Why I Left Facebook to Work for Myself

About this episode

Ben Rogojan shares his journey from working at Facebook to starting his own consulting business, discussing the realities of data engineering careers and the impact of AI.

In this episode of the Data Engineering Central Podcast, I sit down with Ben Rogojan to talk about the real story behind data engineering careers, Big Tech, and what’s changing right now. Ben shares how he went from working in kitchens… to data engineering… to Facebook… and eventually walking away from it all to build his own consulting business. And yeah, it wasn’t all glamorous. “I was making the same money as Facebook… and I hated my life.” We get into the stuff most people don’t talk about: * What it’s actually like working in Big Tech * Why high-paying jobs can still burn you out * How he transitioned into consulting (and what people get wrong) * The reality of modern data stacks and tool sprawl * Whether data engineering is changing because of AI * Why fundamentals still matter more than ever Thanks for reading Data Engineering Central! This post is public so feel free to share it. We also go deep on where the industry is heading: * Is the “modern data stack” breaking down? * Are tools like DuckDB actually replacing warehouses? * Is data modeling dead… or just not trendy anymore? * What AI is really changing (and what it’s not) If you’re trying to break into data, grow your…

People in this episode

Host: Data Engineering in Real Life

Guest: Ben Rogojan

Topics covered

• data engineering careers
• Big Tech
• consulting
• AI impact
• modern data stacks
• career transitions

Keywords

• data engineering
• Big Tech
• consulting
• AI
• modern data stack
• career burnout
• tool sprawl

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Facebook, Data Engineering Central

Products: DuckDB

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