Bridging Code and UI in Data Orchestration with Kestra

Summary
In this episode of the Data Engineering Podcast, Anna Geller talks about the integration of code and UI-driven interfaces for data orchestration. Anna defines data orchestration as automating the coordination of workflow nodes that interact with data across various business functions, discussing how it goes beyond ETL and analytics to enable real-time data processing across different internal systems. She explores the challenges of using existing scheduling tools for data-specific workflows, highlighting limitations and anti-patterns, and discusses Kestra's solution, a low-code orchestration platform that combines code-driven flexibility with UI-driven simplicity. Anna delves into Kestra's architectural design, API-first approach, and pluggable infrastructure, and shares insights on balancing UI and code-driven workflows, the challenges of open-core business models, and innovative user applications of Kestra's platform.


Announcements

• Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management
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• Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Anna Geller about incorporating both code and UI driven interfaces for data orchestration

• Introduction
• How did you get involved in the area of data management?
• Can you start by sharing a definition of what constitutes "data orchestration"?
• There are many orchestration and scheduling systems that exist in other contexts (e.g. CI/CD systems, Kubernetes, etc.). Those are often adapted to data workflows because they already exist in the organizational context. What are the anti-patterns and limitations that approach introduces in data workflows?
  • What are the problems that exist in the opposite direction of using data orchestrators for CI/CD, etc.?
• Data orchestrators have been around for decades, with many different generations and opinions about how and by whom they are used. What do you see as the main motivation for UI vs. code-driven workflows?
• What are the benefits of combining code-driven and UI-driven capabilities in a single orchestrator?
  • What constraints does it necessitate to allow for interoperability between those modalities?
• Data Orchestrators need to integrate with many external systems. How does Kestra approach building integrations and ensure governance for all their underlying configur