Daily Archives: September 24, 2022

An Easy & Thorough Guide On What Is Data Engineering?

Before a model is created, before the existing data is cleaned and made ready for exploration, even before the responsibilities of a data scientist start – this is where data engineers come into the frame. In this article, we are going to have a look at what is data engineering. 

Every data-driven business requires a framework in place for the flow of data science, otherwise, it is a setup for failure. Most people enter the data science niche with the focus of becoming a data scientist, without ever knowing what is data engineering and analytics are and what the role of a data engineer is. They are crucial parts of any data science venture and their demand in the sector is evolving exponentially in the present data-rich scenario. 

There is presently no coherent or official path available for data engineers. Most people in this role reach there by learning on the job, rather than abiding by a detailed avenue.

What Is Data Engineering?

A data engineer is responsible for constructing and maintaining the data frame of a data science project. These engineers have to make sure that there is an uninterrupted flow of data between applications and servers. Some of the responsibilities of a data engineer involve enhancing data foundational procedures, including the latest data management technologies and also software into the prevailing mechanism, and constructing data collection pipelines among various other things.

One of the most crucial skills in data engineering is the potential to design and construct data warehouses. This is where all the raw data is collected, kept, and retrieved. Without data warehouses, all the activities that a data scientist does will become either too pricey or too big to scale. 

Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) are the steps that are followed by a data engineer to construct the data pipelines. ETL is crucially a blueprint for how the assembled data is processed and changed into data ready for the purpose of analysis. 

Data engineers usually have an engineering background. Unlike data scientists, there is not much scientific or academic evaluation needed for this role. Engineers or developers who are interested in constructing large-scale frameworks and architecture are ideal for this role.

Difference Between Data Scientist & Data Engineer

 It is crucial to know the difference between these 2 roles. Broadly speaking, a data scientist formulates models using a combination of statistics, machine learning, mathematics, and domain-based knowledge. He or she has to code and construct these structures using similar tools or languages and also structures that the team supports. 

A data engineer on the contrary has to maintain and build data frameworks and architectures for the purpose of data ingestion, processing, and deploying of large-scale data-heavy applications. Construct a pipeline for data storage and collection, funnel the data to the data scientist, to put the structure into production – these are just some of the activities a data engineer has to do.

Role Of A Data Engineer

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Job Role Of A Data Engineer

Now that you know what is data engineering, let us have a look at the roles of a data engineer. 

  • Data Architect: A data architect lays down the basics for a data management mechanism to ingest, include and maintain all the data sources. This role needs knowledge of elements such as XML, SQL, Pig, Hive, Spark, etc. 
  • Database Administrator: As the name recommends, a person operating in this data engineering role needs high knowledge of databases. Responsibilities include making sure the databases are accessible to all the needed users, are maintained effectively, and operate without any disruptions when any new features are added. 
  • Data Engineers: They are the master of the lot. A data engineer as we have already witnessed requires to have basic knowledge of database tools, languages such as Java and Python, and distributed systems such as Hadoop, among other various things. It is a mixture of tasks into one single role.

 

Skills Required By Data Engineers

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Skills Required By Data Engineers

Here are some of the skills that every data engineer should be well versed in. 

  • Basic knowledge of data engineering
  • Good knowledge of Python
  • Solid knowledge of operating systems
  • In-depth, heavy database knowledge – NoSQL and SQL
  • Data warehousing – MapReduce, HIVE, PIG, Hadoop, Apache Spark, Kafka
  • Basic machine learning familiarity

Wrapping Up

After this guide on what is data engineering, you must have known that becoming a data engineer is not an easy job. It needs a deep evaluation of tools, technologies, and a solid work ethic to become one. This data engineering job role is presently in huge demand in the industry because of the recent data boom and will prevail to be a rewarding career choice for anyone who is willing to adopt it.

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