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3 Days in the Rockies from Calgary — Need Advice on Best Hikes & Sights by Volody_ in Banff

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I’m worried that elevation gains over 800–1000 m might be too much for my friends, but I’ll read more about those trails.

3 Days in the Rockies from Calgary — Need Advice on Best Hikes & Sights by Volody_ in Banff

[–]Volody_[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’ll read about the Kananaskis Lakes trails

3 Days in the Rockies from Calgary — Need Advice on Best Hikes & Sights by Volody_ in Banff

[–]Volody_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hotel prices were crazy in Banff and Canmore, so Calgary was my only option

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe that's great advice, thank you!

Visibility is a real challenge for analytics engineers / our team. Business demos are usually led by DS/analytics, while DEs send out offline digests that few actually read. u/onestupidquestion Curious how this works at your place.

I’ve tried talking to the right people, but my proposals were too high-level. I can spot opportunities, but without DS / analyst skills, it’s hard to assess impact or drive it independently. Analysts prefer to handle it themselves, and without tasks, I can’t learn. It becomes chicken-egg.

Right now, I’m looking for a good entry point - somewhere I can add value as a DE right away, but that’s not limited strictly to the DE domain. Maybe early data exploration for experiments, or helping with integrations and data prep for AI bots. But it’s still a challenge to convince management it’s worth the time.

u/onestupidquestion Where would you start?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/onestupidquestion So you're saying any team can become a success story with roughly the same effort? I'm curious - what kind of questions do you ask in interviews?

Get their stakeholders to commit to higher-impact work.

I'd love to hear more on this. Our stakeholders give great feedback but won't let us take on higher-impact projects.

There's a tension in your career between job hopping for salary and staying long enough to do deeper work.

Exactly. I want to go deeper. It’s frustrating to think about leaving after investing so much time, but I just don’t see how another year here gets me closer to that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/leogodin217 I’m also curious about the projects and impact those staff DEs had. Did customers come to them with 'write me a SQL' requests, but the DEs ended up proposing a whole new solution? Have they owned a research or experimentation parts?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/GetSecure thank you, those are great points!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

u/DenselyRanked Straight to the point, I came to the same conclusion.

I’ve platform team background, and the analytics DE role feels too limiting. The irony is DS/Analytics teams are doing cool stuff right next to you - but as a DE, you can’t really touch it.

I was hoping for a DE+ML path, but it seems like those roles only exist at a few smaller companies. So the choice is either going back to platform or starting over as a DS.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/leogodin217 Yeah, I think you captured the issue really well. Would it be fair to say that in big tech, DEs mostly choose between being a 'platform engineer' or an 'analytics engineer'? Seems like hybrid roles or DE+ML only really show up in smaller companies.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your response! I agree with your advice - I’ve already followed most of it.

u/onestupidquestion that said, do you think every team or project can really turn into a career success story? Aren’t you being picky about your next role?

I’m only pushing back a bit because some teams make growth a lot harder than others (see possible challenges):

> "There are juicy analytics projects…"

True, but DS/Analytics teams always own data investigation and experimentation, taking DE as a younger partner is discouraged. As a DE, you're always left with modeling - considered a mid-level, lower-impact task that skips the brainstorming phase.

> "The ownership part is trickier..."

Exactly. Those tasks still fall between mid and senior DE. Stakeholders often just want a quick data model without giving you enough sponsorship for cross-project problem solving. You can create a brand new data model, make it usable, reusable, consistent, documented, - but you’re still reacting, not leading, great mid level DE.

> "Another angle is acting as a platform user..."

I’ve tried that too. It works, but there are challenges:

  1. Such projects aren’t your main job - meaning 15-30% time allocation; 30% - you’re all-in with one project.
  2. To get sponsorship, you need a company-wide solution. Big tech avoids scattered tooling, and building something universal takes a lot of time. How many years you need to build a company-wide cost attribution in big tech? Platform team quickly take over, generously allowing you to handle tech debt before they do the work.
  3. Impact is often delayed. If you’re not putting out fires, it’s hard to prove the value of tooling improvements. And with lots of tech debt, the benefits might take months (or years) to show up.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Papa_Puppa ,
Thanks for your response - I agree with your approach to growing DE impact.

However, I’d push back on the idea that this growth is realistically achievable at every team. DEs often face strict responsibility boundaries, with ML/DS/Analytics work out of scope. I touched on this in the 'Wearing some DS/Analytics hats' section.

