Top Data Engineering Skills in 2023

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January 13, 2023

Engineering refers to designing and building things. Similarly, data engineering refers to designing and building pipelines to transform data into a usable format. The term surfaced around 2011, especially within data-driven enterprises like Airbnb and Facebook. Such companies house vast amounts of potentially valuable real-time data. Earlier, software engineers used to develop appropriate tools to handle this data. The requirement soon evolved into data engineering skills for handling big data.

In the last ten years, the majority of companies have transformed digitally. Digitization has resulted in unprecedented volumes of a variety of data types that is much more complex. While data scientists are required to work with this data, there is a need for people who would organize and complete it, ensuring its quality is preserved. This is where data engineers step in and organize the data so that data scientists or other users can utilize it for further analysis. These data pipelines collect data from multiple sources and represent it as a single source of information.

The process may sound easy, but it requires many data literacy skills to engineer data. This article discusses some of the top data engineering skills necessary if you want to upscale your data career.

Top Data Engineering Skills

Here is a list of some highly appreciated data engineering skills. Have a look and master them to advance your career as a data engineer.

Machine learning and AI

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have become one of the most prominent technologies over the past few years. These technologies use specific algorithms to predict future states based on the input data. Data engineers need prior knowledge of these algorithms to work and organize data based on the company’s requirements. Additionally, a robust foundation in mathematics and statistics will give you an edge in understanding how these algorithms work.

Data engineers are simply software engineers who specialize in data pipelines and workflows. Consequently, machine learning becomes a must-have skill because it aids you in building better pipelines and models, making it one of the most necessary data engineering skills.

Data Engineering Skills for structures and algorithms (DSA)

Data engineers are responsible for organizing and handling unstructured data and transforming it into a usable format. This data must be stored somewhere accessible so that it can be used conveniently. Data structures are simple storage units that come in handy for the same. Not just for storing, data in these structures are also readily available for processing and cleaning. Secondly, DSA goes through several common problems and tells you how efficient they are. Although data engineers are mainly responsible for organizing and filtering data, they should know how to see if an algorithm is working efficiently.

Database technology – SQL and NoSQL

As a data engineer, you cannot find your way around SQL-based schemas and their syntax, given SQL is a widely used language. Many cloud-based systems like Amazon QuickSight and Athena are compatible with SQL-like interfaces. Additionally, NoSQL database technologies have gained popularity over the last few years, especially for storing unstructured or semi-structured data. These databases store data in key-value pairs and object formats like JSON or Parquet. A basic understanding of manipulating these key-value pairs is necessary if your data is stored in open-source ecosystems like Hadoop, MongoDB, or Cassandra (NoSQL frameworks). Data engineers should know both to have a holistic view of database technologies and be remarkable at showcasing their data engineering skills.

Scripting in Programming languages

You must be an efficient developer if you wish to be a data engineer. Almost all data engineer positions require you to know programming languages like Python. As a data engineer, you will also have to write scripts and glue codes because everything nowadays involves coding. There is infrastructure as code, pipelines as code, etc. Hence, having a robust programming background and interest in finding data patterns is vital. In addition to scripting, a data engineer must have an “operations mindset” to ensure that your infrastructure is reliable. Having some DevOps experience as a part of data engineering skills will help here.

Hyper Automation

Hyper Automation is one of the very obvious data engineering skills and refers to a business-driven approach to automating as much as possible. The process incorporates several technologies, tools, and platforms to perform value-added tasks like scheduling events, running jobs, etc. Hyper Automation has grown over the last few years in tandem with data pipelines and specialized scripting for moving data into the cloud. It leads to enhanced work quality, faster business processes, and decision-making agility. A data engineer should, thus, know how hyper-automation works.

Data Visualization as One of the Data Engineering Skills

Data engineers are often expected to perform exploratory data analysis (EDA) while working with data to ensure that the required ETL/ELT task is completed. EDA analyzes specific trends, patterns, or graphical representations of the data. A data engineer should know how to visually present and analyze data using statistical knowledge with tools like SSRS, Tableau, Azure Synapse, Excel, Power BI, etc. visualization also ensures that the data quality is maintained as data engineers process it. Therefore, it is an essential skill if you want to proceed in data engineering.

