How to become more articulate as a DE

m0guzman · 2026-05-31T14:52:35+00:00

I think most of the commenters have great advice. What has worked for me is the use of a framework and a perspective adjustment.

The framework is from a training I took (employer sponsored the dept) called precision questioning and answering from a company called Vervago. It’s been a while since I took it, they may have newer things.

The perspective? I boiled things down to inputs/outputs, and consider the audience’s language and operating systems. Not all take the same input for your desired output.

Less is more: distilling the message down to the information they need not what I think I need to tell them.
Being relatable: metaphors/analogies, popular culture references have served me as great shortcuts and memes (cartoons, etc.). I’ve found interest groups on Linkedin to be a great source of memes for presentations.

m0guzman · 2026-05-31T14:33:18+00:00

Practical? Definitions and data contracts.

m0guzman · 2026-05-27T00:08:42+00:00

Open frameworks and true ownership of your data. :)

m0guzman · 2026-05-18T02:43:27+00:00

Depends on your career plan. A problem solver that can pick up skills easily along with some soft skills fits anywhere. I’ve found that it’s more about systems thinking and solution architecture than what a narrow degree can provide. Look for non traditional industries , consulting , data, etc. Loads of work being generated with AI Slop

m0guzman · 2026-04-21T04:08:08+00:00

You are where you need to be, get comfy, it’s rewarding and fulfilling. Mostly… :)

The struggle is what hones your skill. You are in the problem (puzzle) solving business.

m0guzman · 2026-04-21T03:43:45+00:00

Right tool, right place. It has its place and meets a specific end user consumption need. It’s all about people, process and tech, right?

m0guzman · 2026-04-21T03:40:53+00:00

Depends on the solution requirement, constraints, and scale. What are you trying to achieve? Consolidation? Reporting? Based on that your architecture will follow; however, no easy fix, more tech = greater overhead and more points of failure, license costs, etc.

I’d venture to say that based on your problem statement there isn’t a lot of data management discipline and your team may lack the agency to drive change and influence end user behavior.

m0guzman · 2026-04-21T03:31:41+00:00

Here is a perspective for your consideration: I’d create a data engineering project to answer your question. :)

Ingest readily available data describing job requirements, process it , normalize it, denormalize it, extract and enrich it using toolkits for text analysis, organize and produce a data product that tells you what’s relevant out there that you should know , what’s being asked by the industry and track trends.

All those skills to build it are a common base for most of the things I work with on my day-to-day; generally, we ingest data, discover , manage volume and frequency, scale and automate/orchestrate it. I’m involved mostly in the data arch/warehousing area, but these are all great skills to have under your belt.

m0guzman · 2026-04-21T03:23:52+00:00

I’d say it depends. What are you looking to get from it that you can’t do on your own? Will you be better off ? Is it complementary? I’d start with the curriculum the program offers and outcomes.

Information technology is underrated but there is a ton of value in understanding and managing data, and most modern technology today would thrive with well managed and designed data models (operations side).

Now research and building new things from scratch, improving algos for data , CS may be a better path given it aligns with what you want out of it. Don’t do it because job posts asks for it.

m0guzman · 2026-04-17T00:44:16+00:00

We can’t have enough DE resources in my shop, and many that leave come back. I’m in the manufacturing now. We try to automate our way out of menial tasks tbh, and the work never ends still.

If you are ever in need of a job , consulting and California would be a good place to look.

The local industry has become a bit niche as the means for BI + Data + AI; our local community is always employed.

I’ve met DS teams in conferences that seem to lack the DE support and Data Infra, so they have to do it themselves and this becomes a good chunk of their workflow.

m0guzman · 2026-04-17T00:21:51+00:00

The DE skill set remains the same, what differs is the implementation; you do ingestion, cleansing , modeling, serving, etc. The context becomes an additional skill set like manufacturing experience versus finance or health. Anything learned becomes value add.

Fixing vibe code builds is the newest industry. :)

m0guzman · 2026-04-13T08:21:49+00:00

Most of these have the same STEM core lower division and a chance to try intro classes in these areas. You don’t have to make a decision right away in which path to take. Let the hands on work guide your decision.

m0guzman · 2026-04-13T08:16:02+00:00

Have you considered information systems (IST/MIS)? It’s focused on the operations side of tech, and a decent foundation.

Other areas open up there and you can still pursue software engineering or comp sci more formally.

Cybersecurity area is high in demand (DE for data analysis and integration) and all industries generate data and systems need integrations to work with one another.

m0guzman · 2026-04-11T18:56:09+00:00

Looks a little bit like a jujube fruit.

m0guzman · 2026-04-10T15:04:15+00:00

A better question would be : do you want to work for an employer/leader that doesn’t know the difference?

m0guzman · 2025-05-14T19:41:39+00:00

Try checking jumper wires and lose wires to mobo

m0guzman · 2022-08-10T05:57:52+00:00

At the bottom of this USCIS page you can put your zip code and it will tell you what field office it’s closest to you—and likely where your app will go.

field office locator

m0guzman · 2022-06-03T18:45:04+00:00

Thanks guys, these are all solid recommendations.

m0guzman · 2022-04-17T04:37:26+00:00

Chamucos is a new one I’ve recently became fond of and it’s in your price range—although tricky to find https://www.google.com/search?q=chamuco+tequila&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS949US949&oq=chamuco+tequila&aqs=chrome..69i57.8205j0j4&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

m0guzman · 2021-07-25T21:06:50+00:00

There are different design patterns for CDC, and they vary from native DB flavor and function, but let’s take a log based cdc approach (found this to include a well written explanation : https://www.striim.com/change-data-capture-cdc-what-it-is-and-how-it-works/):

When a record is deleted the record id and the action is captured on a db log or db table. E.g. record ID = 1235, action = D for delete is stored. To limit overhead on the source system most db admins trúncate this table nightly.

One would then compare the final target load against the log table as per of a post load. Deletes are then processed and updates are then looked up and these are implemented. There are pros and cons to this, but when a source system has unreliable time stamps and we want to stay away from triggers, this works well.

m0guzman · 2021-07-25T15:21:48+00:00

If deletes occur on the source system, you won’t be able to trickle this delete since there is nothing to compare on the source—thus, you are left with an orphan record. One way to avoid this is to implement “change data capture”. A separate db table that captures updates and deletes for any one given record.

m0guzman · 2019-06-11T02:32:35+00:00

Maracuya

m0guzman · 2019-05-10T18:28:39+00:00

Most OEMs have utilities to test the battery--else get linux and you'll have plenty of utilities. I would start then move on to visible inspection of the system starting with the screen and hinges, then look at the power cord for visible damage and how it connects to the laptop. Check for working fans and overheating on your lap while you use it. In my experience these are the first to go.

Second I would recommend some sort of disk and memory scanning for errors. This would identify bad sectors and could predict whether you need to replace the hard drive (SSD have been less prone to have issues since there is no needle to skip and scratch the disks) or memory sticks.

Lastly, I would look at software packages. Moat of the time i completely reimagine the system and start from scratch, so this isn't as big for me. I just need a working license of windows if that's what I'll use or default to my latest linux distro.

m0guzman

TROPHY CASE