Here’s How You Can Become a Data Engineer with WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program

Data engineering is an essential field in tech that helps businesses make better decisions by extracting useful information from data. “The ability to take data–to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it–is going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades,” Professor Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist, says. 

While data scientists access and interpret data, data engineers are responsible for creating and maintaining the pipelines, repositories, and systems that the data scientist needs to work with. This career path has been gaining more popularity in recent years. 

Dice’s 2020 Tech Job Report reveals data engineering to be the fastest-growing occupation with about 50 year-over-year growth. The career path is known to offer impressive job security and lucrative financial benefits.

So, how can you break into data engineering as a student, a job seeker, or a career changer? WeCloudData is an academy saddled with the motivation to bring positive changes to the future of work by delivering an excellent learning experience and creating an environment for work-integrated learning. It pursues that mission by teaching in-demand skills using cutting-edge data and AI technology.

Read on as we walk you through how WeCloudData can help you become a skilled Data Engineer within a few months with its Data Engineering Bootcamp.

What Is a Data Engineer?

Data engineers build data pipelines to collect information from various sources and develop algorithms to draw insight from the data. Generally, the complexity of a data engineer’s job depends on factors like the company’s size, operations, and goals. Some essential roles of a data engineer are listed below.

1. Design, build and maintain data pipeline architecture necessary for collecting and processing data.
2. Evaluate a business’ needs, optimize and scale data pipelines to meet its growing database and demands. 
3. Build tools and channels that facilitate data flow between the IT systems and several data warehouses.
4. Create codes, scripts, and tools that aid the data collecting, analyzing, cleansing, and virtualization processes.
5. Manage structured and unstructured data stored in a data warehouse using several data management techniques.
6. Deploying machine learning models created by data scientists into the technical systems.
7. Work with data scientists, data analysts, and other relevant stakeholders to build more functional data systems that facilitate their work.
8. Monitor the overall performance of the system and assist in cleaning the data at regular intervals.

The responsibilities of data engineers are generic, but their roles can be more company-specific. Like their responsibilities, a data engineer’s role depends on the business size, trade, and needs. Here are three common data engineering roles.

1. Generalists are data engineers usually found in startups or small-medium enterprises. They are often responsible for most data processing and management activities.  
2. Pipeline-Centric Data Engineers are mainly present in midsize companies. They collect large volumes of data and collaborate with data scientists in managing them.  
3. Database-Centric Data Engineers work in large corporations that deal with Big Data. They develop databases and table schemas by copying data from various sources into a central system. 

Data engineers use their extensive knowledge and skills in coding tools like AWS, SQL, Python, and Java to execute their responsibilities effectively. The rigorous task of working as a data engineer comes with adequate financial compensation, as their average salary is $92,957 per annum. To start your data engineering career, here is how you can upskill with WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Bootcamp.

What Is WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program?

WeCloudData Academy offers an Applied Data Engineering Diploma Program specially designed to help fresh graduates, IT experts, and other professionals desiring to start a career in data engineering. The program lasts six months, and it trains students to be job-ready from day one after graduation.

The program is delivered live online by experienced data professionals and educators. The lectures and labs sessions are interactive and feature a practical-based approach to learning. During the training, students complete several capstone projects that help cement their knowledge of technical skills, build their portfolios, and boost their confidence as they enter the industry.

Adding to that, WeClouldData usually invites data engineering experts as guest speakers at its programs. Students also have access to six-month one-on-one mentorship career services which will provide all the support they will need during job searching including resume revision, interview preparation, professional network development, and so on.

WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program Schedule and Tuition

WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program is available full-time and part-time.

1. Part-Time Data Engineering Program was designed to cater to working professionals who want to keep their daytime job and learn new skills simultaneously. Classes are held on weekday evenings and weekends. Students here also get access to the same curriculum as full-time students although they do not have access to full-time teaching assistants and real clients’ projects.
   
   The part-time program costs $6,767 (CAD 8,600) in an upfront payment.
   
2. Full-Time Data Engineering Program comes with an added feature unavailable in the part-time variant—full-time teaching assistant and a business project. This project comes at the end of the program. Here, students handle an actual client’s project, interact with real companies, take business requests, and turn them into practical data analytics execution plans. 
   
   The tuition for the full-time program is $10,700 (13,600 CAD) up front.

WeCloudData features other financing options aside from upfront payment and they are available to Canadian and US students. Partnering with PayBright, WeCloudData allows students to make installment payments. With the Ontario government’s second career funding, on the other hand, they can access up to $28,800 in grants to students to cover tuition, books, and other expenses. 

Note that WeCloudData is an accredited private career college, making it eligible for the second career funding. Canadians may also apply for students’ line of credit from the Bank of Montreal to cover their training expenses. The ISA payment option is also available for US students. 

