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What Is the Best Career Path for Getting a Job as a Data Engineer?

Published March 7, 2022

The volume of data captured and consumed worldwide is growing at lightning speed – and it s showing no signs of stopping. From the 79 zettabytes of information created in 2021, the world is expected to produce a whopping 181 ZB of data by 2025, boosting the global data analytics market to a global value of $68 billion over the next three years.

This data is radically changing the way businesses operate, influence UX, take executive decisions, and manage day-to-day operations. Today, just over 55% of businesses have a system in place to harness big data – but the big data revolution is leaving no industry untouched. And data engineers are the figure companies need to collect, store, and use data. But what is the best route to securing the best data engineering jobs? Learn about your career options in this guide.

Data Engineering: What You Need To Know Before Taking This Career Path

With a growing number of companies looking to capture and use data to reach their goals, data engineers have never been so in demand. That is why it isn t surprising that, according to the DICE’s 2020 Tech Job Report, data engineer jobs have been growing at an annual rate of 50%, making this career the fastest-growing one in the tech sector.

Data engineers make a difference in the chances of success of a business by:

Building systems for collecting and storing data that are instrumental to the business s goals
Designing solutions and algorithms to analyze the information collected
Ensure that the raw data is converted and transformed into usable information for data scientists and analysts
Building and maintaining pipeline architectures, data warehouses, and data analysis tools

Ultimately, the role of data engineers is to apply their skills to collect data and elaborate information so that it can be evaluated by data science experts and data analysts.

What Career Path To Take to Become a Data Engineer?

Pursuing data engineering jobs comes with many benefits, including:

Availability of 100% remote positions
Plenty of different tasks to work on
Highly scalable skills and development opportunities
Average salary of $116,769

So, data engineers are in high demand and benefit from some of the highest compensation levels among tech jobs. But how do you become a successful data engineer? There is more than one path you can take. Here are some of your options.

Learn Skills You Need To Become a Data Engineer

Data engineering is a field born to respond to the increased need of businesses to understand and use data. Since data engineering only started to develop as a separate discipline 10 years ago, many established data engineers landed their position from different tech and data analysis backgrounds.

So, if you already have experience as a data scientist, programming, or data analysis, you might consider switching to a data engineering career path by filling the gaps in your skillset. Some of the must-have skills to become a data engineer include:

Proficiency in coding languages – including Python (especially important for Python Jobs), Java, Scala, R, and SQL
Database design for data storage – especially familiarity with relational and non-relational databases
Cloud storage and cloud computing solutions – such as Google Cloud and AWS
Cybersecurity and data protection – to work with cybersecurity teams and prevent data loss and theft
Data storage and big data tools – including data lakes, data warehouses, and tools used to highlight trends and patterns in big data sets, such as Apache Storm and Cassandra.
Machine learning, automation, and scripting – to work with large amounts of information
Extract, Transform, and Load systems – ETL systems are essential tools to work, transport, and process data

Earn a Relevant Degree

If finding data engineering jobs or network engineering jobs is your goal from the start of your career, you might consider earning a relevant degree in the field. In any case, a bachelor s degree in computer science or similar can offer you the foundations to build a successful career by integrating complementary skills.

Some degrees that can get you a step closer to your goal of becoming a data engineer include:

Computer science
Software engineering or development
Data engineering
Data science or data analysis
Computer engineering
Cybersecurity

General degrees such as Information Technology, Technology Management, and Programming can help you access DevOps jobs or cloud security jobs. But don t forget that most employers will also look for real-world experiences, such as internships.

Validate Your Skills With Certifications

If you have already acquired the essential skills to succeed as a data engineer, you might consider validating them by earning certifications. Investing in certifications allows you to immediately prove your skills in the eyes of potential employers.

Additionally, preparing for an exam allows you to confront your level of knowledge and hone your skills. If you are unsure about the best certifications to invest in, start by checking relevant job descriptions and listings.

Some options include:

Showcase Your Skills Through a Data Engineering Portfolio

Finding a job in today s economy might seem challenging – especially if you are just starting out. Indeed, most employers will be looking for a robust portfolio of projects to back up any claim on your resume. However, in the field of data engineering, there are many tools that you can use to create a portfolio that truly showcases your skills. These include:

A portfolio website
Your LinkedIn profile s Projects section
Free portfolio solutions such as GitHub and Kaggle
Guided projects to add to your portfolio

Your portfolio might include independently completed projects, as well as commissions, collaborations, and projects completed as part of coursework. Consider showing your code and hashed comments to help your recruiter understand and appreciate your thought process.

