What do you do if your team's goals require leveraging your technical expertise as a data engineer?

Check what the context is around the project: > Current implementation within the project: what is currently developed > Data sources: amount of data, type of data, volumes generated per day, etc. > Understand the business requirements: how they align with the objectives, which functional and non-functional requirements were defined, etc. > Documentation: what documentation the business teams give us, what technical documentation data team generate, etc. > How development schedule was defined. These points will help you to evaluate the business needs and what status it is.

🔍 Identify Goals: Understand the overall objectives and priorities of the team, focusing on how your technical expertise can contribute to achieving these goals effectively. 📊 Analyze Requirements: Assess the specific technical requirements and challenges faced by the team, identifying areas where your data engineering skills can provide valuable solutions and improvements. 🤝 Collaborate with Team: Work closely with team members and stakeholders to gather feedback and insights, ensuring alignment between your technical contributions and the needs of the team.

In my opinion, you have to focus on tasks like optimizing data pipelines, ensuring data quality, and designing efficient databases to support the team's objectives. Also collaborate closely with other team members to integrate data solutions into the overall project strategy and ensure that technical aspects align with the team's goals.

Take the lead in analyzing data and developing solutions.In one project where our team needed to optimize a database to handle large volumes of user data efficiently. I utilized my technical skills to identify performance bottlenecks and implemented optimizations that significantly improved system performance. Collaborate closely with team members to align technical solutions with broader project objectives. Communicate effectively to ensure everyone understands the technical aspects of the project and their roles within it. Regularly assess progress and adjust strategies as needed to meet the team's goals effectively.

I collaborate closely with team members to understand project objectives and requirements thoroughly, i utilize my technical skills to design and implement data solutions that align with our goals, employing programming languages, databases, and analytics tools effectively. I actively participate in discussions, offering insights and solutions based on my expertise. Stay updated with the latest advancements in data engineering to continuously enhance our approach and deliver optimal results. By leveraging my technical expertise and fostering teamwork, I help drive the team towards achieving our objectives efficiently and effectively

✅ Group of people is just a mob, but the group having a goal with strategy is a “team”. Every technical individual should be aligned with the team’s goal & strategy will help you do that. Strategy is planning tasks by understanding how each individual’s task is acting in bigger picture, how it’s impacting business, what problem it solves etc. As a technical contributor, we should know business context of collected data, processing requisites, target systems etc. 2️⃣ things I find very crucial: 1. Never assume anything 2. Be agile for requirement changes

During strategy sessions, provide insights on data capabilities and limitations, propose solutions, and take the lead on technical projects. This will help you have a holistic view and use your knowledge to help your teammates the best way you can.

Then, use your expertise to offer insights and suggest technical solutions that align with these goals. Lead the way on technical projects, support your teammates, and keep learning to stay updated. Communicate clearly, both with technical and non-technical team members, and be open to feedback.

It could be helpful to approach the planning of a data strategy with a structured and adaptable mindset. Begin by selecting the right tools and technologies tailored to your project's needs. Design scalable data models and prioritize maintaining high data quality and governance standards. Integration of diverse data sources and planning for the processing of large datasets are crucial. Always design your strategy to be robust yet flexible, ready to adapt to new challenges or changing requirements. This ensures a resilient and efficient data infrastructure.

Keep yourself updated with the latest developments in data engineering and communicate technical concepts effectively to non-technical team members.

Build process which monitor systems and pipelines automatically so you don't have to do it manually. Without monitoring, there is no way to improve. Without constant improving, you will go backwards...

Monitor progress, celebrate successes, and continuously strive to improve and contribute to the team's success. Build process which monitor systems and pipelines automatically so you don't have to do it manually.

Even if you are a "god" of data engineering, there is always something which can be improved. Plan > Build > Review > Identify pain points > go back to start

I will also make sure data quality stays high by keeping an eye on and fixing any issues that come up. Since the tech industry is always changing, I will keep learning to stay competitive. I will also communicate openly to make collaboration easier and help us succeed.

I feel like communication in technical fields is still underappreciated. Communication is main step to understand business needs and team's goals. Without communication there is no "team" whatsoever.

Whe leveraging technical expertise for the team's goals as a data engineer, other considerations come also into play ... Cross-functional collaboration: work closely with other teams, such as data scientists, analysts and business stakeholders (marketing, sales, etc.) , to understand their needs and ensure alignment with overall goals. Knowledge sharing: Document your technical solutions and share knowledge within the team and stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and ensure continuity as personnel changes. Business Impact: Evaluate the potential business impact of your technical solutions and communicate the value they bring to stakeholders, focusing on delivering tangible outcomes and ROI.