Lecture Notes: Role of a Data Engineer

Overview of Data Engineer Role

One of the highest paying data roles
Relatively low competition and promising future
Main responsibilities:
- Design, build, and maintain infrastructure for data collection, storage, and analysis
- Ensure data is accessible, reliable, and optimized for performance

Monitor and check the health and operation of data pipelines and databases
- Ensure smooth operation as data fuels other business functions
Optimize performance of databases and data processing tasks
- Efficiency is essential due to large data sets
Develop and maintain ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes
- Get the right data from various sources into desired databases
Data cleansing to ensure high data quality and correct format
Collaborate with team members and stakeholders
- Data scientists, analysts, clients
- Request access to data and ensure expectations are met
Additional tasks:
- Create documentation
- Implement security measures
- Explore and upgrade systems for efficiency and capabilities

Solid programming skills with Python being critical
- Need strong programming fundamentals
Familiarity with database systems and management
- SQL is key
- Knowledge of diverse database solutions
- Understanding of data warehousing
Understanding of big data tools (e.g., Apache Spark)
Knowledge of cloud platforms
- Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform
- Not necessary to learn all, focus on what companies use
Strong understanding of data analysis
Previous data experience often required