Category: Business

• Michael Doolin has worked in HR for 36 years. He was an HR direct for PwC, British Airways and DPD. 
• He said employees often don't get the recognition or feedback they want from their bosses.
• The HR veteran shares what signs employees can look for that suggest they are good at their jobs. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Michael Doolin, a former HR director at PwC, British Airways and DPD based in Ireland. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

After 36 years in HR, you realize a few things about people. I think 50% of the workforce come to do a good job and simply want a "Thank you" at the end of the day. Too many employers fail to recognize that simple acknowledgment can go a long way in keeping people engaged.

People don't always know where they stand at work regarding performance. Ambitious people focused on advancement will be looking for recognition daily. Subtle hints, like a boss inviting someone to lunch or spending more time with someone else, might generate a sense of inequality, which, at its extreme, can magnify feelings of stress, anxiety, and insecurity.

Performance management, like appraisals, should be done more regularly than once a year. It should be an ongoing debate between you and your boss. There's a great mantra from a previous boss of mine: there should be no surprises. To ensure that, employers should have discussions and performance reviews throughout the year.

For me, being good at your job is about how much you're growing, how much you're adding value, and how much you're recognized. If your boss isn't vocal about your performance, these are signs you're still performing well at work.

Working efficiently

The ease at which you can do your job — how challenging or awkward it might be — is a good indication of how you're performing. You might find that your emails are going down or you've got time at the end of the day, week, or month because you've overachieved.

Conversely, if you keep more paper in the bottom left-hand drawer because you haven't gotten to it, it may signal that you're underperforming.

That being said, having a never-ending inbox doesn't mean you're doing badly. Automate as much as possible and embrace technology and better practices. These are all signs of a proactive learner. Set up email rules so that you only see the things that are important.

Proper planning

Planning and prioritizing work is a sign that you're working well. Your boss shouldn't be getting any surprises. Leaving things to the last minute and giving rushed responses does not convey competency.

You might be giving frequent reports and updates, and you'll be showing up to work on time.

Positive feedback

If you're getting positive comments from colleagues, clients, and customers on work-related matters, it's a sign that you're doing something right.

Engagement

One of the greatest indications of performance is how engaged you are at work, informally and formally. Engagement can be evidenced in a number of ways: attendance, appearance, collaboration with colleagues, emails going up or down, and general intellectual curiosity or participation in workplace meetings, gatherings, or conversations.

For an employer, getting to know your people and how they operate is crucial. It's underrated.

People operate differently when they're under pressure. Employers can identify those stress points if they have a better sense of that person's motivations and moods. The best way to do this is by spending time with them.

A work environment should not focus solely on the workplace. We need to remember that the individual is someone who brings unique talents. Therefore, seeing the person as a whole rather than only what they bring to their daily tasks is important — both for the employer and the employee.

Bringing solutions, not problems

If you're performing well at work, you're likely to come up with solutions, not problems. You might turn up to meetings armed with ideas that you've thought of and researched. Coming up with a solution that's well-evaluated is useful. And if you make a mistake, you'll acknowledge it and have a workaround.

Curiosity

An important sign that work is going well is if you're curious. You'll ask questions and be keen to learn. You might question internal processes, like why things are run a certain way, looking to remove roadblocks and create opportunities. This shows that you're inquisitive and that you want to add value.

Ask for feedback if you're still unsure

If you feel you need feedback, ask for it. Ask your line manager or supervisor: How am I doing? What do I do well? What do I not do well? Tell them you'd appreciate regular feedback, and suggest grabbing 15 minutes at the end of the day. This can be done informally.

Like running a race, you can always establish what your own PBs look like and create your own milestones, whether it's getting your inbox down to zero or taking on a new client. You can do this by keeping a workplace diary or setting your own KPIs.

Take some perspective, too. Many people focus on self-actualization in relation to their jobs instead of their lives. Don't just define your worth and status by your position at work. Consider what a good child, partner, parent, or friend you are.

• A US veteran who fought in Ukraine described the intense, close-quarters trench warfare there.
• He said that sometimes when they took a trench they would pile Russian bodies outside like sandbags.
• Other soldiers said they slept on top of Russian bodies as it was too dangerous to remove them.

A US veteran who fought in Ukraine said that after taking trenches from the Russians, he and his comrades would pile up the bodies of the dead troops outside like sandbags for added defense and to keep the rats out.

The former soldier, who spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity about his experiences fighting against Russia's invasion, said that after capturing a trench from Russian soldiers, "we would take the Russian bodies that were inside the trenches with us and then we put them on the opposite side of the trench that's facing the new Russian positions. "

"Like fucking sandbags basically is what we'd use them for."

The veteran began fighting in Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and he left the country last December after engaging in combat in some of the war's most intense areas, like Kharkiv and Bakhmut.