Multi-cloud computing

The model is called multi-cloud computing when an enterprise utilizes many cloud combinations simultaneously. It could be two or more public or private clouds or a combination of public, private, and edge-based clouds. Shifting to a multi-cloud model enables companies to avail themselves of better data security features and cost savings simultaneously. Given its rising trends, data engineers are expected to understand the requisite technologies that go into cloud computing. Besides having other data engineering skills, they are also expected to have experience with Iaas (infrastructure-as-a-service), PaaS (platform-as-a-service), and SaaS (software-as-a-service).

Data APIs

Data engineers must have experience with application programming interfaces (APIs) in addition to standard data engineering skills because part of their job is to build APIs (application user interfaces) in databases to enable data analysts and scientists to send queries. These interfaces share data infrastructure for real-time analysis. Furthermore, data engineers must be proficient in programming languages like Scala or Python to create APIs and facilitate other data engineering tasks.

Understanding ETL Tools as Data Engineering Skills

ETL stands for extract, transform, and load, and the term describes the entire process of extracting data from a source system, transforming it into a required format, and loading it to the desired location. Since data engineers are responsible for organizing and processing data, it is relevant to know ETL tools. When handling vast amounts of data, engineers perform batch processing and ensure that the data remains relevant to the specific requirement. Many ETL tools, like Fivetran, Hadoop, IBM DataStage, Hevo, Talend, etc., are very efficient in batch processing. A data engineer should be able to work through these tools while organizing data.

Apache Hadoop

Apache Hadoop is an open-source library that enables distributed procession of large datasets. It is a cluster of frameworks that support data integration, making it suitable for big data analytics. Hadoop is a popular framework as it is compatible with gigabytes to petabytes of data by strategic clustering. Data engineers who are acquainted with such frameworks (Hadoop, Kafka, etc.) would have the edge over others in terms of better efficiency for real-time data processing, monitoring, and reporting, making it one of the most necessary data engineering skills.

Top AI News of the Day (January 12, 2023)

By

Disha Chopra

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January 12, 2023

1. CNET is Publishing Articles Written by AI

As per online marketer Gael Breton, the world-famous tech journalism platform CNET has been quietly publishing articles generated by AI. He noticed that many of the website’s articles bear the byline “CNET Money Staff,” which, as per CNET, is identified as “AI Content published under this author byline is generated using automation technology.”

Looks like @CNET (DR 92 tech site) just did their coming out about using AI content for SEO articles. pic.twitter.com/CR0IkgUUnq
— Gael Breton (@GaelBreton) January 11, 2023

2. Codeword’s New AI Interns

In a first-of-its-kind internship program, two artificial intelligence (AI) interns will join Codeword, a top tech marketing agency. The interns will join its team of 106 employees and will closely work with the creative team. The AI interns, Aiden and Aiko, will work directly under Terrence Doyle, Senior Editor at Codeword, and will create blog posts for the company’s blog and social media profiles.

3. Hockeyverse, Hockey India’s Metaverse Project to Welcome FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup

Hockey India is the first National Sports Federation to enter the metaverse. Hockey India debuted the “Hockeyverse” on their social media platforms on Monday, just days before the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar, Rourkela. With Hockeyverse, hockey enthusiasts can enjoy the sport at Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium while sitting at home. They can also use features like the Photo Booth (to take pictures), Team Room (to meet Indian hockey players), and Trophy Room.

4. Free 6-Months AI Certification Program by BHU

The Department of Computer Science at Banaras Hindu University has launched a free, six-month AI certification program with specialized training. 100 seats will be available through this program, and applicants will be admitted based on their performance on an entrance exam. Interested candidates can register for the program at the official website.

5. DeepL Raises US$100m at a Valuation of US$1b+ for Translation-as-a-Service

DeepL, an AI startup providing instant translation services, has announced that it raised more than US$100m at a valuation of US$1b+. It is a German company founded by Jaroslaw Kutylowski as a B2B (business-to-business) service rather than a B2C (business-to-consumer). DeepL supports translation on Mastodon, a decentralized social network. With the recent funds, DeepL plans to expand its services to cover more enterprises and switch to Grammarly-style writing assistance.

6. AI Detects Rare Forms of Dementia

Researchers at the University of Leipzig Medical Center and Max Planck Institute have utilized AI and machine learning to detect rare forms of dementia using patient MRIs. Researchers demonstrated in their study that AI can automatically identify patterns in patient imaging data that are exclusive to rare forms of dementia, facilitating early diagnosis.

