Everything you got from Dat Gibberish in March
Apr 04, 2026 8:23 pm
March was a full month. Here's everything that went out, in case you missed something.
Building Resumes Over Products
Curiosity built your career. But when it reaches production without structure, you trade certainty for novelty.
I show how to evaluate new tools through business constraint, blast radius, and explicit ownership, so curiosity strengthens your leverage instead of diluting it.
How to Request Headcount Increase (And Win Over Your CFO)
Showing your manager a pile of Jira tickets will not get you a hire. I walk through how to audit structural vulnerabilities, align with the twelve-month business roadmap, and write a business case that makes the Yes the only logical choice.
Data Engineers Are Becoming MetadataOps Engineers (And You Don't Even Know It Yet)
A guest post by Alejandro Aboy. Your pipelines work, but AI agents can't use them. The consumer changed from analysts to LLMs, and quality now means semantic context, not just correct types.
Alejandro covers five shifts happening right now that most data engineers haven't noticed yet.
The Data Engineer's GitHub Portfolio (2026 Edition)
The job market stopped rewarding attendance. Your CV is the pitch, your GitHub is the due diligence. This is actaully a guest post I wrote for Pipeline To Insights.
I cover exactly what I look for as a hiring manager, what kills your chances, and how to turn your profile from a digital junk drawer into proof-of-work that stands out in a quality-constrained market.
When Data Teams Need Contractors, Consultants, or Employees
Hiring the wrong type of help creates more management overhead than it removes. I give you a clear framework for deciding when to build a permanent foundation, make a surgical hire, or bring in outside perspective, so you spend your budget on the right outcomes.
How to Think Like a Senior Engineer with Erfan Hesami
I sat down with Erfan Hesami to talk about what actually separates senior engineers from the rest.
Seniority is a transition from optimizing code to optimizing the environment where code lives, and it starts with taking ownership before anyone asks.
The Smart Engineer's Framework to Staying Current Without Noise
Attention is the real scarce resource. I lay out the information diet, five principles for maximizing insight per unit of attention, so you stop chasing every trend and start building the deep mental models that actually last.
Stop Acting Like an Order Taker
When a request lands, most engineers open their editor and start building. The request is almost never the real problem.
I explain why stakeholders are guessing when they write tickets, and what two questions before you start will do for your work, your relationships, and your career.
How to Think Holistically About the Data Ecosystem with Dylan Anderson
I sat down with Dylan Anderson, data strategist and author of the Data Ecosystem newsletter. We talked about what separates the people who get ahead from the ones who stay stuck, and one habit that changes how you work without requiring you to become an expert in everything.
If a Project Surprises Your Team, That's On You
Every surprise project, urgent pivot, and "nobody told us" moment is a business alignment problem, and it starts with you. I make the case for one proactive conversation in March being worth more than any amount of sprint planning in September.
The Reverse Interview
I've run hundreds of interviews. When I ask "do you have any questions?" and someone says no, I already know how it ends.
I share 25 sharp questions across five categories, team structure, expectations, data maturity, stakeholder dynamics, and culture, plus the framework for knowing which ones to ask and when.
If AI Took Your Job, Your Company Was Already Lost
The companies laying off because of AI had already stopped believing in their product. AI didn't create their problem, it gave them a clean way to announce it. I say what most people won't about what that means for your career, and what to do about it.
Last Thought
As promised, premium Data Gibberish subscribers now have access to all the tools, frameworks, and playbooks that go with this work, in one place.
Yordan
PS: Paid Data Gibberish readers consistently share that the publication helped them get a new job, a promotion, or premium contracts. If that's where you're trying to go, become a paid member.