What does a data engineer do differently to a data scientist?
—
Next autumn, I will start my Master’s degree in Data Science in Zurich — with its three thematic pillars of Data Analytics, Data Engineering and Data Services, it offers exactly the opportunities we need in the current economy. But before I specialize in one of these areas, the crucial question arises:
What does a data engineer do differently to a data scientist?
Buzzwords such as data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, machine learning engineer or even business analyst are often mixed up, which leads to confusion. Of course, there are also overlaps and the job is not performed in the same way in every company. But in practice, these roles have clearly defined tasks that are both super relevant for a modern company: A Data Engineer is there to enable the work of a Data Scientist or a Data Analyst. The data scientist uses the infrastructure provided and the processed data to create insights and conclusions. They are responsible for different tasks, but both are necessary.
In this article, I use the example of a house price prediction model to show which tasks are performed by a data engineer and which by a data scientist. Regardless of which direction you want to develop in, it’s best to play through the entire super-simplified example to better understand the…