What Can We Do When Memory Becomes the New Bottleneck in Data Engineering?

Data engineering faces significant memory bottlenecks when increasing compute is impossible. Tools such as Pandas chunking, Dask, and Polars enable the processing of millions of records to overcome these limits. Simultaneously, the AI Engineer World's Fair in San Francisco emphasizes pragmatic bottleneck resolution for developers. Keynotes, including insights from OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, shift the AI dialogue from glitzy abstractions toward practical productivity, focusing on how practitioners can efficiently ship code despite unavoidable technical constraints.