Data Engineer
Also known as: ETL Developer · Big Data Engineer
Builds and maintains the pipelines and databases that collect and prepare data for analysis.
What you’d do
A data engineer builds and maintains the pipelines that collect, clean and move data into databases and warehouses, so analysts and data scientists can use it. Employers include IT services firms, product companies, banks, e-commerce and analytics firms. A typical day involves writing SQL and Python jobs, fixing failed pipelines, and modelling tables for reporting.
- Build data pipelines (ETL / ELT)
- Write and tune SQL queries
- Maintain data warehouses and data lakes
- Check data quality and fix broken loads
How you get in
Freshers often enter through IT services or analytics firms as trainee or associate data engineers, or move across from software or data analyst roles. Strong SQL, one programming language and a project on a cloud platform help.
Salary in India
Fresher salary over the years
middle of the 0–1 yr range, ₹ lakh a year
Fewer than two years of fresher data so far — the trend shows once there are two.
Skills you’ll use
From our guide · a curated list is coming
- SQL and data modelling
- Python or Scala
- Distributed processing with Spark
- Workflow scheduling
- Cloud data services
About this field · for freshers
Job openings by year
Is demand growing?
Not added yet.
Competition3
How many graduates enter each year?
B.Sc (all subjects) graduates in 2023-24 at institutions that reported to AISHE — everyone finishing that degree, not only those entering this role.
Who hires
IT firms, banks, government, startups?
Not added yet.
Where the jobs are
Which cities?
Not added yet.
Women in the field3
Is it diverse?
Share of women among B.Sc (all subjects) graduates in 2023-24 — the entry degree, not people already working in this role.
At a glance
- The work is closer to software engineering than to analysis; reliability matters more than models.
- Next roles: senior data engineer, data architect, analytics engineering lead.
- Tool stacks change often, so the specific tools in job posts vary.
Stay safe
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