He said they would always remove Russian bodies from the trenches because "we wouldn't want them in the trench just because that allows more rats and decay."

"We'd kind of just nudge them out a little as far as we can while staying inside the trenches."

That hasn't necessarily been the case across the front, though. He pointed to reports that Ukrainian soldiers who took Russian trenches had to sit and sleep on body bags with dead Russian soldiers inside of them because the situation made it too dangerous to remove them.

He said that "luckily" that didn't happen to him.

Some soldiers have said that the concentration of weaponry and intensity of the fight around them did, at times, make it too difficult to remove Russian bodies, as coming out of the trench would be a risky move that could leave a soldier among the fallen.

A Ukrainian soldier, Oleksandr Yabchanka, previously described to BI his experiences holed up in a dugout that had dead Russian soldiers inside it. The Ukrainians were unable to lift the corpses out because of the constant artillery fire and could only push the bodies to the dugout's edge and bury them under some dirt, he said.

Trenches like World War I

Trench warfare has become a defining feature of the war between Russia and Ukraine, with both sides building vast networks of trenches to hide in and launch attacks from.

The veteran BI spoke with said that he found fighting in them "weird as shit, man, because I never thought that we would go back to trench warfare. And, the next thing I know, I feel like I'm fighting in World War I."

In that war, trenches ran across Europe. Troops inside battled rats, injuries, diseases, and relentless artillery fire. And outside, they faced unforgiving machine-gun fire in assaults across the space in between trenches called "No Man's Land." In WWI, battles sometimes left hundreds of thousands of soldiers dead.

Other soldiers and foreign veterans in Ukraine, as well as warfare experts, have also compared elements of this conflict to World War I, due to the slow, grinding nature of the conflict, the proliferation of trenches, the high death toll, and the heavy use of artillery.

Another American veteran, with the call sign Jackie, previously told BI that fighting in the eastern city of Bakhmut looked "like World War I." The devastation and death in that broken city led soldiers on both sides to refer to the fighting there as the "meat grinder." Tens of thousands of troops are believed to have been killed in Bakhmut.

An ambulance driver in Ukraine compared that fight to the 1916 Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of WWI, in an interview with France24.

The veteran who shared his experiences with BI said that most of his fighting took place outside of trenches, compared to other units, which were much more trench-based. But he's had brutal experiences in them.

"There's been a few times where we're sitting in a trench," and there's "artillery shells just dropping around you for hours on end."

Then, at some point, you look up, and the enemy's on you. "You see fucking a dozen or more Russians bum-rushing your trench, and then you got to go to work," he said.

In the trenches, fighting was extremely close quarters. He said he fought in Iraq as a contractor before experiencing Ukraine's trench warfare. "It's very real," he said. "And it's very close, and honestly, it's more intense than fucking anything else I've ever been through."

As he was carrying out assault operations, the veteran said that he never had to sit in trenches for days on end as many others fighting for Ukraine have had to. "Thank God for that," he said.

He described assaulting trenches as extremely dangerous, saying that there wasn't a "single trench raiding mission where we didn't take multiple casualties." He said that when Ukraine is assaulting, Russia has a defensive, home-field advantage.

"You're trying to work your way through a trench that you've never been in before," the veteran said, explaining that "you're basically trying to take the home of another individual who's lived there for days, weeks, months at this point."

"They know every nook and cranny. They know every turn," he said.

He said the experience could vary wildly depending on what training and enthusiasm the Russian soldiers he encountered had.

"I've jumped in the trenches where the Russians give up immediately, like, 'Oh, fuck this shit.' Or they try running away immediately," he said. "Other times, you're literally fighting for every square inch that you go through. They do not want to give it up."

• A European advocacy group filed complaints in 11 countries over a new Meta AI policy.
• NOYB, or None of Your Business, said Meta's new policy would let it scrape user data to train AI.
• Unlike American users, Europeans have an option to opt out of sharing their information.

Meta is scrambling to compete in the red-hot AI arms race, but an advocacy group is demanding nearly a dozen European countries force Meta to pump the breaks.

The European advocacy group announced complaints in 11 European countries over an upcoming Meta policy change that would allow it to scrape old user data from Facebook to train its artificial intelligence models.

Meta "plans to use years of personal posts, private images, or online tracking data for an undefined 'AI technology' that can ingest personal data from any source and share any information with undefined 'third parties,'" the group, aptly named None of Your Business, or NOYB, said in a press announcement asking authorities to step in and suspend the policy.

Meta's updated privacy policy is scheduled to go live in late June. It would impact some 400 million European users, NOYB said. The group said it was concerning that users would have to manually opt out of providing data in the future.

"Instead of asking users for their consent (opt-in), Meta argues that it has a legitimate interest that overrides the fundamental right to data protection and privacy of European users," NOYB said. Europe has strict data privacy laws outlined in the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect in 2018 and has had a profound effect on Big Tech's operations in Europe.

