Episode
The Evolution of Software, Streaming, and Data Engineering with Robin Moffatt
- Published
- Feb 9, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3018
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Summary
In this episode, I sit down with industry veteran Robin Moffatt — Sr. Principal Advisor in Streaming Data Technologies (Kafka, etc.) and a longtime voice in the data engineering community, to unpack the journey from old-school data architectures to today’s real-time streaming ecosystems . From early mainframe data processing and COBOL through the rise of Apache Kafka, streaming ETL, and event-driven systems , Robin shares lived experience from across decades of building, scaling, and evolving data platforms. We dive into: * 🧠 How the role of software engineering has shifted with the rise of distributed, real-time systems * 📊 Why event streaming and platforms like Kafka aren’t just messaging systems, but the backbone of modern data architectures * 🚀 How the community’s tooling and mental models have had to evolve — from static databases and nightly jobs to continuous, always-on streaming applications * 🤖 A candid look at how AI and real-time data are intersecting, shaping both tooling and expectations for the next decade * 🔮 Robin’s perspective on where the industry is headed — beyond buzzwords toward real engineering maturity Along the way, we get historical context, real-world lessons from conference stages and community forums, and a perspective on building resilient, scalable systems that power today’s data-rich applications. If you’ve ever wondered how we got from batch jobs to continuous event streams , or what it really takes to build modern pipelines that support AI workflows, this conversation with Robin is a must-listen. For more from Robin: * 📍 His personal blog & talks: https://rmoff.net/ * 🔗 LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinmoffatt Thanks for reading Data Engineering Central! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public e…