From Pandas to Production: How we built dlt as the right ELT tool for Normies

The author, Adrian Brudaru, co-founder of dlt, shares his journey in building an ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) tool that meets production pipeline requirements. He starts by explaining how data engineers and Python-first analysts often encounter friction, leading to bottlenecks and complications. To address this, he developed dlt, which offers a simple and efficient way to create pipelines and sources using pandas-like syntax. The tool has gained popularity among "normies" (problem solvers with autonomy, competence, and relatedness), who appreciate its ease of use and extensive documentation, including an embedded docs helper that receives over 300 questions per day. With the help of this assistant, users can try dlt for themselves and influence the development process through feedback in the Slack community.