Finding The Best Career Path Towards a Data Engineering Job

Many data engineers don t start their careers in this exact field. For some, the starting point might be a database administrator position or more specialized Java developer jobs, or .Net jobs.

Additionally, regardless of your background, a degree isn t always necessary to find a rewarding data engineering job. But what is necessary are up-to-date skills, willingness to learn, and a solid foundation in computer science.

Ultimately, the career path you choose to access data engineering jobs should be suitable for your unique background and experience – just trust that there are plenty of data engineering opportunities to explore!

The post What Is the Best Career Path for Getting a Job as a Data Engineer? appeared first on Jobacle.com.

Published January 20, 2023

Why Do You #WorkItDaily? Share Your Story With Us Today!

For many of us, our careers are not only about what we do but WHY we do it. At Work It Daily, we know this is true. That’s why we want to hear YOUR career story!

Why Do You #WorkItDaily?Â

@workitdaily Why do YOU #WORKITDAILY ??? Share your story on @tiktok, tag @workitdaily & add the hashtag #workitdaily too. You could get featured on our feed & website where millions will see you.â¥ï¸â¥ï¸â¥ï¸ #jobtok #edutok #careertiktok #careergoals #work #lifehack #life #live #love â¬ original sound – Work It Daily

J.T. O’Donnell, Work It Daily’s founder and CEO, recently launched a social media campaign on TikTok asking users to share their stories about why they “#workitdaily.”

Why do you do what you do?

Work It Daily’s mission in 2023 is to help millions of people become the purpose-driven professionals they want to be. But in order to do that, we need to change the narrative. We need to stop asking people what their job titles are and what they do for work and judging them based on those answers. Instead, we need to start to get to know the people behind the work.

And the way that we do that is through storytelling.

If millions of us can share our stories about why we work, we will collectively change the narrative. And this is also how we’re finally going to be able to be comfortable working to live instead of living to work. The shift has to come, and we’re starting that shift with this campaign.

Need Some Inspiration? Check Out Fatima’s Story!Â

@fatimalhusseiny I joined the challenge #workitdaily @Work It Daily #fypã· #bookishmuslimgirl_lb â¬ Epic Music(863502) – Draganov89

Our first participant in this challenge was Fatima, a writer who loves telling the stories of others.

In her TikTok, Fatima states:

Writing is my passion. It’s how I express myself and share my voice through others’ stories. Telling stories is a way of communication and connecting with others and making a difference. I think it’s also a personal journey for me. I love nothing more than just sitting down with someone and hearing about their experiences, challenges, struggles, their triumphs and achievements, and then being able to take all of that and put them into words. There’s something magical about being out there for someone sharing their stories and being there.

Fatima shared her story with us. Will you?

Share Your Story With Us Today!Â

@workitdaily Thank you Fatima for being the first to join our @tiktok social media campaignâ¥ï¸â¥ï¸â¥ï¸@fatimalhusseiny We can’t wait to share your story with the world! Check out our campaign to learn more! @workitdaily #workitdaily #WhyIWorkItDaily #careertiktok #careertok #jobtok #edutok #mywhy #purpose #passion #worktolive #live #life #love â¬ Epic Music(863502) – Draganov89

Why do YOU #workitdaily? Share your story on TikTok, tag @workitdaily, and add #workitdaily to your post. You could get featured on our website and social media feeds!

Let’s start changing the narrative today! We look forward to seeing your story!

Published June 17, 2022

5 Impressive Advantages of Online Graduate Programs

Following the 2020-2021 global pandemic, the benefits of online educational programs can not be understated. While thousands of colleges and universities were forced to adapt their doctoral programs to accommodate online options in the past few years, more students than ever before are choosing to complete their graduate studies online. Many online programs were available […]

The post 5 Impressive Advantages of Online Graduate Programs appeared first on Jobacle.com.

Published October 25, 2023

5 Steps To A Powerful Personal Brand On Your Executive Resume

You’ve certainly heard that using a powerful personal brand message will make your executive resume a compelling readâand help you gain traction in your job search. But how do you go about defining and capturing your brand?

