of my data engineering journey series. In part one, I shared my 12-month roadmap for transitioning from data analyst to data engineer . This is where the actual building begins.

When I published my first article documenting my data engineering journey, something unexpected happened. People resonated with it. I had strangers reaching out saying they were excited to follow along. That felt good.

But it also came with pressure.

Suddenly this wasn’t just a personal goal I could quietly abandon if things got hard. People were watching. People were in the same boat. And that accountability, honestly, is part of why you’re reading this right now.

So I had to move. And like anyone starting a new skill, the first thing I did was look for resources. There are countless tutorials on the internet for data engineering. YouTube videos, courses, written guides. More than you could ever finish.

But I couldn’t bring myself to just consume theory. I needed to build something.…