Writes and maintains the jobs that copy data from source systems into the warehouse.
How to get here
Salary (US) as of 2026-11
Median$135K
Typical range$101K–$174K
Senior / manager$223K
Sources:
- Glassdoor, Data Engineer, US, 2026total pay median $135K; base $87K-138K; likely range $106K-174K
- BLS OES, Software Developers (15-1252), May 2025median $135,980; 10th $82,460, 90th $214,670 (nearest BLS bucket)
- PayScale, Data Engineer, US, Oct 2026base median $101K; 10th-90th $72K-142K (3,271 profiles)
- Glassdoor, Data Engineering Manager, US, 2026total pay median $223K (next level up)
PayScale base skews lower than Glassdoor total pay; senior ICs at tech firms exceed the range shown.
Experience to get here
Entry level0-2 years (often via analyst, SWE or bootcamp)
Typical title3-6 years; senior postings ask 5-12
Bachelor's in CS, engineering, statistics or math is required or preferred in postings; the Qode posting accepts relevant experience instead.
Typical prior roles
Data AnalystAnalytics EngineerSoftware EngineerETL / BI DeveloperDatabase Administrator
Must have
- Strong Python and SQL incl. query optimization
- Orchestration (Airflow or similar) and scheduling/backfills
- Cloud services: AWS Glue/S3/Redshift, Databricks, Snowflake
- Git, CI/CD and automated tests for pipelines
- Data modeling (star/snowflake, dimensional)
Milestones people hit first
- Built a pipeline from an API or event stream to the warehouse with retries and alerts
- Backfilled months of data without breaking downstream dashboards
- Moved a batch job to incremental or streaming processing
- Documented lineage so analysts could find raw tables
Certifications
Preferredin postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $150 |
| Training | AWS Skill Builder free tier; paid practice exams optional |
| Renewal | pass latest exam every 3 years |
| Typical total | $150-300 |
Time: 130-minute exam, 65 questions; 2-3 months prep
Prerequisites: 2-3 yrs data engineering and 1-2 yrs hands-on AWS recommended
AWS data certs are listed as preferred in the Qode posting; AWS is the most-named cloud in DE postings.
Preferredin postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $200 |
| Training | free Databricks fundamentals videos; paid Academy courses optional |
| Renewal | $200 retake of current exam every 2 years |
| Typical total | $200-400 |
Time: 90-minute exam, 45 scored questions; ~6 weeks prep
Prerequisites: none required; related training recommended
Databricks (Spark, Delta, Unity Catalog) appears as required experience; the Associate is the entry credential.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $200 |
| Training | Google Cloud Skills Boost paths (some labs need credits) |
| Renewal | retake every 2 years |
| Typical total | $200-400 |
Time: 2-hour exam; ~8 weeks prep
Prerequisites: 3+ yrs industry incl. 1+ yr designing on Google Cloud recommended
The credential for BigQuery shops; also listed as preferred in the KORE1 architect template.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | $175 |
| Training | free Snowflake Hands-On Essentials badges |
| Renewal | validity period not stated on vendor page |
| Typical total | $175 (third-party figure; vendor page does not list fees) |
Time: 115-minute exam, 100 questions; 4-6 weeks of prep
Prerequisites: 6+ months of Snowflake use (candidate profile)
Snowflake is a required skill in the Bellevue posting; the cert is a quick signal.
Nice to havein postings: sometimes
| Exam fee | not published |
| Training | free Microsoft Learn modules |
| Renewal | $0; free online renewal assessment |
| Typical total | exam fee varies by country (pricing on request) |
Time: 100-minute exam; 6-8 weeks prep
Prerequisites: SQL, PySpark and KQL familiarity expected; replaces the retired DP-203
Microsoft's Fabric Data Engineer credential; DP-203 retired on 03/31/2025.
Training & learning
- Data Engineering Zoomcamp FREE
DataTalks.Club · bootcamp · free · 9 weeksFree, open-source course covering Docker, Terraform, orchestration, BigQuery, dbt, Spark and Kafka with a project.
- Fundamentals of Data Engineering
O'Reilly (Reis & Housley) · book · book purchase (price not shown) · 2-4 weeksThe standard overview of the data engineering lifecycle, from ingestion to serving; widely cited by practitioners.
- Airflow 101 (Airflow 3) FREE
Astronomer Academy · learning path · free · about 2.5 hoursFree modules on core concepts, the UI and building a first DAG; Airflow is the most-listed orchestrator.
- SQL Tutorial (foundational to advanced) FREE
ThoughtSpot (formerly Mode) · course · free · 1-2 weeksSQL is in nearly every posting in this family; a free, browser-based path from basics to advanced queries.
- Upskill on Databricks in 1 hour (lakehouse fundamentals) FREE
Databricks · course · free · about 1 hourFree intro to lakehouse concepts with a badge; the cheapest way to speak Databricks before interviews.
- Snowflake Hands-On Essentials badges FREE
Snowflake · learning path · free · 6 workshops (hours per badge not listed)Free hands-on badges (warehousing, data lake, data engineering) that prove Snowflake skills before paying for SnowPro.
Sources & notes
- Glassdoor, Data Engineer salaries, US, Pay Trends 2026
- BLS OOH, Software Developers (15-1252), May 2025 wages
- PayScale, Data Engineer salary (updated Oct 5, 2026)
- Glassdoor, Data Engineering Manager salaries, US, Pay Trends 2026
- Insight Global, Data Engineer / Data Analyst posting, Bellevue WA (AWS, Databricks, Snowflake, Terraform)
- Qode, AWS Data Engineer posting ($150-180K; AWS certs preferred)
- KORE1, Data Architect job description template 2026 (CDMP and cloud DE certs preferred; salary bands)
- AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate
- Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate
- Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer
- Snowflake, SnowPro Core Certification
- The Data School, How to pass SnowPro Core ($175, 115 min, 100 questions)
- Microsoft Learn, Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700)
- Microsoft Learn, Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203) - retired 03/31/2025
- DataTalks.Club Data Engineering Zoomcamp (GitHub)
- O'Reilly, Fundamentals of Data Engineering (Reis & Housley, 2022)
- Astronomer Academy, Airflow 101 learning path
- ThoughtSpot SQL Tutorial (formerly Mode)
- Databricks free training: lakehouse fundamentals
- Snowflake Hands-On Essentials track (free badges)
Levels.fyi Data Engineer page not available. The Insight Global Bellevue posting named no certification; cert frequencies rest on the Qode posting and the KORE1 template, so none is rated 'often'.
Figures are US, from the sources listed, and change often; verify before deciding.