How To Learn Data Engineering Online
Data Engineering is a challenging and fastest-growing profession at the moment. There are numerous career opportunities available in this domain that are outweighing the supply. Are you wondering how to learn Data Engineering online?
We’ve got you covered. Keep on reading, and you’ll know.
The digital revolution has disrupted business operations and has encompassed every sector. It has pushed companies and businesses to shift from a project-oriented data perspective to an entirely data-driven ecosystem.
The last decade has observed a dramatic increase in the potential of data to transform these industries. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring result of this digital era is the humongous amount of data generating within a day. Thus, data has now become a primary resource to leverage any business.
The Data-driven ecosystem mainly consists of three dominant roles: Data Scientist, Data Analyst, and Data Engineer.
Data scientists and Data analysts process, clean, and analyze the data to find meaningful insights. On the other hand, Data Engineers are responsible for implementing a platform or infrastructure to manage the data operations.
Let us delve deeper to understand the field of Data Engineering and the responsibilities of a Data Engineer.
What is Data Engineering? How can I learn Data Engineering?
Engineers are mainly responsible for developing solutions. “Data” Engineering deals with building pipelines and/or a platforms to transform data into a usable format for a Data Scientist to process it. Data engineering, in simple terms, is Software Engineering that caters to the needs of data.
The question would be how to become a Data Engineer? What skills are required?
A Data Engineer is responsible for the following tasks:
- Designing, developing and maintaining the architecture of the data in the Data Science projects.
- Managing the influx of structured and unstructured data and building sturdy data pipelines.
- Ensuring an uninterrupted flow of information from the application to the server.
Thus, a Data Engineer needs to have the following skills:
- A sound understanding of programming concepts.
- Database and Operating System concepts.
- Knowledge of Cloud computing and Distributed systems.
If you wish to become a Data Engineer, the skills listed above are a must.
Why learn Data Engineering in today’s world?
Data Engineering lays the foundation for Data Scientists and Data Analysts. A Data engineer knows both Data and Software Engineering, which opens up many job options for Data Engineers. They have the choice to work in an early-stage start-up, a giant tech company, start their own business or maybe innovate and build their product. Data Engineers have a lot of freedom and flexibility when selecting a job of their preference.
Today technologies like Artificial Intelligence and IoT have reached astonishing heights, the demand for Data Engineers is rising. Companies require many Data Engineers to develop and streamline their Data Science initiatives.
In the latest 2021 Data Science Interview Report, the number of Data Science interviews have only seen a growth of 10% while the number of Data Engineering interviews rise by about 40% in 2020.
Data Engineering jobs pay well. The average base salary is around $129,926 with a $5000 bonus annually (Source).
Data is the new fuel to power industries, and a Data Engineer is an important asset to build the infrastructure of data warehouses. Therefore, at this moment, it would prove beneficial to invest time in learning Data Engineering.
How do you become a Data Engineer? .
The Google results for the search, ‘Best Resources to learn Data Engineering online,’ can be overwhelming and, at time, confuse you about where to begin. To make your journey towards Data Engineering a straightforward one, we suggest that you stick to the KCE process of learning.
The KCE Process
Often, we misunderstand the learning process for deliberately gathering and storing information about a concept in our brains. Or, we tend to learn for the sake of entering the market. Learning is an extensive concept that encloses Knowledge, Certification, and Expertise (KCE).
Without any further ado, we will straight up dive into the concept of the KCE to learn Data Engineering online.
Knowledge
The K stands for Knowledge.
Here, you need to understand and grasp the domain of Data Engineering. To develop any skill, you need to understand the area, its applications, or real-life use cases. Understand the role of a Data Engineer and the skills required for the same.
Certification
The C stands for Certifications.
You need to market yourself to the world by showcasing your credentials. Thus, this is where you require certifications. Certifications from well-known and reputable governing bodies add credibility to your profile and help recruiters understand your true potential.
If you want to learn Data Engineering online, you can search for the available online certifications from the tech giants to make your profile stellar.
Expertise
The E stands for Expertise.
It is essential to back up the theoretical knowledge with a stellar practical understanding and experience.
Data Engineering is a vast field that encompasses different sectors. While the applications change, the technologies and concepts remain the same.
Thus, to implement a solution across a wide range of applications, you need to solve real-life problems by putting in the skills you’ve gained. This practice will improve your problem analyses and solving capabilities as well.
The only way to excel in Data Engineering is by getting your hands dirty in it. Create the pools of data, manipulate it, build a pipeline, understand the data flow, etc. There are various modalities available that can help you reach this goal.
Different Ways to Learn Data Engineering
Be it online, in person, or pre-recorded online videos, you have it all. Following is a brief overview of each of these modes:
1. Online Pre-recorded Videos.
Within a few clicks, in seconds, you’ll find numerous affordable Data Engineering tutorials on YouTube etc. These videos give you the flexibility to learn according to your pace.
However, these videos are passive and not interactive. If you need a constant push throughout the course material, learning Data Engineering online wouldn’t be a good fit for you.
2. In-Person or Online Live Classes.
Find yourself a mentor who can guide you throughout your Data Engineering Journey. There are going to be times where you might get stuck on a concept. During such times, the mentor will play a cardinal role in helping to move forward. Thus, make sure you find yourself an excellent mentor.
You may find local instructors who teach Data Engineering or a topic under it. Create a list and shortlist them based on qualifications, track record, industry connections. You can check out the extremely impactful live courses on MLAcademy.io as well.
In-person classes also let you interact with other students and build a community which proves beneficial in boosting your creativity and collaborating on projects.
The KCE process is the best way to pave your path and succeed in learning Data Engineering online. Understand the domain, engage yourself in certification courses and apply for internships or solve real-life problems.
To help you throughout this process, find a mentor. We prefer in-person classes as they allow you to learn actively, engage with other learners, and exchange ideas.
If you prefer to learn Data Engineering online, there are tons of courses, both free and paid, available on the internet
Is Data Engineering easy to learn?
Data Engineers deal with transforming big data, analyzing it, and identifying meaningful insights. Their job mainly focuses on building data workflows, pipelines, and the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes. The tools required to carry out this task may differ based on roles and areas of applications.
The most common tools that a Data Engineer needs to be handy with are as follows:
- Hadoop/ Apache Spark/ Kafka
- Python/ Java/C++/Scala
- SQL and NoSQL
- AWS/Redshift
- Azure
There are ample resources online and courses on Coursera and EdX that can help you learn and develop the necessary skills to become a Data Engineer. Many of the tools listed above are open source, meaning you can use the software and build your projects without any obligations.
Is Data Engineering easy to learn?
Well, no skill is easy to grasp, and you cannot master it overnight. It takes hard work, consistency, and dedication to get comfortable with the concepts. The same goes with Data Engineering. To learn Data Engineering online, you need to find different courses and build up skills necessary to tackle real-life problems.
Data Engineering involves the development of complex processes and is a very critical job. Building new ETL pipelines is a difficult task. Data Engineers are the unsung heroes of the Data community. With ever-evolving technology, a Data Engineer needs to stay updated and polish his or her skills to match the latest trends and expectations
Conclusion
Data Engineers make Data Scientists more productive by simplifying their tasks. Without a Data Engineer, a Data Scientist would spend most of his/her time analyzing the data. Despite the significance and abundance of jobs, there is no clear-cut pathway to learn Data Engineering online, but the KCE process as described above is a proven-way that we follow and suggest at ML Academy.