NOYB filed complaints in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain.

A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, but the company previously told Reuters that its new policy followed the law.

"We are confident that our approach complies with privacy laws, and our approach is consistent with how other tech companies are developing and improving their AI experiences in Europe (including Google and Open AI)," a Meta spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

In the United States, Meta AI has already had access to public user data and private chat conversations on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and there is no way to fully opt out of sharing your information, The Washington Post reported.

• Cheryl Sands moved from Illinois to Costa Rica, fearing retirement costs in the US.
• As costs rose, she struggled to live on her pension and Social Security despite working two jobs.
• Many Americans are relocating to Latin America for cheaper living and better quality of life.

Cheryl Sands, 69, had worked two jobs at a time for much of her life, but after seeing her two older siblings work into their 70s and 80s to afford daily costs, she knew it was time to move from Illinois — and the US.

She feared her teaching pension and Social Security wouldn't be enough to live on without continuing to work. She had saved about $300,000, but into her 60s, she had two jobs to keep her savings stable.

She looked to Costa Rica as an option, having visited a few times prior, and she knew the cost of living was cheaper and life was calmer. She moved earlier this year and has loved it since.

"What I love about Costa Rica is the freedom, work ethic, value of learning and education, taking responsibility for their and their children's actions and accepting the consequences of their actions, pride in what they have, even if it's not much, respect for others, positive attitudes, and valuing children and the elderly," Sands said.

Sands is one of many Americans who moved to Latin America for their retirement. Some recently told Business Insider they were scared they wouldn't have enough money for a comfortable retirement in the US and thought living in Latin America would be cheaper. Others said they found new income opportunities that were much more relaxed than in the US.

Life in the US got more expensive

Sands lived in northern Illinois for much of her life. At one point, she described herself as a "professional student" who accumulated various degrees but did not know what to do with them. She worked odd jobs until she was 35. Eventually, she became a chemistry teacher in Aurora, about 40 miles from Chicago.

She taught for over 20 years, and in 2007, she quit her job and put her house up for sale. She assumed that the equity on her home would be her savings for another house, but she said it lost a lot of value amid the 2008 housing crisis.

She moved to the Illinois-Kentucky border and bought a cheap house on 10 acres in Shawnee National Forest. She said the home was "deserted and isolated," and she enjoyed living in peaceful nature.

Sands received a pension from teaching, but it wasn't enough for her to live on. She worked as a substitute teacher and installed barbed wire and chain link fencing on properties in the area to help pay her bills. She said people in her area were shocked because she held two jobs even in retirement. Her 82-year-old sister and 78-year-old brother still work as well.

Sands increasingly felt out of place. She was 25 miles from the closest town, meaning going to medical appointments was a growing hassle, and taking care of her property was more challenging and expensive.

Between her Social Security and pension, she earned $30,000 a year, not nearly enough to enter an assisted living or retirement community. Her property taxes increased 165% in one year, and the cost of deliveries from stores like Walmart also spiked.

Though she had a comfortable home, she worried she wouldn't have enough money to live without constantly worrying or working two jobs. She considered moving to a more urban area but couldn't imagine paying more for a much smaller home.

"I did not see myself being able to go anywhere, and I could see myself having to fall into the public support sector after not too long because I would not have any money," Sands said.

Moving to Costa Rica

She remembered a trip to Costa Rica in 1995 and visited in 2022 and 2023 to see if escaping retirement in the US by living there was viable.

"Last fall, I sold my house, sold all my belongings, packed up my two 90-pound dogs, packed as much as I could fit in carpet bags and suitcases, and left," Sands said.

She moved to a condo in the Guanacaste region in northwest Costa Rica earlier this year. Within three weeks, she realized it wasn't big enough for her dogs, so she searched for another rental property. She chose not to buy a home as she's still waiting on her pensioner visa.

She rented another home for $1,100 a month, a one-bedroom house a short walk from the beach. Her home is in Junquillal, a town between Santa Cruz and Tamarindo.

She has a 30-foot treehouse with views of the ocean and mountains. Her property is surrounded by trees, and she has a large front yard for her dogs. Her home has reliable internet and electricity, which are included in her rent.

Sands said nearly everyone she's met has been very friendly, and she hasn't had much of an issue with the language barrier. Many residents speak some English, and she's learning Spanish to feel more at home. Still, she said many people think she's wealthy because she's from the US.

"It's incomprehensible that with the money I had, I didn't have enough money to live where I lived, and I came here because it's less expensive," Sands said. "I feel more welcomed here than I did in Southern Illinois."

She said the cost of food is much lower than the US, though portion sizes for packaged goods are smaller. She's valued the wide selection of fresh produce and fish, though the stores in her small town don't have everything she needs. Dairy products are also rather expensive, she's noticed.

