Reflection on Sustainable Data Management Practices

During my data engineering internship, I worked on a project to manage candidate data more effectively. While working on this, I saw a big opportunity to make our data handling more sustainable. Instead of focusing on saving energy, I decided to tackle the issue of data waste—basically, we had too much unnecessary data taking up space.

I noticed our databases were filled with old or duplicate data, like multiple copies of the same resume. This not only made our database messy but also made it harder to work with the data. Inspired by the idea of making things lean and efficient, I suggested we clean up our databases to get rid of the clutter.

I proposed a plan to my team: audit our current data, identify what we don’t need, and set up a system to keep our data clean and organized. This included teaching the team how to maintain this system so we wouldn’t end up in the same situation again.

The team liked the idea but was worried about accidentally losing important data. To ease these concerns, I made sure we had a secure backup and suggested we start small, cleaning up a little bit at a time and checking everything carefully as we went.

This project showed me a new side of sustainability in the tech world. It's not just about using less power; it’s also about managing our resources wisely, including data. I learned a lot about how to make systems more efficient and how important it is to keep things simple and organized.

This experience has made me really value sustainability in my work. Going forward, I want to keep finding ways to make data management more efficient and environmentally friendly, whether that’s through reducing waste or optimizing systems.