It’s been a bit of a hiatus for us as Carl heads off on a long break and I cope with GCSE stress at home. So its been a while, and you’re in for a real treat this time on Love Data, Love Growth. We bring you a straight-up goldmine of insight, honesty, and hard-won wisdom from Tim Webster - lead data engineer, Substack creator, and all-around data guru.
So this episode is all about the Data Engineering world of Tim, crunching into the Data Analytics world of Chris and Carl.
Tim’s got 20+ years in tech, a passion for writing and mentoring, and a crystal-clear take on what it really takes to succeed in today’s wild data landscape. So, whether you're a hungry junior, a hiring manager drowning in unicorn job specs, or just trying to make sense of SQL vs. Spark vs. sanity - this is your episode.
Highlights:
Why titles suck and envelopes are the only things that should be labelled.
The real fundamentals that matter (hint: it's not Kubernetes).
What makes analysts secretly great data engineers.
A brutally honest look at LLMs, hiring chaos, and the myth of the “perfect candidate.”
Why passion, curiosity, and persistence beat flashy CVs every time.
As usual we keep it casual, real, and refreshingly human. Fewer buzzwords, more practical advice - like why you should “let someone else reject you” and how to build trust in data (yes, even when nobody checks the dashboards 🙃).
Tools are changing fast, BigQuery, Snowflake, ClickHouse, LLMs, but the secret sauce? Staying curious, learning fast, and actually caring about how your data gets used.
If you're a data professional trying to stay ahead of the curve (or just wondering if it’s still worth learning SQL in 2025), this one's a must-listen.
And remember to subscribe to Tim, link below:
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