The closest city is about a half-hour drive, which is $50-$75 each way via taxi. She doesn't need to worry about owning a car as she said vehicles are a luxury and "for the very brave."

While the cost of living is much lower in Costa Rica, the exchange rate between the US dollar and Costa Rican colón has worsened, meaning prices in Costa Rica have recently shot up. Her Walmart bill, for example, increased by at least a third in just a month.

Still, she's not too stressed about money anymore. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m. each morning, takes her dogs for a walk, swims for a few hours, does household chores, and reads — which she acknowledges she rarely had time for as a teacher.

"It doesn't sound like much, but my days are full," she said. "If I were back in the US, I would have to be worrying about weeding my flower beds, mowing the lawn, and chainsawing trees."

She's considered making some extra income by purchasing homes and converting them into rental properties for tourists. She also wants to move into a permanent home by August and continue learning about the local culture.

"I do attempt to plan for future financial expenses to avoid not having any money, but I don't obsess over it because life often changes things in ways you would not ever plan for," Sands said.

Have you recently left the United States for a new country? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.

• Driving Tesla's Cybertruck was a mix of fun, frustration, and embarrassment. 
• The truck includes all the standard Tesla features, plus some extras not found on the Model 3 or Y.
• The speedy acceleration was a blast and the adjustable suspension made it easy to exit the truck.

I spent three days with Tesla's long-awaited Cybertruck.

It was one of the strangest — and most frustrating — trips I've taken in a while. (It was also embarrassing, with people gawking everywhere I went.) But across miles of highways, city blocks, and tight parking lots, the truck proved to be fast and fun, albeit ridiculously weird-looking.

It had all the standard Tesla features, like a huge screen for controlling almost everything, along with some extras thrown in that you can't find on the Model 3 and Model Y.

I also found some silly things that Tesla seemed to overlook (like a bad charging port design and a lack of ceiling handles for entering and exiting), but other little touches made the $100,000 truck feel luxurious.

Here are 10 features that impressed me:

The acceleration was a blast.

The acceleration was hands-down my favorite thing about the truck. Pop it into sport mode (making sure any passengers have their heads on the headrest), floor the accelerator, and hang on tight. From 0 to 60, 70, 80, and (presumably) even more, the truck doesn't hesitate while gobbling up the road ahead.

The regenerative braking, which isn't optional, took a while to get used to — and was particularly tricky for the first few miles I drove in the truck each day. Back off the accelerator to coast like you're used to in a traditional car, and you'll be in for a nauseous ride. But hold the pedal in place, and the truck cruises smoothly down the road, responding to small touches as needed.

Hidden wireless charging offered easy convenience.

Throw your phone in the slot next to the cupholder where it (or a key) needs to be to operate the truck, and quick, automatic wireless charging kicks in. It's a classy touch that surprised me when I used it, and I would definitely appreciate it if this were my own vehicle.

The lack of door handles had a surprising upside.

Although the lack of traditional door handles was strange at first, I got used to it quickly. And when my hands were full, the doors were surprisingly simple to open. To enter, you press a button on the door pillar, and the door pops ajar — just enough to grab it and open it fully (or nudge or kick or whatever it takes, depending on the situation).

Tesla’s nifty trip planner accounts for variables like the weather.

I drove to a Supercharger one day and tested out the Cybertruck trip planner's range estimation. The planner logged details like hard acceleration (my bad), strong winds, and air conditioning (a necessity in Texas) as factors contributing to changes in its assumed final charge level.

When all was said and done, its original estimate was only a few miles off from what it had projected hundreds of miles before. Impressive! Especially since some other automakers have struggled with similar software.

The Cybertruck is loaded with electrical outlets.

The truck is electric, after all, so it should be easy to sip on some of that juice. Handy plugs around the truck's bed and frunk, as well as inside the cabin for electronic devices, are a common feature of most electric trucks, and the Cybertruck was no exception.

The back seat was nearly as enjoyable as the front.

I don't think anyone would be mad about being stuck in the Cybertruck's back seat on a longer road trip.

It's much more comfortable than most pickup truck cabs, with plenty of legroom and seats that aren't completely vertical. And you get a personal entertainment screen with games and movies, total climate control, natural light from the sunroof, and cupholders.

The Cybertruck's adjustable suspension made it easier to enter and exit.

To be clear, the Cybertruck is bigger than it needs to be, but that's true for 99% of the trucks on American roads. Still, I appreciated how the truck's adjustable suspension lowered a few inches when shifted into park for an easier entry and exit.

While driving, you can adjust this suspension higher or lower for comfort, as well.

The lockable glove box didn't require a key.

Everything on this truck is supposed to be futuristic and the glove box is no exception. Even though I had full access to the truck with the keycard and app permissions, the Turo host was able to store things (what are they hiding?) in the glove box that I could not access without a PIN.

