw on my 4 years of experience as a Senior Data Engineer to demystify data science, cloud and programming concepts while sharing job hunt strategies so you can land and excel in data-driven roles. Subscribe for 500 words of actionable advice every Thursday.
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from PipelineToDE Hi past, present or future data professional! I want to share the single most important realization I had back in the summer of 2021. I was burned out, juggling two part-time jobs, trying to plan a wedding, and drowning in full-time job applications. I felt overwhelmed and underprepared as I plunged into a sea of candidates I perceived to be more intelligent and better "fits" than me. My portfolio was full of the usual Titanic, Iris,...
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from PipelineToDE Hi past, present or future data professional! One of the most validating and terrifying professional moments is reaching the final interview round. It is in this context that you meet candidacy’s final boss, who incidentally, usually ends up being your boss' boss. Specifically I’m referring to the department executive responsible for bringing in additional headcount, i.e. you. While this may sound intimidating, the role of the executive...
Extract. Transform. Read. A newsletter from PipelineToDE Hi past, present or future data professional! If you’re a job seeker in the data space, your GitHub portfolio has only one job: To act as a calling card that gets you to the next step of the hiring process. Too often, I review portfolios for potential referrals and see brilliant code buried under structural mistakes that have nothing to do with programming skill. Your GitHub is not just cloud storage for your code; it’s a public display...