This article was originally publishedhere.
Ive been seeing more and more job postings for analytics engineers in recent months.
Every company wants someone that has both data analytics andsoftware engineeringskills.
Its the best bang for their buck in hiring one person.
I first became an analytics engineer 6 months ago, after working for 2 years as a data engineer.
And Ive never looked back.
Im glad I decided to apply for a position I had never heard of.
It ended up being the perfect position for me.
Here are some signs it may also be the ideal role for you and your skill set.
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I was building the tools and processes that the team had decided on without me.
Honestly, I was lucky to interact with business teams at all.
It gave me some exposure to what happens before the tasks are given to the engineers.
This made me realize I wanted to be the one making the strategic choices and implementing them.
The job description of an analytics engineer sounded just like this.
As an analytics engineer, the business teams are your stakeholders.
You interact with them every single day.
You help point them in the right direction based on the analyses you present.
You work together to inform and drive decisions in marketing, growth, and product.
Writing SQL is your biggest superpower
You sleep, eat, breathe SQL as an analytics engineer.
Maybe even more so than as a data analyst.
SQL is the core of yourdbt data models.
I didnt know very much SQL before using dbt as a data engineer.
It is something that I learned not only on the job, but by doing interview practice questions.
Youd be surprised how much you learn from them.
Its one of the easier technical skills to learn.Practiceand repetition truly make perfect!
More importantly, it’s crucial that you enjoy writing SQL.
If you dont enjoy this language, you may find the role repetitive and boring.
Personally, I love writing SQL so it is enjoyable for me.
Im still learning new things every day, like thedatepart()function.
What does this mean?
You thrive off of processes and organization.
Many of these things will be things the company never implemented in the first place.
You will be the one to build these from the ground up and put them into motion.
This is the backbone of a data-driven organization.
Your work as an analytics engineer doesnt go unnoticed.
It is holding up the work of everyone who touches data within the company.
If you know you want to pursue this, make it happen.
Put in the work to master SQL, learn dbt, and structure data models.
Analytics engineering is perfect for the person who is interested in engineering and business.
double-check you enjoy both parts because youll be working with both teams each day.
This will give you the chance to develop your business-related communication skills and technical skills.
All theres left to do is apply!
