Whether you dabble in data, have an existing degree, or are brand new to the discipline, this data science course is for you. No matter where you are in your career, our course takes you from foundational…
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Written byBrennan Whitfield
UPDATED BY
Brennan Whitfield | Dec. 01, 2022
What Is a Data Engineer? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.
Data engineers create data architecture to collect and store large sets of data for business analysis. Here’s what to know about a data engineer’s salary, needed skills and how to become one.
What Is a Data Engineer?
Data engineers build, maintain or develop systems that collect, store and analyze data at scale. Data engineers utilize big data tools, computer programming languages and machine learning techniques to gather and clean large amounts of data and prepare it for insight and data analysis. Data engineers frequently work alongside data scientists to accomplish their work.
What Do Data Engineers Do?
Data engineers build the architectures, pipelines and tools that convert data into usable information for a business.
Data Engineer Responsibilities
- Build, design and maintain data architecture.
- Design, build, test and maintain data pipelines.
- Validate or build systems to validate data sets and data sources.
- Implement machine learning models at scale.
- Ensure systems maintain compliance with data security policies and legislation.
- Collaborate with varied teams and enterprise stakeholders.
Day-to-Day Responsibilities of Data Engineers
- Use SQL to create and maintain data sets, databases, tables, data lakes or data warehouses.
- Use big data tools like Apache Spark and Apache Kafka to automate data pipelines and create, move or transform data sets.
- Develop connections between multiple sources of data with APIs or database connectors.
- Communicate with different parties to understand data capture and management needs.
Data Engineers Within a Company
Data engineers are usually part of a data science or data analytics team. They often focus their expertise on a specific area of a business, like toward a platform for product or business needs. They also frequently work alongside data scientists, data analysts and business intelligence analysts.
Importance of Data Engineers
The work of data engineers allows professionals to access and analyze data as well as make business decisions at a more efficient rate. Without data engineers, business data would be left largely unorganized, unusable and unprofitable for a company.
What Skills Are Needed to Be a Data Engineer?
Qualifications to Be a Data Engineer
- Applicable internship experience and/or on-the-job training.
- Ability to build and maintain data architectures, pipelines and sets.
- Expertise in data mining, data storage and Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes.
- Working knowledge of SQL and relational databases.
Data Engineer Prerequisites
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, software engineering, information systems or a similar field.
- Master’s degree in data engineering, data analytics, data science or a similar field.
Data Engineer Hard Skills
- Big data tools and databases.
- Cloud computing knowledge.
- Computer programming languages (Java, C, C++, NoSQL, Python, R, Scala, SQL).
- Data aggregation, management, mining and storage.
- Data security.
- ETL and data transformation processes.
- Machine learning knowledge.
Data Engineer Soft Skills
- Adaptability.
- Critical thinking.
- Teamwork and collaboration.
- Verbal and written communication.
Tools and Programs Data Engineers Use
- Amazon Redshift
- Apache Kafka
- Apache Spark
- C
- C++
- Java
- MongoDB
- NoSQL
- Python
- R
- Scala
- SQL
- Snowflake
How to Become a Data Engineer
Data Engineer Education and Experience
Data engineer candidates are often expected to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, software engineering, information systems or a similar field. They also may have a master’s degree in data engineering, data analytics, data science or a similar field to enter competitive or higher-level roles.
Candidates will also need to obtain applicable experience through an internship and/or on-the-job training. Additionally, knowledge in the areas of programming languages (Java, Python, R, Scala, SQL), data warehousing and Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes, big data, cloud computing, data security, machine learning and effective communication are recommended.
Data Engineer Certificates and Courses
- Data Warehouse - The Ultimate Guide
- Introduction to Cloud Security with Microsoft Azure
- Intro to Data Science Webinar
- Mastering Data Structures & Algorithms Using C and C++
- Practical Data Structures & Algorithms in Java + HW
- Python for Data Structures, Algorithms and Interviews!
- The 21 Best Coding Bootcamps
- Writing production-ready ETL pipelines in Python / Pandas
Data Engineer Career Path
Data engineers can serve as an entry-level role or as a mid-level role depending on each company and its related needs. If not beginning as a data engineer, professionals tend to first start their careers as a software engineer, data analyst or a similar role. After gaining experience as an entry-level and mid-level data engineer, professionals can move into a senior data engineer role. From there, professionals may progress into management and leadership roles like chief data officer or director of data engineering.
