As a developer, I find myself working with more and more data — whether it's through APIs, CSV files, or SQL databases. Here are a few practices I’ve found useful (and try to stick to) to avoid common pitfalls:
🧼 1. Always clean the data
I don’t blindly trust the data I receive anymore. I check for types, missing fields, duplicates, etc. Libraries like pydantic (in Python) or zod (in JS) are super helpful for this.
📐 2. Understand the structure before coding
Before writing a loop or a query, I take a look at what the data actually looks like. A quick inspection (console.log, print) often saves me a lot of trouble.
⚡️ 3. Match tools to the data volume
I use SQL or Pandas for exploration, but once things get bigger, I switch to DuckDB, Spark, or BigQuery. No need to over-engineer from the start.
📊 4. Summarize and visualize
A simple average, group by, or small chart is way more helpful than dumping raw data. It helps me better understand what’s going on.
🔒 5. Protect sensitive data
I’m careful about what I log — especially in staging or debug environments. Tokens and emails can easily leak. I also try to anonymize when working with production copies.
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