No latch or lock also delivers a clean aesthetic.

The powered bed cover was easy to maneuver.

The tonneau cover on the Cybertruck is just as important for its alien looks as it is for aerodynamics and security. It's controllable through the app, the interior screen, and buttons on the bed rails — and comes standard on the $100,000 truck.

Really fast charging was highly convenient.

The first 800-volt powertrain in Tesla's lineup charges impressively fast. Tesla has said the Cybertruck can travel up to 340 miles on a single charge and has promised to eventually release a range extender, or optional second battery pack.

Some Cybertruck reviewers have said the truck's peak power tapers off quickly. But I didn't experience this in my two charging experiences, thanks to a limit the owner had set to protect the batteries' long-term health.

• AI has been a controversial topic for teachers since ChatGPT launched.
• OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have all tried to show how their AI assistants can help with learning.
• Educators said they're actually optimistic about using gen AI to save time.

Big Tech wants people to believe that artificial intelligence is a good idea in the classroom. Educators say that it actually is.

In May, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google — three companies leading the charge in the AI arms race — debuted impressive demonstrations of their chatbots, and education was a talking point at each of their events.

Google highlighted Gemini Education as a tool for teachers using Workspace to create agendas, summarize meetings, and elevate presentations. When OpenAI launched GPT-4o, it featured a virtual tutor who could help with an algebra equation via video in real time.

Microsoft announced a partnership with online learning platform Khan Academy to offer teachers a free AI tool called Khanmigo for planning lessons, assignments, and tracking student performance.

Microsoft's billionaire founder, Bill Gates, has also been outspoken about his belief that AI "will enhance" education.

And despite worries — including whether students will use ChatGPT to cheat on their schoolwork — time-pressured education professionals appear to be positive about generative AI can to help teachers. One major reason: it can help them use their hours better.

Take Tierra Harris, a third-grade teacher based in Texas. Harris has taken full advantage of generative AI services this school year to access resources "in a matter of seconds."

Harris said she uses ChatGPT to help her craft letters to parents, respond to emails, and even create quizzes based on her current lesson plans — all the parts of teaching that don't involve standing in front of a room full of kids.

There's still a way to go before AI is fully integrated into public schools, but Harris, who asked BI not to name her place of work as her comments on AI are personal and not necessarily the school district's stance, said that she's also hopeful that she can soon send AI resources to parents who need assistance with helping them with homework.

"My principal has encouraged us to lean into it and not be afraid of the kids getting ahold of it," she said.

Curby Alexander, an associate education professor at Texas Christian University, said it's helped him teach his college-level students, too.

Alexander told BI that AI helps with brainstorming ideas and developing case studies — things he would've had to come up with on his own before —"without taking up a lot of class time."

His students are also learning from the imperfections of the technology, and sharpening their skills on how to spot where AI-generated content falls short.

AI can "blow the ceiling off" for students

Elsewhere, there are educators whose entire programs depend on AI.

MacKenzie Price is an advocate for disrupting the traditional eight-hour school day. Price cofounded 2hr Learning and Alpha School, a program where students learn academics for two hours using an AI tutor and spend the rest of the day developing life skills "like leadership and financial literacy and public speaking and grit," she told Business Insider.

She said that assigning academic tuition to AI lets kids have a more personalized experience and learn at their own level, avoiding lagging behind their classmates.

"It can literally raise the floor of what's possible for students, and then just blow the ceiling off and help students wherever they're at," she told BI.

Naturally, concerns about the safety and reliability of using AI in the classroom have arisen.

Beyond data worries, "educators recognize that AI can automatically produce output that is inappropriate or wrong. They are wary that the associations or automation created by AI may amplify unwanted biases," the US Department of Education said in a report published in May 2023. "They are well-aware of 'teachable moments' and pedagogical strategies that a human teacher can address but are undetected or misunderstood by AI models."

However, the report also pointed to the opportunities provided by AI, including helping adapt resources to students' needs, using AI speech recognition to increase the support available to students with disabilities, and helping teachers "extend the support they offer to individual students when they run out of time."

And though some teachers worry — like many other workers — that AI will take their jobs, "to the contrary, the Department firmly rejects the idea that AI could replace teachers," the report read.

The intersection of AI and education is seen as necessary — as necessary as teaching kids how to use AI if they want to be prepared for their adult life, according to 2hr Learning and Alpha School's Price.

Most importantly, it's seen as saving teachers' time on non-teaching work.

"Teachers in our country are overworked, they're underpaid, and they're underappreciated. They've been given this impossible task of trying to teach every single student," Price said.

Price believes AI could be the tool that finally changes that.

• Daniel Rizea has over 15 years of experience working in global tech companies.
• He says the rush for AI advancements is increasing the need for more data engineers.
• Rizea says data engineers should know compliance rules and enjoy business research. 

I'm a Google engineering director who has led engineering teams in consumer technology startups and big companies. In all instances, data engineering teams played a critical role in the business.

When I entered the industry over 12 years ago, organizations focused mostly on becoming cloud-native. This transition created new opportunities, and companies moved faster, more efficiently, and generated more data. The field of data engineering started getting more attention.

The latest AI developments put data at the forefront since the quality of the data sets determines the quality of AI models. In other words, the rush for AI advancements is increasing the need for more data engineering jobs.

Every organization has tons of unstructured data that hide valuable insights. One of those insights can quickly boost profits, reduce operating costs, or improve well-being. The issue is that it's buried under a lot of noise. Your job as a data engineer is to remove the noise by structuring and processing large amounts of data.

But before you enter this industry, consider these four things.

1. If you don't enjoy diving into businesses, you might not like data engineering

If you enjoy writing code but don't enjoy the business side as much, you might find data engineering both exciting and disappointing.

It will be exciting because you'll need to build large systems at scale, but before you can write any code, you must understand the organization's business context and its products.

You need to partner very closely with product managers and business analysts. Sometimes, you must partner with many to understand all business units. Even if the company has multiple units, the data system you build should serve all of them.

Before writing a line of code, you must figure out:

• What data needs to be collected?
• How is the organization planning to use the data?
• How fresh should the data be?

All of these questions have technical, architectural, and efficiency implications. A good data engineer delivers the best system that balances the organization's needs, costs, and timelines.

The best data engineers consider future needs and designs with them in mind.

2. It's a fast-paced job that continuously evolves

If you don't like to be challenged constantly, then data engineering may not be for you.

Data engineering is a field that evolves very fast, and you need to keep up with it. Data is growing exponentially, and new systems and techniques are needed to manage vast amounts of data. Yesterday's systems are obsolete, and this may seem overwhelming due to the speed of change.

It happened to me in the early stages of my career. There was so much to learn and so little time. I was working at a startup and had to hit the ground running. Early on, I read and learned at night and developed during the day. This helped me get a better understanding of software engineering than my peers.

Now, I set aside a couple of hours a week to browse and read about the latest developments in my field. I know I don't cover everything, but I try to stay updated as much as possible.

The latest trends in the AI space have brought Generative AI and technologies like Vector Databases and Retrieval-Augmented Generation techniques. These unlock new possibilities but also bring new challenges.

You won't be able to keep up with everything, but this shouldn't make you give up. Register for tech newsletters. You can get a weekly or monthly digest of the new trends in your area. Be open to experimenting and trying new things. This will give you and your organization a competitive edge.

3. Knowing compliance rules is a must

As a data engineer, you must consider data privacy and build internal systems that satisfy legal and compliance requirements without putting the company at risk. You must familiarize yourself with GDPR, CCPA, HIPPA, and other regulations the business may need to follow.

I remember when the GDPR deadline kicked in, in 2018. There was a rush for all companies to stop what they were doing and become compliant. Engineering teams worked around the clock to make their systems compliant. The most considerable burden was on the data and feature teams to build in the corresponding functionalities.

Ensuring that user data is secure and that all processing and policies are transparent to users is crucial for building and maintaining customer trust. The easiest way to lose customers' trust is not to manage their data well.

Data engineers must partner with legal and product managers to ensure all data flows respect data privacy regulations and update those flows when regulations change.

4. Consumers won't see your work

You're most likely mistaken if you think data engineering involves building consumer-facing features.

The products that data engineers work most of the time on are data platform systems and capabilities. Those systems support the organization's business needs. In most companies, the data team is a horizontal team that builds systems and pipelines to structure and process the data.

The nature of the horizontal work involves data engineers having various internal customers, ranging from other software teams to product managers, analysts, and executives, who need valuable information on how to run the business.

Data engineers will only work on features and functionality indirectly for consumers. Still, their actions will influence where the product is headed by providing analytics and insights into the market and how customers use it.

Data engineering is an exciting field that is rapidly evolving

The rapid evolution of data engineering is key to making better AI models. But before jumping into the field, keep in mind the four points that were presented. This way, you will have your expectations set, and you will know what you signed up for.

Data engineering is a job that will allow you to interact with various stakeholders, from engineering teams to product managers, legal, and executives. It's a foundational role for any modern organization.

If you are a data engineer with an interesting story to share about the job, please email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

• Google's very bad AI-generated answers were a viral story two weeks ago.
• Now that story seems to have disappeared. Did Google's AI answers get better? Or did it stop showing them to us?
• Maybe both.

Two weeks ago, lots of people in the tech world — and even some people who weren't in tech — were chatting about Google's AI-generated answers. And how they sometimes told you to do things like eat rocks or make pizza using glue.

