In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we explore the emerging field of data engineering with NSS alumni Teresa Whitesell and Joshua Rio-Ross. They share their career journeys and how their education in data analytics and data science set a solid foundation for their data engineering roles. Teresa discusses the critical role of data engineering in healthcare, while Joshua describes his experiences in both healthcare and FinTech data engineering. They also delve into the distinctions between data engineering, data analytics, data science, and software engineering, and offer advice for those considering a career in data engineering. 00:00 Introduction to Stories from the Hackery 01:27 Meet Teresa Whitesell: From A Desire to Work with Data to a Career in Data Engineering 05:52 Joshua Rio-Ross: From Academics to Data Engineer 12:20 What is Data Engineering 17:55 The Overlap of Data Engineering and Software Engineering 20:48 The Importance of Analytics in Data Engineering 28:16 Systems Building vs. Answering Questions 31:03 Understanding Industry-Agnostic Data Engineering Skills 32:18 NSS’s Data Engineering Bootcamp 33:23 Choosing Between Data Engineering and Other Pathways 36:35 The Role of Data Engineers in Organizations 40:36 The Impact of Generative AI on Data Engineering 53:55 Technology Guilty Pleasures 58:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts