Part 4/11:
With automation expanding, a fundamental question arises: are data engineers becoming obsolete? The panelists assert that while their traditional roles are shifting, they are not disappearing. Instead, the responsibilities are evolving from doers—building pipelines and managing data flow—to overseers and governance custodians.
Anirban explains that in organizations with high maturity, data engineers transition into roles like data stewards or governance experts, focusing on ensuring compliance, architecture, and standards. Conversely, in less mature organizations, data engineers still perform manual pipeline development but increasingly focus on overseeing automated processes.