This week, I'm still seeing, and hearing, some discussion about Google's Bad AI Answers. (Thank you (?) for the shout-out, Defector.)

But I'm seeing, and hearing, a lot less of it. And I definitely haven't seen a viral social media post about a Bad AI Answer in some time.

So. Did Google fix its AI answers — which it calls "AI Overviews" — already? Or did it stop showing AI answers as often, so people are less likely to find bad ones?

Google, which referred me back to the blog post it published a week ago, where it explained why it had generated some Bad AI Answers, insisted there weren't many of them — and also said it was restricting its use of them. Like "for hard news topics, where freshness and factuality are important."

And Google PR also offered an updated statement: "We designed AI Overviews to appear for queries where they're helpful and provide value beyond existing features on the results page, and they continue to show for a large number of searches. We're continuing to refine when and how we show AI Overviews so they're as useful as possible, including a number of technical updates in past weeks to improve response quality."

But here are two more data points that suggest that … something has happened.

First off: People really do seem to have moved on from grousing about this stuff on social media.

Here's data from Brandwatch, a social media monitoring company, which shows that people who use X (the company I still call Twitter) started paying attention to Google's AI Overviews the day after Google's May 14 I/O event. And then things really took off a week later —presumably as people saw examples of Very Bad Answers Google was handing out. (Some of those Bad Answers, as Google points out, were actually fakes — note the correction at the end of this New York Times report.)

It's possible, of course, that Google is generating just as many Bad Answers as it was before. And that X/Twitter users have moved on to some other shiny object.

But it's also very likely that they're simply not seeing as many of them. For starters, Google has already said it has been working to fix some of its problems, including "limit[ing] the inclusion of satire and humor content" in answers, and simply not using AI answers in some cases.

And another argument in favor of "there's less to see" comes from BrightEdge, a search optimization company. BrightEdge says it has been tracking Google's AI Overviews since Google first started testing them last fall, initially with people who signed up to try them out via its experimental Google Labs.

At one point, says BrightEdge founder Jim Yu, some keywords were generating AI answers 84% of the time. But by the time of Google I/O, when the company announced that AI answers were going to roll out to most users, that number had dropped to around 30%. And within a week of the announcement, that number had dropped again — this time to around 11%. (Google PR says it takes issue with BrightEdge's methodology, and says its results are inaccurate; Google didn't offer its own statistics.)

None of which is conclusive! But it does look, for now, like Google might have weathered the worst of a storm it created for itself.

• Baby naming consultants are increasingly popular, offering tailored services to parents.
• These experts use social media platforms to attract clients and earn significant income.
• Unique baby names are becoming more accepted, influenced by celebrity trends and social media.

Baby naming isn't what it used to be.

Gone are the days of picking a name for your new baby from an index in a book.

Now, there are baby naming consultants who rifle through popularity lists, analyze trends, and recommend the right fit for families. They can charge up to $10,000 for their services.

What was once deemed a quirk of the super-rich and famous is now becoming commonplace, with parents wanting their children to stand out and have their own unique identities.

Normalizing the unusual

In May, influencer Francesca Farago, who became famous for appearing on various Netflix reality shows, shared some of the baby names she and her partner were considering for the twins they are expecting.

They were all unusual, including Heart, Orca, Afternoon, Lyrics, and Baby.

The response was mixed, with some thinking the names were too "out there" and that Farago was stretching the definition of what names should be.

Unusual names are for everyone now, not just celebrities. When Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple in 2004, many considered it bizarre. Now, there are plenty of children with names that are nouns or adverbs and once considered "just words."

The consultants who spoke with Business Insider agreed that there's been a shift in the last few years that has both widened the criteria for what a name can be and helped boost their businesses.

"There are things that are even too extreme for me," Steph Coffield, aka Names With Steph, told BI. "But I also listen to the client, and if they're like, I want ancient Greek mythology-inspired names, I want super uncommon word names, I get so excited about that."

Embracing originality

Morgan Timm, from Illinois, started her baby naming consultancy in 2022, finding her way there through her interest in collecting vintage yearbooks, spending time on the subreddit Name Nerds, and scrolling through baby name forums.

She said many of her clients had popular names in the 80s or 90s and didn't want their child to be known as "Jessica L," "Matthew R," or "Hannah S."

"I think that's where a lot of people got their interest in having a more uncommon name," she said. "Just with their experience of having a common one."

Jessie Paquette, another consultant, was also always fascinated by names, watching YouTubers talk about popularity lists and speaking to her friends at school about what the No. 1 names for boys and girls were that year.

Unusual names were more of a "luxury" 20 years ago, said Paquette, for the rich and famous who "care about appearance and care about status."

"As TikTok and social media came into the picture, it became more for the common person," she said.

