Career: Data Engineer

Data Engineers build the infrastructure that moves data.

Daily tasks:

• Build ETL/ELT pipelines
• Set up data warehouses
• Ensure data reliability & uptime
• Optimize query performance
• Work with streaming data

Skills needed:

• SQL (for transformations)
• Python or Scala
• Airflow, Dagster, or similar
• Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Data modeling

Salary range: $100K - $180K+

SQL usage: 40-50% of your day More engineering-focused than analyst roles.