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We’re hearing about a lot of tech layoffs recently and it can be very disheartening to start a new career or role when you’re worried about the market. There are a lot of changes, many people feel they are getting replaced by generative AI, whilst some are battling the economy and post-pandemic financial crisis.
Unfortunately, we are forced to embrace the present and future and learn how to manoeuvre it.
With that being said, Data Engineering is the perfect choice.
Why You Should Consider a Career in Data Engineering
Let’s start by saying that data is referred to as the new gold. There is so much value in data, however, a lot of stakeholders do not know what to do with the data and how it can impact their business and decision-making process.
Data engineers can extract, transform and load data to ensure that it is formatted for analysis to provide valuable insights and drive informed decision-making. More and more organisations are striving to become more data-driven, therefore skills professionals who understand how to handle raw data are extremely popular.
But it is not only cleaning raw data, it is also working with big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, in which data engineers can implement and optimise data infrastructure, to ensure businesses can benefit from cutting-edge technologies.
With the wide variety of skills a data engineers requires, their job is far from boring. They will constantly evolve to match the current market and be up to date with new technologies and processes. This leads to the demand for skilled data engineers receiving high salaries and benefits in a competitive market.
Top Data Engineering Job
If you’re looking to join a competitive market, the types of data engineering roles you should be looking into are:
- Data Engineer
- Big Data Engineer
- Machine Learning Engineer
- Data Architect
- Cloud Data Engineer
- ETL Developer
- Data Operations Engineer (DataOps)
- AI Data Engineer
Data Engineering Job Salary
Naturally, a lot of people want to know the salaries of these types of jobs, so let’s dive into what these look like using Glassdoor. These figures are based on the base pay in the UK, however, if you would like to know more depending on your location, please click on the following link.
- Data Engineer – £37K – £61K/yr
- Big Data Engineer – £34K – £65K/yr
- Machine Learning Engineer – £41K – £73K/yr
- Data Architect – £55K – £85K/yr
- Cloud Data Engineer – £42K – £66K/yr
- ETL Developer – £31K – £64K/yr
- Data Operations Engineer (DataOps) – £29K – £55K/yr
- AI Data Engineer – £39K – £67K/yr
The majority of these salaries are average collated data. The demand for skilled data engineering professionals is in high demand and a lot of tech companies have big investments to provide professionals with a higher salary and more benefits.
How to Become a Data Engineer
If you are looking to transition into the tech industry or you have little to no experience with the world of data, you want to look at a course that can provide you with the right learning material, skills and experience to kick-start your data engineering career.
One in particular that I would highly recommend is DataCamps Data Engineering Certificate. This is an industry-recognised certification with companies such as HSBC, Microsoft and Google rating it highly with a lot of their employees certified.
The crazy thing is that you can get certified in 30 days!
Once you have registered for the course, you will have 30 days to complete the timed exam and the practical exam. For the Data Engineering Certificate you will have two timed exams which will put your skills to the test. You will have two hours to complete it as well as two attempts.
Once you have completed the timed exams, you are ready to move on to the practical exam where you are ready to showcase your abilities. For the practical exam, you will have four hours to complete it with two attempts. Your exam will be automatically graded and you will get your results on the spot!
But it doesn’t stop there. You’ve completed the timed and practical exams, you feel confident and ready. The next hurdle is finding your dream job which has been made easier via DataCamp as you will get exclusive access to their certification community. In this community, you will be able to connect with other professionals, and learn about expert industry events, exclusive content and resources to excel in your job search!
Don’t worry if you feel like you’re too early to take on certification and get it completed in 30 days. DataCamp offers multiple-level certifications which have been designed to align perfectly with your career goals. You can also take the readiness quiz to find the right course for you.
For example, you have the:
- Data Engineer Associate
- Data Engineer
If you would like to have a look at the list of data engineering courses you can take with DataCamp, have a look here.
Wrapping up
Starting a new career doesn’t have to be so nerve-wracking, as long as you find the right course you will have all the resources and support you need to smash it!
Nisha Arya is a data scientist, freelance technical writer, and an editor and community manager for KDnuggets. She is particularly interested in providing data science career advice or tutorials and theory-based knowledge around data science. Nisha covers a wide range of topics and wishes to explore the different ways artificial intelligence can benefit the longevity of human life. A keen learner, Nisha seeks to broaden her tech knowledge and writing skills, while helping guide others.