Colleen Slagen, who helps parents find their babies' names through her consultancy Naming Bebe, told BI there is a "cultural trend towards embracing individuality."

As well as out of the ordinary names, she has also noticed that parents are leaning towards names that are "traditional but uncommon," such as Margaret, Ingrid, Eugene, and Bernard.

She also considers the names of any other children and surnames to avoid awkward rhyming disasters.

"People really want to get it right," Slagen said. "They want to choose a name that represents them but also sets their kid up for a lifetime of success."

A lucrative career

Baby naming is an "extremely lucrative" career path, Paquette said, but if you go into it to make money, you won't be successful.

"It has to happen organically," she said.

Making content on TikTok also provides income, Paquette said. She has just over 100,000 followers on the platform, while some of her peers have 200,000-300,000.

"Certain creators in this niche are making upwards of thousands of dollars a month just off of views," Paquette said. "It's become a multilevel stream of income for people."

Slagen's consultations start at $250. During these, she has couples fill out a detailed questionnaire about the kinds of names they like and how popular or rare they want the name to be.

Some of the better-known baby namers can charge hefty fees. One consultant, Taylor A. Humphrey, has services that range from $1,500 for a list of names to $10,000 for something more bespoke, The New Yorker reported.

Humphrey also offers a "baby name branding" service for $30,000, according to Vox, which "helps people in the public eye choose a name that reflects their personal brand."(Humphrey didn't respond to BI's request for comment.)

There are companies that specialize in baby names, too. Nameberry, for example, offers a naming session with resident baby name expert Sophie Kihm for $350 or a package called "the name concierge," which comes with "nine months of on-call name advice, with unlimited meetings and name suggestions." That'll set parents back $10,000.

Coffield said she knew she could make a living from baby names when she started talking about it on TikTok. She had previously focused on educating women about how to be empowered while giving birth and casually spoke about baby names a few times.

That "really took off," and her inbox was soon full of people wanting her advice.

Coffield, who is from Minnesota, started by charging $60 for 10 names on Fiverr. She has since moved off that platform to her own website, where a personalized list costs $140, a list plus a video costs $200, and a luxury service, which includes three phone calls with her to help with the decision, costs $700.

The biggest way to build success in the baby naming business is to make sure people find you credible, Coffield said. There are some accounts that use ChatGPT and other AI software to come up with lists, but these aren't likely to find as good a match as a consultant can.

Consultants aren't an algorithm, so they are limited by how many clients they can take on, Coffield added.

Timm said she "severely undercharged" her clients when she started but has since figured out her worth.

She said that while she thinks there is "less pushback overall" with unconventional names, there is still some sort of exclusivity gap when it comes to celebrities.

One recent client of Timm's made her sign an NDA so she couldn't share their name, or even the fact that they had hired her at all.

"That was a really cool moment," she said.

• A sexually transmitted fungal infection, TMVII, has been reported in the US for the first time.
• The infection, which resembles eczema, often affects men who have sex with other men.
• TMVII responds to terbinafine, but another fungus, T. indotineae, shows resistance to this treatment.

Researchers in New York are warning that a sexually transmitted fungal infection that can take months to resolve has been reported for the first time in the US.

In a report published on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Dermatology, medical experts highlighted the case of a man in his 30s who had just arrived in New York City.

He suffered a fungal infection on his penis, buttocks, and limbs after arriving from a trip to England, Greece, and California, wrote the researchers from New York University and the New York State Department of Health in Albany.

These rashes were found to have been caused by a ringworm called the Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII, or TMVII, according to the study.

One of their concerns is that the infection can be confused as lesions from eczema and can go untreated.

The infection appears to often affect men who have sex with other men, researchers said, citing 13 cases reported in France last year.

The male patient in the newly published study reported engaging in sex with multiple male partners on his travels, they added.

They warned that even if treated, infections like these can take months to clear up and are highly contagious.

"Healthcare providers should watch out for new and highly contagious forms of ringworm or jock itch, which are emerging as a potential public health threat," read an NYU press release about the report.

John Zampella, a senior author of the paper and an associate professor of dermatology at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine, encouraged doctors to check on rashes they see around their patients' groin and buttocks.

The researchers said the infection can often be difficult to treat but seems to respond well to terbinafine, an antifungal medicine that can be administered orally or as a gel on the skin.

Meanwhile, another fungus that causes contagious rashes like those from TMVII has been found to resist the medicine, the researchers said.

They highlighted T. indotineae, which they said they tested in 11 patients from May 2022 to 2023. Patients affected by the fungus didn't have their rashes improve even after 42 days of treatment with terbinafine, they added.

T. indotineae has largely affected India, but more cases have been reported globally in recent years.

Researchers wrote that itraconazole, an antifungal treatment, appears to work well. However, if used for prolonged periods, it can often interfere with other medicines or cause side effects such as diarrhea.