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Senior AWS engineer Victor Moreno recounts his path from academic failure to tech leadership, emphasizing that true engineering value lies in understanding systems and driving decisions, not just coding quantity. He explores how AI makes foundational CS knowledge more crucial, reshapes junior engineer roles towards a product mindset, and impacts interview processes by shifting focus from coding fluency to domain modeling. Victor also offers practical advice for career growth in the evolving tech landscape.
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Yordan Ivanov , Head of Data Engineering at a growing fintech company, to talk through what it actually looks like to build and run real data platforms in production. Yordan’s story starts like many of mine, early programming, gaming, PHP, Linux servers—but what makes this conversation interesting is how he evolved from a generalist software engineer into a data engineering leader without even realizing it at first. We spen...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Jacob Matson , Developer Advocate at MotherDuck , to unpack one of the most interesting shifts happening in data engineering right now. Jacob didn’t start in tech the way most people expect. He began in accounting, working with Excel and financial systems, before slowly realizing that the real problem he loved solving wasn’t finance, it was data pipelines. That path eventually led him deep into SQL Server, data warehousing,...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Ben Rogojan to talk about the real story behind data engineering careers, Big Tech, and what’s changing right now. Ben shares how he went from working in kitchens… to data engineering… to Facebook… and eventually walking away from it all to build his own consulting business. And yeah, it wasn’t all glamorous. “I was making the same money as Facebook… and I hated my life.” We get into the stuff most people don’t talk about: ...
Most companies don’t have a tooling problem. They have a foundation problem. In this episode, I sit down with Matthew Housley , a famed co-author of Data Engineering Fundamentals and former CTO of Ternary Data, to talk about what actually makes data teams successful and why so many organizations get it wrong despite having modern stacks, cloud platforms, and expensive dashboards. * Matthew’s path is a little different than most. He started in academia as a mathematics instructor before moving in...
AI isn’t just changing how we write code. It’s changing what it even means to build software. In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Neil Roberts — a developer who’s been through every major wave of the web, from BASIC on an Atari to modern TypeScript, and now deep into LLMs and agentic workflows. This is not another surface-level “AI will change everything” conversation. We get into what is actually happening right now, where it works, where it completely break...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Andreas Kretz to break down what is really happening in the industry right now. We go far beyond surface-level AI hype and talk about how data engineering actually works in the real world, what skills still matter, and where most engineers are wasting time. Andreas shares his full journey from industrial IoT and working at Bosch to building one of the largest data engineering education platforms in the world, training over ...
Most data teams think they’re building value. In reality, they’ve become ticket queues. In this episode, Chris Gambill explains his storied career in tech and data through the years, dealing with data at Fortune 500 company scale, and breaking out on his own. We cover career growth, what separates senior engineers from true strategic operators, and the biggest mistakes people make early on. We discuss the classic problems that have plagued data teams for decades and why it’s all still a struggle...
In this episode, Robert Pack walks through his journey from engineering and simulation work to building large-scale data systems across 900+ plants at BASF. We break down what those systems actually looked like, including ingestion, modeling, and the realities of batch vs real-time in industrial environments. We also dive into: * AI Workflows for Developers * His work as a committer on Delta Lake * Where lakehouse architecture works and where it falls short * The transition into Developer Relati...
In this episode of Data Engineering Central, I sit down with Kevin , who spent 13 years working at Apple before walking away at the end of 2025. * Not to jump to another job. * Not to start a company. * But to take a step back from everything. Kevin shares his full journey—from growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta to building a career at Apple, and ultimately reaching the point where he could walk away financially and mentally. You can follow along with Kevin below. We dive deep into what it’s r...
In this episode of Data Engineering Central , I sit down with the founder of DataFlint , Daniel Aronovich , to talk about the realities of working with Apache Spark, distributed data systems, and the future of data engineering . We start with his early journey into tech—how he first discovered large-scale data systems and the lessons he learned from working with real-world Spark workloads. * The conversation then turns toward the future of data engineering , particularly the growing role of AI i...
In this episode, I sit down with Matt Martin , Staff Engineer, data architect, ETL practitioner, and author of a new book on DuckDB coming soon, to talk about the past, present, and future of data engineering . Matt has spent decades building and architecting data platforms across technologies such as SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Hadoop, Redshift, and BigQuery , and now focuses on modern tools such as DuckDB and single-node analytics . We discuss how the data industry has evolved, what actually make...
In this episode of Data Engineering Central, I sit down with a veteran Software Engineer John Crickett ; with decades of experience in the industry to unpack what really matters in building a long and successful engineering career. We talk about how he first got into software, the early jobs and tools that shaped his thinking, and the massive technology shifts he’s witnessed across decades of engineering—from early stacks and tools to today’s AI-assisted workflows. * We also dive into the differ...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast , I sit down with Yuki ( Yuki Kakegawa ) to talk about his journey into tech, the tools and platforms he’s worked with, and where he thinks data engineering and AI are headed next. We cover: • How Yuki got into tech • Early career lessons and pivots • Tools and technologies he’s worked with over the years • How data engineering has evolved • The impact of AI on software development • What engineers should focus on right now • Advice for tho...
