Logs from the Stack: Hello, Data World!
The first entry in a fictional series about a new data engineer's journey.
Disclaimer
Welcome to ‘Logs from the stack’!
We’re Eniwoke and Victor, and we’re excited to share this story with you.
A quick note on what you're reading: This series is a work of fiction. While the technical challenges are grounded in our real-world experiences, the characters, companies, and specific situations you’ll read about are entirely our own creation. Any resemblance to real people is coincidental.
As part of our creative process, we use AI tools to help brainstorm ideas, refine our writing, and generate supporting images. These tools are just that, tools. Every story, and every creative decision, ultimately comes from us.
The corner of Anuja's laptop screen read Friday, 15:32. Two days, seven hours, and twelve minutes since her final interview with Uncoverthestack.
She’d been refreshing her inbox every quarter-hour, a nervous habit that had started back in her final year. She calls it diligence, but another part of her, the honest part, calls it panic.
“A watched pot never boils,” she muttered to her empty apartment, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The two-month job hunt since finishing her Data Science degree had been a marathon of forced positivity, but this was different. This was the one. The Data Engineering internship. She hadn’t even known she wanted it until a final year project forced her to gather data from scratch, and she’d discovered a thrill in creating infrastructure that was missing from pure analysis. Now, the thought of going back to a standard Data Science role felt like settling.
Her phone buzzed on the table, a violent, rattling sound in the quiet room.
Anuja’s entire body went rigid. Her breath hitched. For a frozen second, she could only stare at the unknown number glowing on the screen.
It had to be them.
Her hand, slick with a sudden sweat, fumbled for the device. Be cool, Anuja. Sound professional. Not like you’ve been praying for a call. She swiped to answer, pressing the cold glass to her ear.
"Hello?" The word came out as a breathless squeak, barely audible. She cleared her throat and tried again, aiming for composure. "Hello!"
A bright, professional voice: "Hi Anuja, this is Jenny, the talent manager from Uncoverthestack."
The name of the company landed like a physical blow. The panic, the apartment, the two months of uncertainty; it all dissolved into a single point of roaring silence in her ears. She gripped the phone tighter, her knuckles white.
"….how are you doing today?" Jenny finished cheerfully.
Anuja’s mind reeled. How was she doing? It was the most complex question she had ever been asked.
"Erhm, yeah, I am fine, thank you," Anuja managed, the words feeling clumsy and foreign in her mouth.
"That’s great to hear," Jenny said, her tone warm but professional. "Well, Anuja, the reason I’m calling is that I have some excellent news for you."
Excellent news ??? The two words sent a jolt through Anuja’s system, a surge of adrenaline so powerful it made her dizzy. Her heart wasn’t just racing; it was hammering against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat that echoed in her ears. She held her breath, waiting.
"The feedback from the entire team, both on your interviews and your take-home assessment, was outstanding," Jenny continued. Anuja squeezed her eyes shut, her knuckles bone white on the phone. "Therefore, on behalf of the company, I am delighted to offer you the position of Data Engineering Intern at Uncoverthestack."
For a moment, no sound but the blood was rushing in her ears. The weight that had been sitting on her chest for two months, the cold stone of panic and uncertainty, didn’t just lift. It evaporated. A wave of relief washed over her, so potent it made her knees feel weak, and she sank heavily into her desk chair. A single, hot tear escaped and traced a path down her cheek.
"Anuja?" Jenny’s voice came, a little concerned. "Are you still there?"
Anuja drew a shaky, shuddering breath. "Yes," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Yes! I’m here."
"So," Jenny asked gently, her cheerful tone returning. "How do you feel about that?"
"Yes," she said, her voice cracking with the force of her relief. "Oh, sorry, yes. I mean, I would be honored to accept the offer. Thank you. Thank you so much."
"We’re delighted to hear it, Anuja. Welcome to the team, "Jenny’s voice warmed, the professional efficiency softening for a moment.
"I’ll send the official offer letter over to your email as soon as we’re off the phone. It will have all the details regarding your salary, start date, and the onboarding process. Please take your time to read it over, but don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions."
"Okay," Anuja breathed, her mind still struggling to catch up.
Questions? She couldn’t form a single coherent thought beyond the triumphant ringing in her ears. "Okay, thank you."
"Wonderful. Well, have a fantastic weekend, Anuja."
"You too," she replied automatically.
The line clicked, and the call was over.
Anuja stared at the blank screen of her phone, her thumb hovering over where the "End Call" icon had been. The silence in the flat was immense, no longer heavy with anxiety but light and airy with possibility. She could still hear the ghost of a ring, the echo of Jenny’s cheerful sign-off.
Slowly, she lowered the phone to the desk. A single, disbelieving laugh escaped her lips. It was a watery, weak sound at first, but then it grew, bubbling up from a place deep in her chest that had been clenched tight for months. She leaned back in her chair, covering her mouth with her hand as a genuine, face-splitting grin took over, the kind she hadn’t felt in what seemed like a lifetime. It was real. It had happened.
Ding! 🛎️
The sound from her laptop, the one that had been her tormentor, was suddenly the sweetest music she had ever heard. She leaned forward, her movements dreamlike, and saw the email.
