Data Engineer Salary

Data engineering is one of the fastest growing career fields in data science, and as a result, companies are paying more than ever to hire the best talent. In fact, wage growth has been so rapid that Data Engineers now have some of the highest starting salaries in tech and data science.

Two trends can explain why salaries are going up so quickly for Data Engineers: A talent shortage and a growing opportunity pool.

It’s not hard to see how salaries are linked to these two trends. First, as companies compete for the finite pool of talent, those with the right skillset can command ever higher wages.

Second, more companies are embracing digital transformation and remote work. As a result, the pool of opportunities for Data Engineers continues to expand, beyond the traditional areas of hiring.

Here’s a look at the latest salaries for Data Engineers:

One of the fastest ways to climb the Data Engineer career ladder is an advanced degree. In fact, many mid- and senior-level Data Engineers hold a master’s or Ph.D. degree. In other words, an advanced degree will make you more competitive, help you build specialized skills, and increase your average base salary as a data engineer.

Data Engineers have a specialized skill set and perform critical job functions, which is why it is one of the highest paying jobs in data science.

In fact - data engineer salaries on average increased by 30 to 40% since 2015.

Data science salaries on the other hand only went up by 15 to 20% in the same time period.

Data Engineers perform a variety of key functions for businesses, often including:

• Processing raw data at scale
• Maintaining data infrastructure
• Aligning data applications to business functions
• Building and optimizing data pipelines
• Building data processing infrastructure

These functions require in-demand skills like ETL, Python, SQL, NoSQL and data warehousing. Machine learning is also helpful to know, although an engineer with advanced knowledge in this field might qualify for a higher-paying machine learning engineer role. Here’s how Data Engineer salaries compare to other data science job titles:

Both seniority and specialization affect salaries for Data Engineers, yet the job remains one of the highest paid in data science. It lags behind only data scientist, machine learning engineer, software engineer and data manager.

Looking for ways to increase your salary as a data engineer? Without a career switch or pursuing another job title in data science, there are a few ways that Data Engineers can earn more:

• Specialization – Specializing in particular tools like ETL or data warehousing solutions, or by mastering engineering for machine learning, a Data Engineer can quickly climb the earnings ladder. Bootcamps offer one of the fastest ways to learn new skills and build mastery.

• Training/Education – Education will help you specialize, but it can also provide formal training on advanced concepts, like text mining, data warehousing, ETL and other data engineering solutions. Earning a master’s, for example, can help you jump in earnings; if you have experience, a master’s degree could help you increase earnings from entry-level to mid-level.

• Management – The career path for Data Engineers offers plenty of room to grow as an individual contributor if you want to stay on that path; engineers can start in junior level positions and work their way up to Senior Data Engineer. But if you aren’t married to being an IC, management or even executive-level roles offer a lucrative path forward.

• Adding Skills – Adding additional skills will help your employability and earnings. For example, a full-stack Data Engineer-e.g. professionals with data engineering and data science skills-can help you command higher wages. Advancing into data architecture, in which you build the blueprint for the engineering department, is another option that requires a strong basis in data engineering.

Launch your career in data engineering with Interview Query. We offer a variety of career development resources to help you find jobs, nail the interview, and ultimately, build your data engineering skill set.

Join Interview Query today for access to:

• Data Engineering Interview Questions
• Top 100 Data Engineer Interview Questions
• Python Course