ZachOverflow

Why Do My Data Engineering Requests Take Forever?

How data engineers can set realistic development expectations and respond to impatient stakeholders.

ZachOverflow is a recurring column in which I attempt to answer one frequently asked data science question thoroughly and honestly. No oversaturated topics. No listicles. No clickbait. Just my (mostly) unfiltered responses based on professional experience, technical exposure and, yes, the occasional unsubstantiated opinion.

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Journalism school teaches you to do one thing really well: Scramble at the last minute. The practice is so widely adapted that deadlines are often set at the dead end of the day and assignments are often what is known as “day turns”, meaning you’re expected to begin and submit work within the same day. A certain kind of individual thrives in these conditions. Even if you’re the last minute type (as I definitely am), you would find yourself missing deadlines due to factors out of your control: Interviews falling through, equipment malfunctioning and any other range of personnel failures.

Had you just been submitting work to a supervisor, little mistakes could be forgiven or go unnoticed. However, a reporter’s ultimate stakeholder is the reading, listening or viewing audience. And, especially at the…