Data Engineering Weekly Notes
Jan 5 – Jan 11 · 2026-W02
1 event this week
🧠 Feynman Takeaway
The 2026 data engineering narrative solidified: AI, real-time, and cloud-first.
State of Data Engineering Survey opens
In plain English
Joe Reis's Practical Data Community launched the 2026 State of Data Engineering Survey. With 1,100+ respondents, it would become the defining dataset of the year — revealing that 82% of data engineers use AI daily, and 42% expect their team to grow.
Analogy
Imagine a census where 82% of people say they drive an electric car. That's what this survey did for data engineering — quantified a shift everyone felt but couldn't prove.
Why it matters
By February, when the full results dropped, every data platform team in the world would have to confront the question: 'If 82% of your peers use AI daily, why aren't you?'