Do you know that Data Engineering is one of the most popular fields in the modern world? Also, it has a lot of potential for career growth in the future.
While this field is growing, there is also a requirement for someone responsible for handling and analyzing big data in companies or data engineers.
Along with artificial intelligence and data science engineering, this field is transforming the functionalities of various sectors.
The data engineering field has become a prominent choice for an engineer as the job market is filled with data engineer jobs.
In this blog post, we will learn all of the important concepts of data engineering, including the skills, technology, and certifications you need to become a Data Engineer.
What is the Work of a Data Engineer?
A data engineer is in charge of managing and processing the whole database system used by the organization.
Data engineers ensure that massive volumes of data are efficiently collected, stored, and analyzed. They act as a link between data scientists and developers.
Data engineers are the pillar of any organization as they need to carry out operations seamlessly and effectively using different machine learning models.
Steps to Master Data Engineering
This section is a stepwise guide on how to become a data engineer with a particular skill set that you need to have to become an expert in this field.
It covers the path in a structured way starting from Foundational Programming, Data Processing Techniques, Cloud Computing Expertise, and learning Big Data and exploring Data Pipeline Development.
Step 1: Establish a Solid Programming Base
The very basic step is to clear all the fundamentals of data engineering. Understanding computer languages like Python and Structured Query Language (SQL), which are used to manage and process data.
- Python: Python is widely used because it is simple to use and supports a variety of libraries, including Pandas, TensorFlow, and other data processing frameworks.
- SQL (Structured Query Language): SQL helps data engineers to optimize and handle large data sets effectively.
Step 2: Types of Databases
Learning different types of databases is the foundation part of learning as a Data Engineer. Let us find out about the types of databases that we need to learn.
- Relational Databases: Organizing data into rows and columns to create a table and helps in structuring the data. Also learning MySQL and SQL server is good while starting in this.
- NoSQL Databases: NoSQL databases are built with particular data models and store data in schemas that can easily scale for modern applications.
- Data Warehousing: It is a technology that is used for storing, organizing, and managing large amounts of data.
Step 3: Understanding Data Processing Techniques
Handling large datasets and converting them into useful information, for that, you need to understand how to manage and process this data effectively.
For this, you need to have a good understanding of data processing techniques. Around 2 months of learning these techniques will make you better. Let us explore below what you need to learn.
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load): It is a data engineering process that combines data from different sources into a single repository.
- Batch Processing: It is used for handling huge datasets while processing them over scheduled intervals.
- Streaming Processing: This process is about handling datasets in real time to escape any fraud or threats.
Step 4: Enhance Your Cloud Computing Knowledge
As a Data Engineer, learning cloud computing technologies will help you build cost-effective and scalable applications.
Nowadays organizations are using cloud computing for large data solutions. For this, you can enroll in the below certifications to enhance your cloud-computing knowledge:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Practitioner
- Google Professional Data Engineer Certification
- Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (az900)
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- IBM Data Engineer Certification
Step 5: Master Big Data Tools and Techniques
For handling huge volumes of data, traditional methods are not sufficient nowadays. We need to have expertise with Big Data Tools and Technologies.
Let us learn more about these technologies below:
- Hadoop Environment: It refers to the various components of the Apache Hadoop software library; it includes open-source projects as well as other tools for data processing.
- Apache Spark: It is an open-source processing system used for big data workloads.
- Various Tools to Learn: Apache Kafka, Apache Spark, and Hadoop.
Step 6: Enhancing Data Pipeline Development Knowledge
As a Big Data Engineer, you need to be proficient in building reliable and secure data pipelines as it is necessary for a smooth data flow.
The data pipeline includes different technologies to verify, summarize, and find relevant patterns in data for managing business decisions.
Some important points to remember while learning Data Pipeline Development are given below:
- Learn how to build data pipelines for extracting, cleansing, and loading data into storage systems.
- Create a data pipeline from scratch using tools such as Apache Airflow to automate the extraction and transformation of data from a CSV file into a database.
Final Thoughts
Becoming a Data Engineer in 2024 is one of the evergreen choices to enhance your career growth.
The roadmap to data engineering contains a mix of learning technical skills, practical experiences, and regular practice.This has made the field grow rapidly with data science and engineering disciplines.
Through this position, Data Engineer contributes significantly to designing the new future for data-oriented companies.
So when you predefine the path that follows the above roadmap, you get worked up in the engineering of data Science.
Being aware of what the current trends and technologies to apply in data engineering are will ensure your growth and help to secure well-paid jobs if placed in this fast-growing field of data engineering.
Now, if you’re looking for a complete course in Data Engineering along with personal mentorship and covering a full data engineering syllabus, you can check out our Data Engineering Course for Working Professionals.
