Stage 1 · Lesson 1 of 8
The data engineer's job
A builds and runs the systems that move data from where it is created to where people use it. Raw data comes from apps, outside vendors and devices. The data engineer turns it into clean tables that people can trust.
Analysts, and products then use those tables. A normal week means writing jobs that copy data in, designing tables, scheduling pipelines (chains of steps that run on their own) and fixing runs that failed. It also means answering "why does this number look wrong?".
The job sits between software engineering and analytics. You write real production code, but your users are other data people. Knowing who uses your data, and what they decide with it, shapes every choice in this roadmap.
Common traptreating the job as tool collecting, such as learning five orchestrators, when employers mostly want solid , Python, modelling and the habit of making pipelines reliable.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- CourseFreeData Engineering Zoomcamp
DataTalks.Club · Beginner
Free, cohort-based or self-paced course: Module 1 covers Docker, PostgreSQL and loading real taxi data
- CourseFreeCS50's Introduction to Programming with Python
Harvard University · Beginner
If your Python is shaky, work through the lectures on functions, exceptions, file I/O and libraries first