Two Archetypes of Data Engineers

Data engineering is a crucial element of the data ecosystem, comprised of diverse professionals who play essential roles in managing and processing data. While the job title may be the same, as I’ve seen over the years, data engineers often fall into two distinct archetypes: the "businessy" data engineer and the "techy" data engineer as I like to call them. In this blog post, we will explore these two archetypes, their characteristics, and their contributions to the world of data engineering.

These folks are all about solving business problems. They are passionate about tracking metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and building interactive dashboards. Often, they have extensive SQL experience and possess coding skills in versatile languages like Python, ideal for data manipulation and analysis.

Responsibilities: Their primary focus on translating business needs into data solutions. They build data pipelines to collect, transform, and load data, enabling meaningful insights for decision-makers. These professionals are often referred to as Business Intelligence (BI) Engineers.

Daily Tasks: A typical day may involve gathering requirements from stakeholders, designing dashboards, scripting in Python or SQL for data extraction and transformation, and collaborating with business teams to ensure data-driven decision-making.

On the other hand, techy data engineers are drawn to solving scale problems. They thrive on exploring and implementing new technologies, and often prefer coding in languages like Scala or Java. They are responsible for building scalable data pipelines that can handle massive volumes of data.

Responsibilities: Techy data engineers focus on building and maintaining robust data infrastructure. They ensure that data pipelines are scalable, reliable, and capable of handling large datasets. They are proficient in tools like Apache Spark, Apache Flink and Apache Airflow, which are vital for processing vast amounts of data and know intricacies of cloud tools.

Daily Tasks: A typical day for a techy data engineer might involve optimizing data pipelines, troubleshooting performance issues, experimenting with new data storage and processing technologies, and collaborating with data scientists to deploy machine learning models.

While these two archetypes of data engineers have distinct roles and responsibilities, there is immense potential when they work together. The businessy data engineer's ability to understand and translate business requirements complements the techy data engineer's expertise in building scalable solutions. The businessy folks understand what the suits want, and the techy folks build the data powerhouse to support those needs. Collaboration between these two types of data engineers can lead to the creation of powerful data-driven solutions. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

Now, here's the thing: most data engineering training focuses on the techy side of things, leaving a gap for the businessy data engineer. We need content that showcases their role, assists individuals in identifying suitable job postings, and guides them on their learning journey.

Which type do you identify with?