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In this episode, we talk with Orell about his journey from electrical engineering to freelancing in data engineering. Exploring lessons from startup life, working with messy industrial data, the realities of freelancing, and how to stay up to date with new tools.

Topics covered: Why Orel left a PhD and a simulation‑focused start‑up after Covid hitWhat he learned trying (and failing) to commercialise medical‑imaging simulationsThe first freelance project and the long, quiet months that followedHow he now finds clients, keeps projects small and delivers value quicklyTypical work he does for industrial companies: parsing messy machine logs, building simple pipelines, adding structure laterFavorite everyday tools (Python, DuckDB, a bit of C++) and the habit of blocking time for learningAdvice for anyone thinking about freelancing: cash runway, networking, and focusing on problems rather than “perfect” tech choices A practical conversation for listeners who are curious about moving from research or permanent roles into freelance data engineering.

🕒 TIMECODES 0:00 Orel’s career and move to freelancing 9:04 Startup experience and data engineering lessons 16:05 Academia vs. startups and starting freelancing 25:33 Early freelancing challenges and networking 34:22 Freelance data engineering and messy industrial data 43:27 Staying practical, learning tools, and growth 50:33 Freelancing challenges and client acquisition 58:37 Tools, problem-solving, and manual work

🔗 CONNECT WITH ORELL Twitter - https://bsky.app/profile/orgarten.bsk... LinkedIn - / ogarten
Github - https://github.com/orgarten Website - https://orellgarten.com

🔗 CONNECT WITH DataTalksClub Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.html Subscribe to our Google calendar to have all our events in your calendar - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/... Check other upcoming events - https://lu.ma/dtc-events GitHub: https://github.com/DataTalksClub LinkedIn - / datatalks-club
Twitter - / datatalksclub
Website - https://datatalks.club/

🔗 CONNECT WITH ALEXEY Connect with Alexey Twitter - / al_grigor
Linkedin - / agrigorev

An in-depth talk by Orell Garten on how his background in high-precision electromagnetic simulations informs rapid prototyping, automation, and production-grade data pipelines. Topics include Simulation Foundations, Rapid MVPs, Production Checklist (CI/CD, monitoring, schema versioning), and Workflow Automation.