What Is a Big Data Engineer? A 2024 Career Guide

If you’re interested in the following topics, working as a big data engineer could be a good career choice: data, maths, analytics, problem-solving, numbers, graphs, charts, and information technology (IT).

Use this guide to explore the critical aspects of being a big data engineer and decide if this career suits you. 

What is a big data engineer?

A big data engineer is responsible for developing, maintaining, testing, analysing, and evaluating a company's data. Big data refers to huge data sets. In the modern economy, it is common for companies to collect large volumes of data while conducting business operations.

When used correctly, big data can greatly benefit organisations, helping them improve efficiency, profitability, and scalability. However, companies' big data is only helpful if there is a big data engineer to build systems to collect, maintain, and extract data. So, big data engineers are ultimately responsible for helping companies manage their big data. 

Typical job responsibilities

The following are typical job responsibilities for big data engineers:

• Designing and implementing software systems

• Creating systems for collecting data and processing that data

• Using Extract Transform Load operations (the ETL process)

• Creating data architectures that meet the requirements of the business

• Researching new methods of obtaining valuable data and improving its quality

• Creating structured data solutions using various programming languages and tools

• Mining data from multiple areas to construct efficient business models

• Collaborating with data analysts, data scientists, and other teams

Big data engineer vs data scientist

The most significant difference between big data engineers and data scientists is that big data engineers are primarily responsible for building and maintaining the systems and processes that collect and extract data. Meanwhile, data scientists analyse the cleaned data to generate insights, using various predictive models to create meaningful insights.

In-demand skills for big data engineers

It is common for big data engineers to possess all of the following skills:

• Computer programming with languages like C++, Java, and Python

• Databases and SQL

• ETL and data warehousing

• Talend, IBM DataStage, Pentaho, and Informatica

• Operating system knowledge for Unix, Linux, Windows, and Solaris

• Hadoop

• Apache Spark

• Data mining and modelling

Salary and outlook

Big data engineers earn an average annual salary of ₹7,30,000 in India [1]. Factors like experience level and location can significantly affect how much you can expect to earn, with mid- to senior-level engineers earning higher wages. Similarly, working in cities where big data engineering is thriving, such as Bangalore, may yield increased salaries and opportunities. 

As more companies seek to harness the power of data, the demand for data engineers in India is booming. 

Roadmap to becoming a big data engineer.

Most people complete several steps to becoming a big data engineer.

Degree

To become a big data engineer, you must master all the technical skills mentioned above, which requires extensive education. Of data engineers in India, Glassdoor reports that 82% have bachelor’s degrees in a related field, such as computer science, statistics, or business data analytics [2].

Big data engineers need to be masters of coding, statistics, and data. Most companies require a bachelor’s degree for big data engineer positions.

Experience

Experience is a valuable asset for obtaining a job as a big data engineer. You can gain experience by freelancing, participating in a fellowship, practicing independently, or working in related positions. The more experience you get, the better your chances of obtaining a big data engineer position. 

Certifications

Obtaining professional certificates can also be highly beneficial for securing employment as a big data engineer. Each of the following certificates can be helpful for people who are trying to become big data engineers:

• Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer

• Certified Big Data Professional (CBDP)

• Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer

• IBM Certified Data Engineer

Next steps

If you have a passion for computer science, data, numbers, and programming, then a career as a big data engineer could be the perfect choice for you. 

Explore the field further or get started in on your big data career path with the Big Data Specialisation delivered by UC San Diego on Coursera. This six-course series is designed for beginners with no prior experience to help you learn the foundational concepts of big data, including its integration with machine learning.