From: Jenny Smith <j.smith@xxxxxxxx.com>
Subject: Offer of Employment - Uncoverthestack
Her breath hitched again. With a trembling finger, she clicked it open and downloaded the attached PDF.
The document loaded, crisp and official, with the sharp, modern Uncoverthestack logo at the top. Her eyes scanned past the formal language until they found her name. And there it was, in black and white, a contractual fact.
Position: Data Engineering Intern
Start Date: Monday, 11th August xxxx
August 11th. Her mind scrambled to calculate. That was… 2 weeks from Monday. A thrill of pure, electric panic shot through her, immediately replacing the relief. 2 weeks to reorient her entire life.
Her eyes found her title again. Data Engineer Intern. A wave of pride went through her, followed by a cold, tiny whisper in the back of her mind: You've got this, you can do this!
She picked up her phone again, her hands now steady. She scrolled through her contacts, found the one labelled "Mum," and pressed call. It rang twice before being picked up.
"Anu? Is everything okay?"
Anuja took a deep, steadying breath, looking at her reflection in the dark laptop screen, a girl with tear tracks on her cheeks and an unshakeable smile on her face.
"Mum?" she said, her voice clear and strong. "I got it."
A cheer erupted on the other end of the line. "Bovi! Come here! It's Anu, she got it! She got the job!" Anuja could hear the phone being fumbled, and then her dad's muffled but excited voice.
"The stack one? Put her on speaker!"
"We’re so proud of you, love!" her mum’s voice said, now clearer as the speakerphone was activated.
"That’s my girl!" her dad boomed. "I knew you would! "The stack", one, wasn’t it? They know talent when they see it!"
Anuja laughed, the sound lighter and freer than it had been in months. "Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Mum."
"When do you start?" her mum asked immediately.
"That’s the crazy part," Anuja said, a new wave of adrenaline bubbling. "August 11th. It’s in 2 weeks."
"2 Weeks!" both her parents said in unison, followed by a quick, excited back-and-forth between them that Anuja couldn’t quite make out.
"Don’t you worry about a thing," her mum said, taking charge. "We’ll have a proper celebration this weekend, and we’ll figure everything out. We’re just so happy for you, love."
...After hanging up, Anuja let out a long, slow breath and leaned back in her desk chair. The silence in her small room in her flat-share felt different now, no longer filled with the anxiety of the unknown, but with the hum of a future that was finally beginning.
The joy was a solid, warm presence in her chest. But her practical mind immediately began churning through the next set of problems: the logistics of her new life.
She turned back to the laptop, the PDF of the offer still open. Her eyes found the office address: The Digital Quarter Hub, Antonburg. She opened a new browser tab and pulled up a city transport map. Her finger traced a path from her current residential district, Crestley, to the city centre. A bus to the nearest metro station, then a ride on the Express Line, and a ten-minute walk.
"Forty-five minutes," she murmured. "Manageable."
It wasn’t the length of the commute that concerned her, but the sheer, structured reality of it...
...A new list began to form in her head, a mental checklist for the next two weeks.
Go home this weekend to celebrate.
Buy a monthly metro pass.
Figure out a "work-appropriate" wardrobe on a very tight budget.
And most importantly... start preparing for the actual work.
Anuja took a deep, steadying breath, looking at her reflection in the dark laptop screen-a girl with tear-tracks on her cheeks and an unshakeable smile on her face.
"Okay," she said to herself, a new sense of purpose solidifying in her chest. "Let’s get to work."
The next two weeks blurred into motion-family celebrations over her mum’s biryani, budget shopping for a "capsule" work wardrobe, late-night dives into data architecture and cloud basics. Each task felt like laying bricks toward the person she was becoming.
On the eve of her first day, she stood in front of the mirror, her chosen outfit laid out on her bed: a crisp, burgundy jumper.
She stared at the outfit, and a fresh flutter of nerves, different from the job-hunting panic, surfaced. This was the "night before school" feeling, magnified by a thousand.
She shook her head, pushing the doubts away. She had earned this. She was prepared.
She picked up her phone and set three separate alarms for the following morning, starting at 6:45 AM. There was no room for error.
Monday, August 11, xxxx. 6:44 AM.
Anuja’s eyes snapped open a single minute before the first alarm was set to go off, her body already buzzing with a nervous, electric energy. She silenced her phone before it could make a sound, swinging her legs out of bed.
An hour later, she stood in front of her small mirror, fully dressed. The woman looking back at her was different. The student was gone, replaced by someone sharper, more focused. Her hair was neat, her new clothes felt simultaneously strange and right, and her eyes held a potent mix of terror and excitement.
She picked up the new work bag from her desk, her Metro pass and company welcome email already tucked safely inside. She took one last, deep breath, meeting her gaze in the mirror.
"Okay, Anuja," she said, her voice a steady, determined whisper. "Let’s go!!!"
Thanks for reading the first entry in ‘Logs from the stack’. That feeling of terror and excitement is universal. What do you remember most about your first day in your first major role? We’d love to hear about it. 😀