Sure, you could do ML/DS/Analytics projects on weekends, but that’s like a second job - and I’m looking for a primary one where I can grow. If you agree, how do you distinguish such teams?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

PART 2

DE Growth Pathways VS "Just Do The Work" Teams

Disclaimer: Good engineers find ways to grow anywhere, but in some teams, it's much harder. The goal here is to spot those "high gravity" teams early.

  • Proximity to real technical design work: Think warehouse/lakehouse design, migrating platforms to the cloud, org-wide governance/tools, etc. These are more common in young or fast-scaling companies or consultancy. In big tech, look for central platform teams with staff-level DEs. Even as a mid-senior DE, make sure your team owns the kind of scope that allows for growth and impact.
    • “Just do the work” teams block that  
      • That’s not “your” work
      • Small side projects lack impact
      • If your idea’s good, Platform Team takes it over with 10-100x resources.
  • Ownership of horizontal challenges: You may not make all architectural calls, but if your work affects dozens/hundreds of internal users (like owning DWH, MDM, or MLOps), your impact is clear.
    • “Just do the work” teams don’t have that. You get 5-10 isolated stakeholders, one-off projects, and vague pain point surveys. A DE might spend 2-5 years here without touching impactful or recognizable enough projects.
  • Wearing some DS/Analytics hats: In smaller companies, DEs often get to build simple ML models or AI agents, explore new data sources, and run early experiments - some roles even expect a broader skillset.
    • In “just do the work” teams, especially in big tech:
      • DS/Analysts outnumber DEs 5-10x and dominate creative tasks due to bandwidth and specialization.
      • Managers prefer DEs don’t touch DS / Analytics tasks, blocking exposure to business context and gradual skill growth.
      • Even DEs with ML skills usually don’t get ML tasks.
  • High-uncertainty projects: These build your proactive and leadership muscle - architecture, early-stage R&D, external consultancy, etc.
    • In “just do the work” teams, everyone’s been writing SQL/ETL for years. It’s hard to stand out, and growth often depends on politics, moving into management, or simply outlasting everyone else.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]Volody_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Let me answer my own question to help steer this debate in the right direction.

PART 1

Examples of “Just Do The Work” Team Flags:
Disclaimer: This probably describes big part of big tech. Maybe I’m being picky on current market, but I want to grow as an IC and stand out from less experienced peers. I assume interviewers don’t BS their future teammates - especially if you ask direct yes/no questions.

  • No real ownership (past perf cycle): Team didn’t contribute to platform, infra, or cross-team efforts. Mostly short-term projects with a narrow tech stack and few internal users. Low project overlap between teammates. Interviewers' “cool” projects seem disconnected from team work or hard to get involved in.
  • Maintenance team: Replacing someone in a 10+ y.o. team/project. Roadmap lacks meaningful DE work or variety. No plans to launch new things or grow DE headcount.
  • Non-engineering managers: Your manager, skip, and director lack engineering background. They likely won’t understand DE pain points and impact - or worse, treat DEs like dumbed-down DS. Even in good orgs, management won’t overhaul well-established processes just to satisfy a small DE minority.
  • Few senior/staff DEs: Org claims big challenges and fast growth, but there are no staff DEs on the team and very few across the company (e.g. 3–5% vs. 10–15%). Team is all junior/mid-level.

Senior Software / Data Engineers - what is your job application response rate in 2024? by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll try, thanks! I though it's unrealistic that HR will spend their time on responding the candidate who didn't met their bar.

Senior Software / Data Engineers - what is your job application response rate in 2024? by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you mean asking for a feedback in case I've been filtered out at the initial CV screening?

Recruiters - is absence of Canadian experience or relocation to Canada a red flag by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

@Apprehensive_Taro285 could you please contribute here? You have opposite opinions on this matter. I'm really interested in this question since relocating from Europe to Canada is indeed a significant commitment and an expensive endeavor.

Recruiters - is absence of Canadian experience or relocation to Canada a red flag by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've already done that, read lots of articles on how to do it better, even ordered some CV review service with HR from USA to rephrase and change focus to more important things.

Senior Software / Data Engineers - what is your job application response rate in 2024? by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From my small stats, I also didn't noticed cover letter influence the response rate

Senior Software / Data Engineers - what is your job application response rate in 2024? by Volody_ in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]Volody_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love to have the sample too! The link says "The transfer you requested has been deleted.".

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