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 hit
- What he learned trying (and failing) to commercialise medical‑imaging simulations
- The first freelance project and the long, quiet months that followed
- How he now finds clients, keeps projects small and delivers value quickly
- Typical work he does for industrial companies: parsing messy machine logs, building simple pipelines, adding structure later
- Favorite everyday tools (Python, DuckDB, a bit of C++) and the habit of blocking time for learning
- Advice 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