An Overview of WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Course Curriculum

The Data Engineering Program features a comprehensive curriculum that spreads across 24 weeks of active learning. It’s split into two semesters with 12 weeks in each half. 

The first semester begins with a review class on programming basics. Students learn Linux commands and revise their knowledge of Python, object-oriented programming, and key data structures. Then, the topics branch out to cover Scala programming with Apache Spark, Cloud Computing with AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Data Warehousing, Data Lake, and Big Data management. 

The first semester ends with a Term Project where students build modern business intelligence tools using OLAP cubes, Data Warehousing, and cloud computing skills.

Kicking off with the second semester on the 13th week, they learn to create different databases models using NoSQL. Advancing further in the program, they learn data ingestion and data linkage with Google Pub, Apache Kafka, NiFi, Atla, Spark Streaming, Flink, and several other tools. 

The syllabus also covers data integration and data pipelines modeling. Students build data pipelines using Apache Airflow, create feature databases for machine learning, and deploy machine learning pipelines.

Technical skills without soft skills leave students halfway on the path to becoming data engineers. This is why the Applied Data Engineering Bootcamp also helps you hone relevant soft skills such as communication and project management with an agile framework. Finally, you would work on a capstone project and graduate as a certified AWS/GCP data engineer with a solid project portfolio.

Aside from technical training, job search prep is also a priority at WeCloudData. After completing the Data Engineering Program, students get access to six months of comprehensive training in job search. During this period students learn to build a strong resume, improve on their personal branding, and adopt quality interviewing skills.

WeCloudData’s career mentors also work as data engineers in real companies, putting them in the best position to know job search trends and changing expectations of employers. Through several one-on-one sessions, they diligently guide each student through their unique job hunt process.

Who Will You Learn from at WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program?

Instructors at WeCloudData’s Engineering Program are seasoned industry professionals with both industry and teaching experience. Teaching assistants work more personally with students to ensure they understand the lessons and can apply them in their assignments and projects.

Students also learn from several guest speakers and lecturers that are invited to speak at the bootcamp. These speakers are usually professionals at big-name companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Thompson Reuters, Element AI, Payright, and Canaccede Financial Group, among others. These lectures help students connect with industry leaders and learn what employers’ expectations are in the real world.

Some of those you will learn from at the Data Engineering Bootcamp are:

• Jolay Zhang. An AWS instructor and a software development engineer/architect at Amazon
• Yongning Zhang. A software development engineer at Amazon
• Edwin Guo. A Big Data Specialist at CPPIB 

Who Can Apply for WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program?

WeCloudData’s Data Engineering program was built to train college students, fresh graduates, or other professionals who intend to switch careers. People in other tech or data disciplines—data scientists, software developers, and others— may also join the bootcamp to further hone their skills.

Altogether, WeCloudData expects every applicant to have:

1. Basic knowledge of Python and SQL programming languages.
2. A computer with at least eight gigabytes of RAM and four CPU cores.

Student Review: Is WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program Worth It?

Albert Ngan is an alumnus of WeCloudData’s Data Engineering Program. His interest in data engineering started with data science, Big Data, and data analytics. Curiosity drove him to learn more about the new field and how it aligned with his experience in software engineering. 

Albert left his previous job years back and was not in touch with coding, so relearning basic Python concepts was helpful to him. However, newer coding tools like Kubernetes, SQL, and Docker posed some challenges.

“It takes time to digest new concepts and a voluminous amount of materials,” Albert said. “Also, the learning environment differs from traditional classroom settings. Regardless, the instructors use their wealth of experience to guide students through the process.” 

For Albert, the deal-clincher at his job interview came through the WeCloudData Business Project. His work experience and the projects he completed at the bootcamp gave hiring managers insight into his capabilities.

Looking back, Albert believes he took the right step by enrolling in WeCloudData. With numerous self-learning content available, it is easy for young people to jump right in. Learning at WeCloudData was demanding, but Albert’s hard work paid off, and he is grateful for the help he received at every step of the way.      

Become a Data Engineer with WeCloudData

WeCloudData’s Applied Engineering Program is student-centric, helping you hone essential technical and soft skills for data engineering. The program also entails real-business problems, presenting you with an opportunity to put your skill to the test and gain real-world experience. After graduation, you are not left alone as mentorship, career support service, and job referrals bring you closer to the door of your first job. 

WeCloudData trains people to become data engineers by teaching them technical skills like data ingestion and integration, building data pipelines, project management, and loads more. Head on over to the WeCloudData Data Engineering course page to start your application or you can also get in touch with WeCloudData at info@weclouddata.com or (647) 588-4206.