Consulting: Coaching: Top Udemy Courses for Aspiring Data Engineers: Free Data Engineering Checklist: The ETL monkey is dead. If you want to survive as a data engineer in 2026, you need to stop thinking like a plumber and start thinking like a strategic partner. This comprehensive roadmap reveals the four critical phases every data engineer must master to stay relevant in the AI-augmented era. Chapters: 0:00 - Why Traditional Data Engineers Are Obsolete 1:12 - Phase 1: Software Craftsmanship Over Syntax 3:00 - Phase 2: AI Infrastructure & Semantic Layers 5:44 - Phase 3: Architecture & Governance 8:33 - Phase 4: Orchestration & Data Quality 10:17 - Conclusion: Become the Strategic Partner