In this episode of Data Engineering Central, I sit down with Bart Konieczny — data engineer, distributed systems expert, and well-known author in the Data and Spark ecosystem — for a deep technical conversation about modern data engineering. We cover: * How Bart got into tech and distributed systems * His journey through different engineering roles * Spark internals and why they still matter * The realities of lakehouse architecture * Streaming vs batch systems * AI’s impact on data engineering ...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast , I sit down with Maxine Meurer , DevOps engineer, author, and educator behind I Love DevOps , for a wide-ranging conversation about careers, infrastructure, automation, and what it actually means to build systems that last. This isn’t a buzzword-heavy DevOps chat. It’s a grounded, honest discussion between two engineers about how people really get into tech , how careers evolve over time, and why modern infrastructure is as much about syst...
In this episode, I sit down with industry veteran Robin Moffatt — Sr. Principal Advisor in Streaming Data Technologies (Kafka, etc.) and a longtime voice in the data engineering community, to unpack the journey from old-school data architectures to today’s real-time streaming ecosystems . From early mainframe data processing and COBOL through the rise of Apache Kafka, streaming ETL, and event-driven systems , Robin shares lived experience from across decades of building, scaling, and evolving da...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast , I sit down with R. Tyler Croy for a wide-ranging conversation on the present—and future—of modern data platforms. Tyler is a long-time open-source contributor to projects such as delta-rs. You can watch him on YouTube , read his blog , or work directly with him through his consultancy, Buoyant Data . Tyler has spent years deep in the open-source data ecosystem, contributing to projects such as Delta Lake and thinking critically about how ...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast , I sit down with Hoyt Emerson , founder of The Full Data Stack and Early Signal , for a wide-ranging conversation on data, analytics, and creating content in the tech world. We talk candidly about: * What actually matters in modern data and analytics * Why so much “data content” misses the mark * The difference between noise and real signal * What works (and doesn’t) when building a technical audience * Writing, consistency, and credibilit...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast , I sit down with Andy Leonard — someone who’s been building systems long before “data engineering” was even a job title. Andy’s career didn’t start in software at all. It started with physical circuits, literally wiring systems as an electrician, before moving into programming, databases, and eventually decades of hands-on data engineering work. This conversation isn’t about trends or hype cycles. It’s about how the fundamentals of data wo...
In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I interview a Data OG, someone who’s been around the data space forever, and we talked about all things data, past, present, and future. I’m joined by Thomas Horton a longtime friend and one of the most well-rounded data professionals I know. Over the course of his career, Tom has worn just about every hat in data: developer, DBA, analyst, and everything in between. He’s lived through the era of on-prem databases, the rise of analytics, an...
In this episode, I sit down with Scott Haines — O’Reilly author, Databricks MVP, and veteran of Yahoo, Nike, and Twilio — for a wide-ranging conversation on the real state of modern data engineering. We dig into open-source ecosystems, Lakehouse architectures, the evolution of Spark, streaming, what’s broken and what’s working in today’s data tooling, and the lessons Scott has learned scaling platforms at some of the biggest companies in the world. If you care about data engineering, architectur...
Hello! A new episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast is dropping today. We will be covering a few hot topics! * Cluster Fatigue * The Death of Open Source Going to be a great show, come along for the ride! Thanks for reading Data Engineering Central! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dataengineeringcentral.substack.com/subscribe...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dataengineeringcentral.substack.com Hello! A new episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast is dropping today, we will be covering a few hot topics! * Apache Iceberg Catalogs * new Boring Catalog * new full Iceberg support from Databricks/Unity Catalog * Databricks SQL Scripting * DuckDB coming to a Lake House near you * Lakebase from Databricks Going to be a great show, come along for the ride! Thanks …...
Hello, my fair-weathered friends and readers! I am gone on vacation this week with my family, probably at this moment lying in the sand on a beach ( Lord willing the creek don’t rise ), not thinking of you all. Anywho, be that as it may, I didn’t want you to miss my pretty face, so here is a video of me ranting about Apache Iceberg, something I’ve had a lot of practice doing and enjoy quite thoroughly. For all you free-loaders out there, you can get 20% off to celebrate Memorial Day. https://dat...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dataengineeringcentral.substack.com It’s time for another episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast. In this episode, we cover … * Rust-based tool called UV to replace pip and poetry etc * Apache X-Table and the Future of the Lake House * How is AI going to affect you? Thanks for being a consumer of Data Engineering Central; your support means a lot. Please share this podcast with your friend…...
It’s time for another episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast. In this episode, we cover … * AWS Lambda + DuckDB and Delta Lake (Polars, Daft, etc). * IAC - Long Live Terraform. * Databricks Data Quality with DQX. * Unity Catalog releases for DuckDB and Polars * Bespoke vs Managed Data Platforms * Delta Lake vs. Iceberg and UinFORM for a single table. Thanks for b… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dataen...
In todays episode of Data Engineering Central Podcast we talk about a few hot topics, AWS S3 Tables, Databricks raising money, are Data Contracts Dead, and the Lake House Storage Format battle! It's a good one, buckle up! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dataengineeringcentral.substack.com/subscribe...
It’s time for another episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast. In this episode we cover … * Apache Airflow vs Databricks Workflows * End-of-Year Engineering Planning for 2025 * 10 Billion Row Challenge with DuckDB vs Daft vs Polars * Raw Data Ingestion. As usual, the full episode is available to paid subscribers, and a shortened version to you free loaders out there, don’t worry, I still love you though. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or ge...
It’s time for another episode of Data Engineering Central Podcast, our third one! Topics in this episode … * Should you use DuckDB or Polars? * Small Engineering Changes (PR Reviews) * Daft vs Spark on Databricks with Unity Catalog (Delta Lake) * Primary and Foreign keys in the Lake House Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dataengineeringcentral.substack.com/subscribe...
