Data Engineering Workshop 2

A one-day beginner workshop covering a simple Django project, web scraping into PostgreSQL, Cursor Skills, and guided fix drills.

Prerequisites

Before you start

• Complete Workshop 1 (Docker basics, simple web scraping, PostgreSQL basics, Git basics)
• Keep the same machine setup from Workshop 1 ready to use

Software

• Python 3.9 or above (pip3 available)
• Docker and Docker Compose
• Git (any recent version)
• Cursor installed (required for the Skills and fix-drill sessions)

Project setup

• A Git account (GitHub or GitLab — the same one from Workshop 1 is fine)
• Open this Workshop 2 folder in Cursor on workshop day
• Use the provided myworld/ sample project. Do not run django-admin startproject myworld inside this folder (it already exists and would conflict)
• Prefer docker compose (space). Older machines may still have docker-compose (hyphen). The file name is always docker-compose.yml

Quick checks

Run these in a terminal:

python3 --version
git --version
docker --version
docker compose version || docker-compose --version

All commands should print a version without errors. Cursor should open this project successfully.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Explain Django at a beginner level and run a simple Dockerized Django Admin project
• Scrape a workshop-style page (Python Insider) and store rows in PostgreSQL
• Explain what a Cursor Skill file is and when to use one
• Use the workshop scraper Skill with a URL and store data in the expected database tables
• Use Cursor with five provided prompts to fix common beginner errors

About Cursor in this workshop

We use Cursor as the editor. In the afternoon you will:

1. Use a Skill (a SKILL.md file with project-specific instructions)
2. Paste prompts into Cursor Chat so Cursor can follow that Skill and help fix code

You do not need to build a separate custom agent. “Cursor Chat” is the built-in AI chat in Cursor (sometimes labeled Agent). Skills tell that chat how to work for this project.

Schedule

Project layout

If time is short

Complete in this order: scrape → save to PostgreSQL → Skill demo. Fix drills can be completed quickly by pasting the prompt from each scenario README.md and checking the result.