Hockey India enters the metaverse through Hockeyverse

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 12, 2023

Hockey India enters metaverse Hockeyverse

Hockey India has become the first National Sports Federation to enter the world of metaverse by announcing the launch of ‘Hockeyverse.’ The announcement came on Monday, only days before the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela.

Hockeyverse will provide a novel virtual experience where global hockey fans can experience their favorite sport from the comfort of their home through their personal computer.

Upon accessing the ‘Hockeyverse’ URL in a browser, users are welcomed to the hockeyverse virtual world page. Users are asked to enter their name and email address. After selecting their virtual Avatar’s gender, users can click on the ‘Enter Hockeyverse’ button to enter.

The Hockeyverse features attractions such as a replica of the newly built Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. The building just outside the stadium’s main entrance has two rooms, consisting of a brief history of Indian Hockey and their current achievements.

Fans can also use the Photo Booth, where they can take selfies with players virtually. There is also The Team Room and The Trophy Room, where fans are welcomed by Hockey India’s famous players. Fans will also have access to the site where they can buy desired hockey merchandise.

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum will be available on BharatVerse metaverse

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 12, 2023

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum available BharatVerse

The Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum, Pune, is now available to visitors in the metaverse. The virtual replica of the museum will be present on BharatVerse, which is a metaverse platform that works to create digital twin places of particular interest.

Museum Director Sudhanva Ranade said, “We will facilitate an immersive experience of the metaverse for virtual visitors to get a feeling of being present in real-time inside the Museum.”

The visitors will be able to access the museum through head-mounted devices, web browsers, or mobile phones. They will be able to take a 3-D tour of the museum, created under the guidance of renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Shreekant Kelkar.

Founder-Director of BharatVerse, Rohit Srivastava, said, “We envision BharatVerse as a collaboratively-built virtual India where every square meter of the real India can be showcased as it is. We are building the metaverse platform on the three-pronged principles of collaboration, contribution, and creativity.”

The Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum exhibits items from the collection of Dinkar G. Kelkar, a noted Indian art collector and historian. The museum’s collection includes palanquins, carved woodwork, traditional lamps, and much more.

Meta partners with FADA to upskill over 3000 auto dealers across India

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 12, 2023

Meta FADA upskill 3000 auto dealers India

Meta has partnered with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) to digitally upskill thousands of auto dealers across India to reach consumers digitally.

At the Auto Expo 2023, Meta launched ‘Move with Meta,’ which is an upskilling and enablement program in partnership with FADA to train over 3000 auto dealers across India to build a social presence and digitize with the help of Meta Platforms.

While explaining the reason Meta is training auto dealers, Meta said that with people increasingly depending on digital touchpoints to decide on their automobile purchases, auto dealers are feeling an urgent need to become discoverable to customers online.

While commenting on the partnership, the president of FADA, Manish Raj Singhania, said, “Meta has done ground-breaking work by helping dealers to create a social presence and generate online leads, that too with minimal investment.

The program will include knowledge from global teams and provide dealers with low-cost and easy access to best-in-class global digital expertise.

Meta will also leverage FADA’s scaled forums, such as state-level dealership workshops known as Vyapaar, and its initiatives for under-35 dealers to enhance the program’s reach.

Seek AI Raises US$7.5M in Pre-Seed and Seed Funding for Its Generative AI Platform

By

Disha Chopra

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January 12, 2023

Seek AI, a software development and IT services company, disclosed its pre-seed and seed funding amounting to US$7.5m for its generative AI platform. Guo’s Conviction Partners led the investment rounds that saw participation from many notable industry leaders like Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia, DeepMind Co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, NJP Ventures, and dbt Labs CEO Tristan Handy.

Seek AI leverages itself as an intelligent data layer that uses generative AI like OpenAI’s DALL-E and GPT-3. Based on these models, Seek AI enables code generation for database querying.

Users can access and query data using the company’s natural language interface in a question-and-answer format, which helps free up data teams from tedious coding work and speed up business operations. The interface is accessible via email, Slack, text, and several CRM programs.

Seek AI was founded in September 2021 by Sarah Nagy. She says, “Our vision has been to automate mundane but critical processes and workflows so that data stakeholders can get the data they need fast, and data teams can focus more on strategic efforts.”

