Big data and data science have grown incredibly over the past few years. So Data Warehouse Developers are becoming even more in demand to be able to handle the vast amounts of data in companies. But what skills do you need to become one?
What is a data warehouse?
Let’s start by taking a closer look at what a data warehouse is.
A data warehouse is a computer system that houses data about a particular company from various sources. The data warehouse is used to gather data about the company from these sources with the purpose of analysing and reporting. These reports are then used to help business leaders make important policy decisions.
So, the main idea behind a data warehouse is to provide a tangible link between existing data systems, helping to consolidate data from physical or logical data systems.
For example, data warehouses can link a set of online purchase orders with data relating to products on another system – through the online analytical processing of transactions rather than the actual processing itself.
Some of the most popular data warehouses are:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft’s SQL Data Warehouse
- Oracle Data Warehouse
- SAP
- Teradata
Data Warehouse Developer responsibilities
As a data warehouse is so crucial for business success, there is, therefore, a need for a person who can operate and manage it – which is the Data Warehouse Developer. The DW Developer needs immense knowledge of BI practices, data modelling, data structures, and SQL skills – as well as analysing and reporting techniques.
The Data Warehouse Developer handles the delivery of all data and information relating to Business Intelligence for the organisation they work for on a day-to-day basis. It would also be useful for them to be experienced in BI development and implementations and data architecture.
The main responsibilities and tasks of a Data Warehouse Developer:
- Administer all data requirements and design various functional specifications for data
- Analyse large databases and recommend appropriate optimisation for the same
- Developing and preparing a schedule for a new data warehouse
- Evaluating all code to ensure the quality of all project deliverables
- Monitoring and tuning data loads and queries
- Monitoring data warehouse work and providing subject matter expertise
- Preparing plans for all ETL procedures and architectures
- Preparing various code designs and ensuring efficient implementation of these
- Providing support for the software development life cycle
- Validating results and creating business reports
What skills does a Data Warehouse Developer need?
The skills that a Data Warehouse Developer needs are a mix of both hard and soft skills.
The hard skills needed include:
- An ability to proactively research best practices and solutions
- Experience with SQL databases such as DB2, Oracle and SQL
- Experience using data warehouse platforms, e.g. Birst or SAP
- Experience designing, developing and implementing data warehouse solutions
- Hands-on experience with ETL tools such as Informatica and Talend
- Project management and system development methodology knowledge
- Sound experience with SQL
The soft skills that data warehouse developers need are:
- An ability to work as part of a team as well as independently
- Excellent analytical skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Strong organisational skills
What qualifications does a Data Warehouse Developer need?
To become a Data Warehouse Developer or Engineer, you should study for a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, IT or something similar. Some job requirements ask candidates to have a master’s degree in one of these areas.
If you are looking for a data warehouse role or want to build out your data warehouse team, Agile Recruit can help. Take a look at our latest jobs, or get in touch with one of our expert consultants to find out more.
Be the first to apply for the latest data warehouse developer jobs – get alerts with the latest jobs sent directly to your inbox.