Intensive processes, such as the 360 Reach Personal Branding exercise, can often help pinpoint your brand elements and strengths. However, you can conduct your own research and analysis to create a compelling message suitable for your executive resume.

While pinpointing your own personal brand (and writing a compelling executive resume from it) may seem daunting, you can break the process into these manageable steps:

1. Reflect On Your Leadership Value-Add

One of the easiest ways to encapsulate your message of ROI is by taking stock of how you solve problems and deal with obstacles at an executive level. If you’re having difficulty expressing your value proposition, try creating a list of your top 10 career achievementsâthe ones that have become your signature accomplishments over the years. (Think of it as your top 10 hitsâthe ones you’ve always thought of as defining your career and its trajectory.)

Any of the following can make your top 10 hits:

Turnarounds (at a team, division, or company level)
New sources of revenue
Cost-cutting methods
Additional sales and distribution channels
New products or markets
Speed and agility in delivering results

Next, write STAR (Situation or Task, Action, Result) stories for each top achievement, remembering to set the stage for each story by looking at the situation first, then your actions, and lastly, the outcome. J.T. O’Donnell, founder and CEO of Work It DAILY, also recommends the “Experience + Learn + Grow” model to formulate stories for employers. While tedious work, you’ll benefit from having this collection of powerful anecdotes in your job search.

2. Analyze And Leverage Feedback From Throughout Your Executive Career

Consider your reputation at work, influence on others, and leadership style (all critical components of an effective executive resume). Are you known as the go-to leader who builds consensus when negotiations are at a standstill? Have you become a turnaround leader capable of righting the ship? Chances are that you’ve carved out a unique nicheâand prospective employers need to know this about you!

Take the time to gather information from those affected by your work:

Analyze your impact on subordinates. Do you often mentor your teams into company or industry leaders?
Look at those you’ve influenced, such as vendors or colleagues. Have they adopted your methods or commended you on your effectiveness?
Assess your impact on the executive team and board. Do you build the business case and buy-in that lead your CEO to issue changes in strategy?

Now, assemble testimonials and feedback from credible sources, such as performance reviews, LinkedIn recommendations, letters of reference, or other kudos (even informal email messages). Create STAR stories from this data, and consider including a snippet or quote in your executive resume for additional reinforcement.

3. Include Tactical Details And Scope

Executive resumes aren’t just high-level lists of achievements. To be truly compelling, the scope and reference points from your work need to be included as supporting details.

Consider pulling in specifics from among the following components of each job:

Size of budgets managedâboth department and project-level
Cost-saving figures that show the result of new processes or negotiations
Numbers of employees managed, both directly and in matrixed organizations
Comparisons that show progression (such as year-over-year increases in market share)

What these details will do for your executive resume is help round out your story, showing how your authority and impact have increased at each progressive step of your career. It’s all about the numbers!

4. Look To Others For Comparison

You may have started to look at the data for your executive resume with a critical eye. What if it isn’t good enough to vault you to the next level in your career? How will employers know you’ve led significant change if there are minimal cost or profit results to report?

One of the best ways to distinguish yourself from the competition is to look precisely at them and gauge the difference based on context.

Here’s how to weigh your competitive differentiators:

Analyze what would have happened at previous employers if you hadn’t worked there. Would the company or division have floundered? Is it possible employees stayed only because of your influence?
Look at what took place against the backdrop of the economy or industry challenges. For example, did your efforts keep the company afloatâeven if they didn’t realize the same level of profitsâbecause of actions that counteracted the downturn?
Take note of what occurred at competing companies. Were you maintaining operations while your competitors went out of business?

These sure signs of effectiveness will help add a twist to your STAR storiesâemphasizing your ability to take on and overcome challenges that others failed to achieve.

5. Build Brand And Achievement Statements To Use Throughout Your Resume

Now that you’ve collected all this data, what’s the next step? Pulling it together into a cohesive story, of course.

Here’s where the stories you’ve built will serve as key components of your brand message and can be used in various places within your executive resume:

Ensure your STAR stories are in manageable form, using bullet points that take up two lines or less for use on your executive resume.
Distill your most prominent STAR stories into a simple message. As an example, an EVP of marketing who launched new products could note “carving a profitable new industry niche” as a statement of brand value.
Look at executive resume examples for inspiration.

