Hi fellow data professional! For the past month I’ve been working on my most ambitious personal project: Purchasing and renovating a house. The first major upgrade? Replacing 70+-year-old windows. And while there’s probably a tech work comparison to gutting a legacy system to build anew, what I want to focus on is the deal I brokered and how you can use similar leverage in your interviews. Because I got $1200 off a house’s worth of windows as a result of market research, due diligence and a...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional! Big news from my home base of Orlando: Disney hired a new CEO with a pay package of nearly $40 million. If you read beyond the headline you’ll see that his base salary is “only” 2.5 million with the possibility of up to a 250% target incentive and some $26-ish million in stock options. This is why you, the job seeker, need to think beyond base salary and look at TC. Total compensation. Thanks to labor transparency laws passed in hiring hubs like New York and...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Hi fellow data professional! Once, during a virtual interview, I had to nod politely as my interviewer apologized for coughing after their cigarette. Oh, and to make this situation even more cringe—they were driving. Some industries design stressful interview processes to psychologically test a candidate’s poise under pressure. Luckily (for the most part) the software engineering field is not included in this basket of high-stress tests. Sure, we are subjected to moderate stress in the form...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
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...
about 1 month 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...
about 1 month 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...
about 2 months 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 2 months 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,...
2 months 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...
2 months ago • 1 min read