How to hire a good Data Engineer?

Disclaimer: I learned this for being the Head of Data for 3 months in Poplar Homes. Yes, this is the only company that trusted me to hire people to form a Data Team. Thanks Poplar Homes!

Picking up from my previous post, I would like to share my top 3 skills I look for in hiring Data Engineers.

1. SQL – or Sequel as how to pronounce it, means Structured Query Language. It’s been a defacto standard in accessing & transforming data from a Database. I never thought that it would last this long. I’m still making a living from this query language since I learned the basics from college. But I got to learn it from experience & training on my 2nd job in Trend Micro. So learn SQL first you future Data Engineers!
2. Dimensional Modeling – This concept is not actually new either. I learned about this also when I started working in Trend Micro as a Business Intelligence Developer way back 2009. Yes, it’s actually it’s 3rd Generation since the beginning of my career. And surprisingly (with all the buzzword like Data Warehousing is Dead), Dimensional Modeling is getting its way back to the mainstream Modern Data Stack again. It’s a good sign that what Sir Kimbal did is really ahead of his time.
3. Entrepreneurial Mindset – Well this was not being taught during my college days. But this area is probably the most overlooked / underrated skills in Data Engineering. Why is that? Because to be a good Data Engineer, you must also know the Ins and Outs of the business. To be able to produce valuable insights that key decision makers can / will use. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your dashboard or report is if it’s not being used by the people in the company to make well informed (critical) business decisions.

I’m so sorry! I’m really sleepy as I’m typing this blog post so if you happen to see errors, please feel free to reach out to me via my social network accounts below. Bye!