How Data Engineers Can Google Better (Yeah, Seriously)

How new data engineers can leverage search engines to get precise answers to develop better and troubleshoot faster.

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My snarky answer for “what do you need to know to be a data engineer?” is one word: Google.* I don’t mean Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

I’m talking about the search engine.

Despite how knowledgeable you become with your chosen programming language, there will always be some quirk, some syntax you’ve never encountered. Or, maybe you have so much knowledge you draw blanks on basic commands.

Side note: I may or may not have had to look up whether to ignore_index when using Pandas’ append.

Whatever motivates your search, unless you’re a diehard Microsoft user or a data privacy zealot using Duck Duck Go, you’re most likely turning to Google Search.

By now I would guess you’re thinking: “There can’t be a right way to Google. You just type it in the box.” You’d be wrong in two ways.

Not only is there a right way to use Google to solve programming errors, there’s absolutely a wrong way.

One bad habit Google has instilled in me and thousands of other developers is making its search so intuitive and ensuring…