Understand these BigQuery SQL nuances to create table schemas that result in less errors and less headaches. — Schema Design: The Worst Part of Data Engineering Let’s get this out of the way. Schema design is my least favorite part of my data engineering job. It is also, arguably, one of the most important parts of the pipeline building process. Without conceiving and then generating a schema that presents data in your desired format and at…

You’ve written enough queries; it’s time to move to production. — At Some Point You Stop Querying Data And Do This Instead Despite being a 40-year-old method for communicating with databases, the debate surrounding SQL’s status as a programming language persists. However, regardless of your stance on whether SQL is a programming language or not, as you advance in learning SQL, you will inevitably move from writing simple (then complex) queries to…

From the guy who talked about porn stars in a job interview. — You Should Never Set Out To Be This Type Of Controversial Data Science Candidate Let’s get something out of the way: Controversial != edgy. If you’ve stumbled upon my humble publication, it’s most likely through my story about how I presented a dashboard on porn stars in a data analyst job interview. 3 Data Science Projects That Got Me 12 Interviews. And 1 That Got Me in Trouble. 3 work samples that got my foot in the door, and 1 that almost got me tossed out.medium.com

Map fields in your SQL tables without using CASE. — You’re Using The Wrong Logic In Your SQL CASE Statements CASE statements, while useful, are one of the most overused SQL commands. At a certain point, if your script is dominated with CASE statements that means you’re hard coding instead of finding a dynamic way to generate your output, like using a lookup table (a concept we’ll discuss below). For…

Why you don’t always need a unique dataset to produce a unique project. — Why Your Data Science Projects Are Getting Old If I asked you, a fellow data science professional, to rattle off overused datasets your list could begin and end with one word: Titanic. Honorable mentions for overused datasets go to Iris (stock ML dataset used for classification in Python) and mtcars (an out-of-the-box dataset in R).

Face shields, layoffs and reservations for the pool. — From 2020 to 2021 I worked in the resorts division of Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida. I was among the roughly 60% of the hourly workforce deemed “essential” and, therefore, dodged layoffs that impacted over 30,000 people. I’m Going To (Pandemic-Era) Disney World “Hey Zach! Thank you for coming to work!” This statement, coming from that…

SQL coder: You’re not learning programming. Or are you? — For a language that’s been around over 40 years, I find it surprising that the second-most debated SQL topic is how to pronounce what most people call ‘sequel.’ If you disagree, I’m afraid that’s a debate for another time. But arguably the most-debated topic surrounding SQL is whether or not…

How data engineers can more accurately trace the impact of your data, your work and your team within your organization. — The 1 Data Point We Don’t Have For data engineering, a discipline whose product is precise and tangible, it’s surprisingly difficult to gauge your work’s impact. It shouldn’t be that surprising that data engineering’s output often flies under the organizational radar, especially since few even know exactly what a data engineer does.

Never write another schema, save on storage costs and more. — One of my first significant projects at work was using BigQuery metadata to automate the auditing and deletion of SQL tables, which ultimately resulted in five-figure annual savings for my employer. After months of digging through table schemas, activity logs and other metrics, I’ve gained significant experience querying and understanding…