Big Cartel, an e-commerce platform designed for artists and small businesses, was struggling with a fragmented data system that lacked visibility, usability, and consistency. The company hired Patrick Trainer, a data engineering team of one, to transform its disconnected data silos into a cohesive, observable platform using Dagster at its core. With Dagster, Big Cartel now has a future-proof data platform that scales from internal analytics to customer-facing insights, providing a unified control plane and modern developer experience. The transformation has reduced cognitive load through automation, visualization, and proactive monitoring, making it easier for non-technical stakeholders to understand data lineage and dependencies. By implementing Dagster, Big Cartel has created an accessible, reliable, simplified data foundation that supports its growth and future capabilities.