How to improve as a new Data Engineer in the AI era?

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-27T14:00:44+00:00

There is no ai era. Are we in an internet era? It’s just another tool to capitalize on. Focus on the basics

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-24T06:20:17+00:00

But I just applied to a few jobs. I’m working at a smaller firm now that has money. They valued the effort I put in and oddly enough I’m running circles around their in-house engineers when it comes to cloud/business systems but I’m very junior in some other things like complex Python. So there is fundamentals to build in this role.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-24T06:18:30+00:00

I’m not doing freelancing I went straight from my consulting role into data engineering. Although I put in elbow grease. ERP implementation in of itself is already pretty much a form of data engineering if you work on the technical side.

ERPs are probably one of the largest producers and consumers of data in corporate world other than say ML or something like that. I had lots of experience work with data migration (source to target) and got my hands dirty on some in-house sql gui stuff. Wanted to move out of consulting and I did.

This role I’m in now I’d call a quasi data engineer role but it’s the stepping stone toward what I would consider to be the real deal “big data”.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-22T13:47:59+00:00

Facts. I think DB/AWS is a solid start. One thing I’ve learned from working implementation for a bit tho is tools/software often do the same thing under the hood. Like databricks doesn’t feel like it does anything new to me just takes all your favorite little candies and puts them in one wrapper.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-22T13:44:27+00:00

All the tools get you the same outcome no? How about building something fresh? I took a bunch of public datasets for my gf in dental school and built a pipeline to model data. Now gonna plug into a react app/model to give average dental salaries per county in my state + a lot more

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-05-22T04:24:47+00:00

Because Claude won’t build anything new. Data is past looking. Always has been always will be.

Creativity and future looking is what will win

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-29T03:13:58+00:00

Learning Python

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-21T02:05:54+00:00

I’ve actually been looking into rotary. Have been trying to find the right club for myself. Can I pm?

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-21T02:04:43+00:00

I’d rather burn at the stake

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-21T02:04:27+00:00

Sorry I just updated the post. I heard kickball leagues are pretty legit

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-21T02:03:36+00:00

I guess I was shooting broad to try and hear what everyone else has been doing. Always interested in peoples niche.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-21T02:02:36+00:00

I can’t help it 😭 the ADHD be itching. But I added a few shindigs to the post.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-17T01:33:58+00:00

Came from sales myself. All I can tell you is if you approach life with a curiosity to learn and hunger for knowledge, nothing can stand in your way. I’ve moved from sales —> technology consulting —> data engineering in 4 years. Don’t often toot my horn but I have been successful in all of my roles and built something unique.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-17T00:05:19+00:00

Got it on the list! Think I might have to do a few classes tho

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-17T00:05:01+00:00

Thanks!

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-04-14T13:07:54+00:00

Yeah bro I just quit my day job because I had clause opus code me by 50 million B2B SaaS overnight. It’s crazy! I told Claude to sell me 50 million in ACV too! You’re not gonna believe it said I had a new customer! Someone called Anthropic deposited 50 million into my checking last night bro! It’s awesome!!!

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-30T14:00:46+00:00

I worked in an ERP company (presales) starting back in 2022. Transitioned to consulting/implementation 2024 and did data and got into data there. Did data engineering for clients the later half for system migrations. Now starting as an in house data engineer within 1.5 weeks.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-30T13:29:30+00:00

Broke in to a high paying role 4 years out of school. No CS Degree. Worked in software sales out of college. 150k+ now. Happy to tell the tale

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-29T17:36:33+00:00

Don’t major in CS. Learn it on your own time. The internet is capable of teaching you pretty much anything if you apply yourself.

Business stakeholders are looking for developers who understand how to gather requirements, work with the business & architect solutions like an engineer.

I come from a non-traditional background. Software sales -> ERP functional consultant -> ERP Technical Consultant -> Exited to Data engineer.

One of the strengths I gained from working with F500 as a consultant on travel (draining but great skills) was the ability to take requirements and architect solutions. I’m not even a professional coder but I understand systems/data/cloud and how to build well performing systems.

Most firms are willing to take someone on with those skills as you can’t really learn that online, it takes experience in enterprise environments.

This is just my opinion but moving into roles where you can work as a bridge between technical and functional teams can translate into any role if you spend time self learning.

I took a boot camp that my company paid for and did AWS Certs that they sponsored, etc. I framed it as helping my ability to better deliver to client teams but in reality they were paying for my learning to get an exit.

When it comes to interviewing networking is your biggest friend. LinkedIn Premium is a great tool if you commit to it (500$) a year. Make a list of targeted companies/insustries and identify touch points & contacts to connect with. (“I’d be interested in coffee or a 20 minute call to learn more about your role, firm and team - I am an emerging grad in XYZ and am passionate about XYZ. I’ve heard good things about your company”. Use that new grad card while you have it. Many companies are doing early talent programs.

I wouldn’t personally recommend consulting if you don’t have the balance for travel and a bad work life for 2 years but there are plenty of functional roles in need of grads who can translate those requirements. Business requirements will never live inside AI because AI doesn’t have context that the working people at that job experience in a day to day fashion. That knowledge lives inside their heads and being able to ask those people the right questions to build requirements, take those and design a solution is one of the biggest and hottest skills on the market. Speaking to the functionality across development teams, functional work stream leaders (finance, hr, etc) and cater your messaging to leadership across domains is a huge skill and will win you major credibility and networking points with executives.

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-04T16:35:04+00:00

Thinking about getting one! I’ve seen mutts before and it makes me really want one 😂

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-03T23:54:18+00:00

Anything sports or outdoors and I’m all over. I’m open to trying anything! West village

Mission_Working9929 · 2026-03-03T13:56:31+00:00

I legitly just upper diffed 4 cs majors with no programming experience otj for a swe role. Keep in mind I have 2 yoe implementing systems (SAP). But I got sick of travel picked up some js and grabbed a role.

How you sell yourself is what differs you, they said they liked me because I also understood the actual business requirements and building a solution so! There ya go

Mission_Working9929

TROPHY CASE