Undertaking these steps is, of course, a time-consuming exercise in exploring your achievements and examining your brand. However, it will pay off in a cohesive message of value to employersâand help them see the value in bringing you in for a choice executive role.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Published April 14, 2022

SMART Goals For Job Seekers

There are two perspectives on SMART goals for job seekers, one from the viewpoint of the activities you perform as part of your job search, the other focused on understanding the expectations of a position you’re considering.

SMART goals, originally attributed to Peter Drucker, has been interpreted with various modifications and additions, but generally refers to goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable (Achievable, Actionable), Realistic (Relevant), and Time-Bound (Time-Based, Timely). There’s strong agreement on the “Specific” and “Measurable,” with several variations of the “__ART” elements. Specific, Measurable, and Time-Bound are generally agreed upon as core elements.

For The Job Search

Man writes down his goals while looking for a job

For job seekers, SMART goals can be a powerful tool to guide the process. While many individuals are familiar with the idea from its common work application, it’s a new—and much-needed—process for many job seekers. And for those unfamiliar with the idea, it can be further complicated by the claim of goals being set for them in their work experience—goals that are absolutely not SMART. So, a job seeker might just set an extremely broad goal, like “finding a new job,” or might set some seemingly more specific goals like:

Revise my resume
Contact my references
Search online for job opportunities
Send thank you emails

While setting some goals, any goals, particularly if they’re written down, is better than not having any goals, these are definitely not SMART goals. More importantly, goals like these deprive a job seeker of the power of having SMART goals.

Research on goal setting clearly demonstrates the power—and the dangers—of goal setting. Goals that are not SMART fail to motivate top performance and/or lead to inaction. Goals that are set too high (not Realistic) frequently prompt a person’s decision to “give up.” Understanding the dynamics of goal setting can be a powerful tool for a job seeker’s success.

Let’s turn the examples above into SMART goals:

Revise my resume – Create a customized resume for each job opening I want to apply for by next Sunday.
Contact my references – Identify at least one reference from my previous employers and contact them within the next month with my resume and information on the jobs I’m seeking.
Search online for job opportunities – Check online for job opportunities at least twice a week.
Send thank you emails – Send thank you emails within 24 hours of an interview to each person involved.

For The Interview

Woman asks a question about goals during an interview

Understanding SMART goals can also be a powerful tool for a candidate to use during an interview. Job postings, ads, and even job descriptions can be filled with generalities and duties that, at best, describe average performance.

A job seeker is frequently asked, “Do you have any questions?” Seize this opportunity whenever given. Unless the following has been made clear to you, ask: “If I were offered and accepted this position, and you considered me extremely successful in my first year, what did I accomplish?” Then probe! And probe whenever you can during an interview when you don’t have clear, specific (SMART) expectations from the interviewer:

Specifically, what do you expect the person in this job to accomplish in the first 90 days?
- In the first six months?
- In the first year?
The job description says the job includes “making sales calls.” How many are considered acceptable in a day? In a month?
- How many of the company’s sales staff regularly achieve acceptable performance?
- How many sales calls are considered “outstanding performance”?
The job description says that the job includes “leading the team.” How many people are on the team?
- How many members are new? Long-time members?
- Is the team facing specific challenges? Problems?
- What resources are available for developing the team? Training? Assessments?
- What’s the time frame for improving the team’s performance?
You mentioned “the usual customer service” responsibilities, could you tell me…
- What does “outstanding” customer service mean for this business?
- What kind of training is provided for customer service?
- What are the customer service expectations in terms of working with colleagues?
- (Somewhat advanced but a good question) Is compensation tied to the quality of service provided by a person in this job?

These probing questions need to be customized for each individual position. But just like the importance of thoroughly preparing your responses to questions about your experience, this is where you thoroughly prepare by 1) researching the company and 2) preparing questions that probe for:

Specific: Are you given answers with clear “action” verbs?
Measurable: Is there a clear measurement (a number) that indicates a performance level?
Attainable: Are the expectations achievable, too low (usually not specific), or unrealistically high?
Realistic: Are the results of the actions specified indicated?
Time-Bound: Are the expectations framed in terms of “when”?

SMART goals can be a very powerful part of a successful job search—and a powerful tool for a job seeker to use during the interview process—if a job seeker learns and practices the process.

The job search process can be incredibly frustrating and stressful, especially if you’re feeling lost, trapped, or burned out in your career. If you’re struggling to find a job that’s right for you, we can help.

We’d love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

It’s time to find work that makes you feel happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.