How to Become a Data Engineer: 4 Steps

How much does bad data cost? According to the State of Marketing Data 2025 report, 75% of respondents say their lead data is so inaccurate, outdated, or noncompliant that it impacts their pipeline. 

More than 60% say poor data quality and maintenance disrupt handoffs, slows sales productivity, and ultimately poses a financial risk to their company.

A data engineer works with data daily, but that data touches every part of a company, from sales to customer service to product development. The data engineer’s job is to ensure that the data a company collects is safe, secure, accessible, and usable.

To become a data engineer, a bachelor’s degree is generally required, but a master’s degree can be a significant advantage on a resume.

What Is a Data Engineer?

A data engineer stores, maintains, and manages the huge amounts of data companies collect. This work makes the data more readily accessible and usable throughout the company, such as for marketing or product optimization.

What Do Data Engineers Do?

The typical day-to-day duties of data engineers include:

• Developing technical solutions to improve data access and usage.
• Advising the organization on data needs
• Building data pipelines to transform raw data into usable data
• Maintaining databases and data warehouses
• Cleaning up inaccurate or incomplete data
• Analyzing and reporting on data

How to Become a Data Engineer

Data engineers don’t always follow the same path. However, acquiring certain skills and experience can give candidates an advantage over their competition.

Gain a Background in Data Engineering

To become a data engineer, you typically need at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, data analytics, or a similar field. However, additional education and real-world experience can help aspiring data engineers stand out to employers.

A bachelor’s degree typically takes about four years to complete, while the duration of master’s degree may vary. 

Hone Necessary Data Engineering Skills

Data engineers need both technical and soft skills. The technical skills typically required include:

• Programming: Programming languages such as Python and JavaScript are widely used by data engineers.
• Dataset frameworks: Data engineers must be familiar with big-data frameworks such as Hadoop and Apache Spark, allowing them to store and process large datasets across devices.
• ETL tools: Data engineers build ETL—meaning extract, transform, load—pipelines to transfer data across systems, requiring knowledge of ETL tools.
• Cloud computing systems: Cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are often used for data storage, so a data engineer needs to be familiar with cloud computing systems.

The soft skills that are helpful for data engineers to have include:

• Project management: Because data engineers typically handle many different datasets at once, they must be highly organized and able to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
• Analytical skills: Data engineers should be able to understand and process large volumes of data in a way that’s useful for the organization.
• Teamwork: Data scientists must be able to work well with others on their team, as well as with all those in the organization who rely on the data they maintain.
• Adaptable, growth mindset: As automation becomes more feasible, data engineers should continually seek ways to make their data pipelines more efficient, including by automating pipeline processes.

Build a Portfolio

Because employers want to see not only skills listed on a resume but also examples of those skills in action, data engineers should maintain a portfolio that includes volunteer work, internships, on-the-job training, or freelance projects. 

Another option is to choose a master’s degree program that provides students with an opportunity to produce real-world projects for their portfolios. For example, New England College’s Master of Science (MS) in Data Science and Analytics offers a Special Projects course for senior-level students to work on real-world projects that they can include in their portfolio.

Network and Find a Mentor

Data engineers need many technical skills, and mentors can help them get a good idea of what skills employers want to see most. Joining a master’s degree program taught by faculty with real-world experience in data engineering can help with finding a mentor.

Networking is also valuable for prospective and current professionals in data science. Meeting others in the data community can help with the job search and allow hopeful data engineers to learn what others are doing to reach their goals.

Career Outlook for Data Engineers

According to Payscale, the median annual salary for a data engineer was about $99,470 as of November 2025. Salary figures vary depending on job title, location, employer, and other factors.

While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t publish data specifically for data engineers, it does publish data for related roles classified under data scientists. According to the BLS, the number of openings for data scientists is expected to increase by 34% between 2024 and 2034. This number far outpaces the expected national growth rate of about 3.1% for all professions and ranks data scientists No. 4 among the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S.

Become a Data Engineer with NEC

Each year, companies collect an increasing volume of data. They need someone capable of ensuring its quality, security, and accessibility, requiring expertise in complex systems, pipeline management, and automation. 

With NEC’s MS in Data Science and Analytics, students come away with the skills to become effective data engineers. They learn the many different methods of evaluating data, how data is collected, how to build efficient databases, and how to leverage data for strategic decision-making. 

Designed to be completed in as little as 18 months, the program is led by professionals in the data community who work with students to guide them toward success. 

Start your data engineering career with NEC.

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