With the recent Seek AI pre-seed and seed funding, the company will also tie up with more partners to reduce the complexities of automation and find more efficient use cases of applied AI. The company also plans to utilize the extra funding to make data generally accessible to everyone with its products and NLP services.

Codeword has hired two AI interns for first-of-its-kind internship program

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 12, 2023

A leading tech-marketing agency, Codeword, has announced a first-of-its-kind internship program, where the agency is adding two AI interns to its team of 106 people. The AI interns will be fully embedded into Codeword’s creative team.

The two interns named, Aiden and Aiko, created their own visual presentation. Aiko will work on Codeword’s design team and report to Senior Art Director Emilio Ramos.

Aiden will work with the agency’s editorial team and report to Senior Editor Terrence Doyle. Both interns will receive internal creative assignments, will share their experiences on the company’s blog and social media, and will receive regular performance evaluations over the course of a three-month internship.

The interns are not expected to work on client-facing work. However, they may be asked to perform the kind of creative work that AI is particularly good at handling.

For example, generating large volumes of rough concept thumbnails for news, trend research, and mood boards or voice and tone analysis for the editorial team. Considering the typical hourly intern salary, Codeword will donate the equivalent to the Grace Hopper Celebration.

Free 6-Months AI Certification Program by BHU

By

Disha Chopra

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January 12, 2023

Banaras Hindu University’s Department of Computer Science has introduced a six-month BHU free AI certification program with specialized training. Under this program, BHU will allocate 100 seats, and admissions will be based on performance on an entrance exam.

The program’s registration period will start on January 12 and ends on January 25, while the academic session begins on February 1 and ends in July. Interested candidates can register for the program at the official website.

Candidates can take the entrance exam if they have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, mathematics, engineering, or a related field. The program has no course fees, and everyone who completes the course will receive a certificate and be eligible to work as data scientists and applied scientists in the field.

The BHU free AI certification program will cover many topics like big data, statistical applications, data processing, data structures and algorithms, artificial neural networks, and other related concepts.

The Department of Computer Science at BHU is backed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, to facilitate the BHU AI certification program.

Beautiful.ai launches DesignerBot, a generative AI for stunning presentation creation

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 12, 2023

Beautiful.ai, a presentation platform that allows anyone to build beautiful presentations, has announced the launch of DesignerBot, which is a generative AI designed for custom image generation and automatic presentation creation.

Using the cutting-edge AI technology from OpenAI, Beautiful.ai’s DesignerBot creates fully realized presentations based on a single text prompt, including appropriate layouts, photos, icons, text, and design.

The AI automatically creates a huge variety of content and slides for school, business, and personal use, including text, charts, lists, and icons that can be used for marketing presentations, pitch decks, sales proposals, and even abstract concepts.

Once DesignerBot has created a custom presentation, users can use Beautiful.ai’s powerful SmartSlides technology to quickly edit slides by removing or adding content and automatically adapting, resizing, and laying out the slides, all while preserving and maintaining corporate brand guidelines.

The addition of DesignerBot provides a truly automated zero-to-finish experience to Beautiful.ai’s presentation ecosystem – eliminating hours of frustrating effort to design and craft a beautiful presentation narrative

Meta hires Vikas Purohit as Director of Global Business in India

By

Sahil Pawar

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January 11, 2023

Meta hires Vikas Purohit Director of Global Business in India

The social media giant Meta has appointed ex-Tata CLiQ CEO Vikas Purohit as India’s Director of Global Business Group. He will help the company in guiding its strategic relationships with brands and ad agencies.

Before Meta, Purohit was associated with Tata Cliq. Purohit had quit Tata CLiQ as CEO last month after spending over six years there. Purohit will report to the director and head of Ads Business for Meta in India, Arun Srinivas.

The key business teams of Meta in India, including agency teams and business solutions teams, will report to Purohit.

Besides Tata Cliq, Purohit has worked at Amazon, Reliance Brands, Aditya Birla Group, and Tommy Hilfiger. He has over 20 years of experience in senior business, sales, and marketing roles and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore.

“India’s largest agencies and businesses are playing a crucial role in the country’s expansion of the digital economy and are building inspiring business models that are surprising marketers globally,” said Srinivas.