Data Engineer Salary and Job Outlook
Data engineers are in-demand, with U.S. employment for database architects and similar roles projected to increase 9 percent by 2031.
The full compensation package for a data engineer depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average data engineer salary.
Courses
Expand Your Data Engineer Career Opportunities
Expand what you’re capable of with expert-led data science courses from Udemy.
Flatiron School
Whether you dabble in data, have an existing degree, or are brand new to the discipline, this data science course is for you. No matter where you are in your career, our course takes you from foundational…
General Assembly
In this two hour live workshop you will walk through the typical data science workflow and see how the pros identify powerful business predictions. You’ll get first-hand experience to explore the key tools and…
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Certifications
Data Engineer Certifications + Programs
Bring your resume to the next level with in-demand data science certifications from Udacity.
Whether you have coded before or are brand new to the world of programming, this course will put you on the fast track to building confidence with this intuitive, object- oriented language. Learn programming fundamentals and build a custom application. Graduate with the ability to start applying Python within high-growth fields like analytics, data science, and web development.
What you'll accomplish
This is a beginner-friendly program with no prerequisites, although some students may have coded previously. First-time programmers will have access to pre-course preparatory lessons and additional resources to boost their confidence with key concepts and set up their development environments. Throughout this expert-designed program, you’ll:
- Learn object-oriented programming fundamentals and Python basics that get you coding from day one.
- Build a Python program and add on increased complexity throughout the course.
- Troubleshoot Python code and practice common debugging techniques.
- Push your skills to the next level by adding scripting, modules, and APIs to your Python toolkit.
- Explore introductory data science and web development as potential career directions for Python programmers.
- Demonstrate your Python skills by creating apps that pull in data with Pandas or integrate functionality from APIs with Flask.
Why General Assembly
Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation. General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here.
Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team
Note: reviews are referenced from Career Karma - https://careerkarma.com/schools/general-assembly
General Assembly
General Assembly’s Data Science part-time course is a practical introduction to the interdisciplinary field of data science and machine learning, which lies at the intersection of computer science, statistics, and business. You will learn to use the Python programming language to acquire, parse, and model data for informing business strategy.
This is a fast-paced course with some prerequisites. Students should be comfortable with programming fundamentals, core Python syntax, and basic statistics. There is an option to complete up to 25 hours of online preparatory lessons. Talk to the General Assembly Admissions team to discuss your background and confirm if this is the right fit for you..
What you'll accomplish
A significant portion of the course is a hands- on approach to fundamental modeling techniques and machine learning algorithms. You’ll also practice communicating your results and insights by compiling technical documentation and a stakeholder presentation. Throughout this expert-designed program, you’ll:
- Perform exploratory data analysis with Python.
- Build and refine machine learning models to predict patterns
- from data sets.
- Communicate data-driven insights to technical and non-technical audiences alike.
- Apply what you’ve learned to create a portfolio project: a predictive model that addresses a real-world data problem.
Why General Assembly
Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation. General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here.
Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team
Note: reviews are referenced from Career Karma - https://careerkarma.com/schools/general-assembly
General Assembly
General Assembly’s Data Science Immersive is a transformative course designed for you to get the necessary skills for a data scientist role in three months.
The Data Science bootcamp is led by instructors who are expert practitioners in their field, supported by career coaches that work with you since day one and enhanced by a career services team that is constantly in talks with employers about their tech hiring needs.
What you'll accomplish
As a graduate, you will be ready to succeed in a variety of data science and advanced analytics roles, creating predictive models that drive decision-making and strategy throughout organizations of all kinds. Throughout this expert-designed program, you’ll:
- Collect, extract, query, clean, and aggregate data for analysis.
- Gather, store and organize data using SQL and Git.
- Perform visual and statistical analysis on data using Python and its associated libraries and tools.
- Craft and share compelling narratives through data visualization.
- Build and implement appropriate machine learning models and algorithms to evaluate data science problems spanning finance, public policy, and more.
- Compile clear stakeholder reports to communicate the nuances of your analyses.
- Apply question, modeling, and validation problem-solving processes to data sets from various industries to provide insight into real-world problems and solutions.
- Prepare for the world of work, compiling a professional-grade portfolio of solo, group, and client projects.
Why General Assembly
Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation. General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here.
Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team
Note: reviews are referenced from Career Karma - https://careerkarma.com/schools/general-assembly
General Assembly
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