Data Engineer
Build the pipelines that move, transform, and store data at scale
Job titles
Data Engineer, Cloud Data Engineer +
UK salary range
£55,000–£85,000
US salary range
$90,000–$145,000
Time to first role
1–2 years (requires SQL and Python baseline)
About this role
Data engineers design and build the infrastructure that turns raw data into analytics-ready datasets. The role requires a blend of software engineering, cloud platform skills, and database knowledge. It's the fastest-growing specialisation in data, with demand outpacing supply in most markets.
Key skills employers look for
Certification roadmap
Cloud Data Foundation
Cloud data services knowledge — pick your cloud platform
DP-900Azure Data Fundamentals
Covers relational and non-relational data concepts, analytics workloads, and Azure data services. Fast foundation for the Azure data stack (Synapse, Fabric, Data Factory).
CLF-C02AWS Cloud Practitioner
AWS foundation for data engineers targeting the AWS data stack (S3, Glue, Redshift, Athena, EMR).
Data Engineering Specialisation
The role-specific cert that validates pipeline and warehouse skills
DP-203Azure Data Engineer Associate
The most directly relevant cloud data engineering cert — covers data ingestion, transformation, storage, and security using Azure Synapse, Data Factory, Databricks, and Data Lake Storage.
Professional DEGoogle Professional Data Engineer
The most respected GCP data cert. Covers BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Dataproc, and ML pipeline design. Highly valued in organisations running analytics at scale on GCP.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need SQL before starting data engineering certs?
Yes — strong SQL (window functions, CTEs, query optimisation) is a prerequisite for every data engineering role. Learn SQL first, then layer on cloud and pipeline skills. A data engineer who can't write complex SQL queries won't pass a technical interview regardless of cert count.
Key terms for this career path
These concepts underpin the certifications in this roadmap and appear regularly in exam questions.
Azure Cosmos DB
Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed, globally distributed NoSQL database service that offers fast reads and writes anywhere in the world with automatic scaling and multiple consistency models.
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that lets you create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines to move and transform data from various sources to destinations.
Azure Databricks
Azure Databricks is a fast, easy, and collaborative Apache Spark-based analytics platform optimized for Azure that lets data teams prepare data, run machine learning models, and build data pipelines using a single workspace.
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database-as-a-service (DBaaS) in Microsoft Azure, based on the SQL Server engine, that handles scaling, backups, patching, and high availability automatically.
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Synapse Analytics is a cloud-based data integration, warehousing, and analytics service that brings together big data and data warehouse capabilities under one platform.
Blob storage
Blob storage is a cloud service for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data, like documents, images, and videos.