Why I Nearly Turned Down A 30k Raise And A Data Engineering Job

A 3-year data engineering retrospective with 3 pieces of unsolicited advice.

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Despite having the best of intentions, I’ve developed a bad habit of missing career-altering calls. I nearly missed out on an internship with NBCUniversal because I was napping when the hiring manager called. Naps were a necessity to survive 3 a.m. morning radio production shifts, so I don’t regret that decision. I briefly panicked when I returned my former NBC manager’s call and learned I accidentally called reception for The Tonight Show. Two voicemail re-listens later, I finally completed the call. I nearly repeated my mistake when a recruiter for my now-employer called while I was in the middle of running a bike rental window. I eventually returned that call, which was to accept my current job, while sitting on a Muppet-themed bench at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

September 2024 marks the 3rd anniversary of that episode and the beginning of my data engineering career. That exchange has since inspired a new habit of completing technical work and conducting business in the most absurd settings imaginable. Among the most notable: Giving a presentation on downtime detection in my nephew’s room while a hedgehog ran on its exercise wheel and working on critical-level tasks for an org-wide migration on the…