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The Guerrilla Guide to Data Engineering Interviews

The Scenario That Changes Everything Picture this: You’re sitting in an interview room—or more likely these days, staring at a Zoom window with your carefully curated bookshelf background—and the interviewer asks you about data quality. “Tell me about your experience with data quality,” they say. You have two choices. Choice A: “Data quality is really important in data engineering. It involves ensuring data is accurate, complete, consistent, and timely. I believe strongly in implementing data quality checks throughout the pipeline.”

Sunday, January 11, 2026 Read
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The Science of Conversation for people who hate small talk

One morning, I watched a data engineer struggle with using AI for thirty minutes, trying to debug a DBT job. The problem wasn’t the LLM’s capabilities—it was how the engineer framed the question. No context about what they’d already tried. No explanation of the expected versus actual output. Just “fix this code” followed by a massive code dump. This same engineer had similar struggles with stakeholders. Presentations that assumed too much context. Emails that buried the ask. Meetings where they answered questions nobody asked.

Sunday, January 4, 2026 Read
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From Senior to Staff: Navigating the Data Engineering Leadership Path

Introduction: The Critical Inflection Point The transition from Senior to Staff Engineer represents a pivotal moment in any technical career path. It’s the point where your impact extends beyond your code and transforms into something much more profound – true technical leadership. While this shift can feel daunting, it also opens doors to some of the most rewarding work of your career. The beautiful thing about the engineering career ladder is that it uniquely allows for advancement without stepping away from the technical work that many of us love.

Sunday, March 2, 2025 Read
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Mastering Data Interviews: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction After nearly two decades in the data engineering field, I’ve sat on both sides of the interview table countless times. Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to change roles or a newcomer trying to break into the field, the interview process for data engineering positions can be both challenging and mysterious. There’s often uncertainty about what questions you’ll face, what skills you need to demonstrate, and what interviewers are really looking for beneath the surface.

Saturday, February 22, 2025 Read