During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to work with Professor Lizbeth Muñoz on developing a visual dictionary app. I had just completed a course in Android development and was thrilled to be building my first mobile app. The concept was simple: a grid of electronic components that displayed descriptions when tapped. At first, I thought our goal was just to build a cool, functional app. But I quickly realized the real focus was on how the app could help students learn electronic components more efficiently.
Professor Muñoz introduced a series of metrics to measure the app’s effectiveness—everything was driven by data. We analyzed student performance before and after using the app, tracked recall time, and measured how many components they could learn with just five minutes of daily use. These data points helped us continuously improve the app, always with the end user in mind. It was the first time I truly saw the power of data. Staring at those tables of results, I had a realization: I wanted to work with data.
Later, when I was applying for a master’s program, I wasn’t sure what path to take. But after a conversation with Professor Martha García-Murillo, I knew Syracuse University was the right place. Information Management sounded exciting, after all, back in the early 2010s, people used to say: “Knowledge is power.” And if information leads to knowledge, then managing it puts you in a powerful position.
But I soon discovered that working with data goes beyond just managing information. The data world is vast. When I graduated from my master’s, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to be a data analyst, a data engineer, a database administrator, or a data scientist. My first job at Deloitte placed me in the Data Management practice. Thanks to my technical background, I was assigned to a project as a Python developer, focused on automating Excel-based processes. That’s when I had another “aha” moment: I wanted to be a data engineer. Automating workflows and saving people hours of manual work was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.
That brings me to this new section of my blog. I’m dedicating it to everyone starting their journey in data engineering. Here, you’ll find basic concepts, practical advice, and insights to help you build a strong foundation, and hopefully apply it to your daily work.
Daniela Fernandez 