Big data and data science have grown exponentially over the past few years. Data Warehouse developers are now needed to handle today’s vast amounts of data in big organizations, businesses, and companies. What do you need to become one? Let’s find out.
What is a Data Warehouse?
A data warehouse refers to a system structure that houses data from a wide range of sources pertaining to a particular organization, company, or business. A data warehouse is used to pull together data from these sources for the purpose of reporting and analyzing. These reports are then used to push forward important decisions, policies, and/or guidelines
Looking at it more comprehensively, a data warehouse helps consolidate data from either a physical or a logical data system. The main idea behind a data warehouse is to provide a link between existing data systems.
Say, for eg., linking a set of online purchase orders with data relating to products on another system. Data warehouses are primarily used for the analysis of online analytical processing – also known as OLAP – of transactions rather than the actual processing itself.
Data warehousing came into existence in the 1980s. It was comprised of an architectural system used to support the flow of data between systems and required large amounts of data sets accumulated by organizations over time.
A data warehouse is essential in executing important business decisions involving raw data structures.
Let’s suppose a company holds data on its employees. This could be data on salary, roles, customer engagement, and so on.
If higher management needs to discuss cost-reduction, a data warehouse can help provide analysis and reports pulled from the earlier mentioned data sets, thus contributing to decision making.
This is why, even today, most major organizations utilize data warehouses despite associated costs.
Some of the most-used data warehouses are:
- SAP
- AWS
- Teradata
- Oracle Data Warehouse
- Microsoft – SQL Data Warehouse
Responsibilities of a Data Warehouse Developer
Given the crucial status of a data warehouse, there is a need for a person equipped to operate and manage data warehouses. Enter the Data Warehouse Developer.
A data warehouse developer has immense knowledge of BI practices, data structures, data modeling, SQL skills, analyzing and reporting techniques.
On a day-to-day basis, the Data Warehouse Developer handles the delivery of data and information relating to Business Intelligence to the organization they work for. They are experienced in BI development, implementations, data architecture, and warehousing.
What are the tasks and responsibilities of a Data Warehouse Developer?
- Creating, designing and developing data models
- Prepare plans for all ETL (Extract/Transformation/Load) procedures and architectures
- Validating results and creating business reports
- Monitoring and tuning data loads and queries
- Develop and prepare a schedule for a new data warehouse
- Analyze large databases and recommend appropriate optimization for the same
- Administer all requirements and design various functional specifications for data
- Provide support to the Software Development Life cycle
- Prepare various code designs and ensure efficient implementation of the same
- Evaluate all codes and ensure the quality of all project deliverables
- Monitor data warehouse work and provide subject matter expertise
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What skills does a Data Warehouse Developer need?
Data Warehouse Development requires a developer with great analytical, computer and communication skills.
It is important to have hands-on experience with ETL tools as well as a working knowledge of structured query language (SQL), Business Intelligence best practices and data warehouse and reporting techniques. A solid understanding of dimensional data modeling and relational structures are also a must.
Technical expertise in areas of data warehousing is a given, with further knowledge of data models, design development, project management, etc.
Hard Skills for a Data Warehouse Developer:
- Hands-on experience with ETL tools e.g., DataStage, Informatica, Pentaho, Talend
- Sound knowledge of SQL
- Experience with SQL databases such as Oracle, DB2, and SQL
- Experience using Data Warehouse platforms e.g., SAP, Birst
- Experience designing, developing and implementing Data Warehouse solutions
- Project management and system development methodology
- Ability to proactively research solutions and best practices
Soft Skills for Data Warehouse Developers:
- Excellent Analytical skills
- Excellent verbal and written communications
- Strong organization skills
- Ability to work on a team, as well as independently
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How do I become a Data Warehouse Developer?
In order to become a data warehousing developer or engineer, one should pursue a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Data Sciences, or a similar field (technical background).
Most job requirements indicate interest in candidates with a Master’s degree as well.
Certifications are another great way to develop key warehousing skills. Some great Data Warehouse Developer certifications are as follows:
- Data Warehousing Training and Certification
- Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP)
- Data Warehousing and BI Certification Training
How much does a Data Warehouse Developer earn?
A junior developer with less than a year of experience can expect to earn an average annual salary of around $87,000. A warehouse developer with a few years of salary can earn up to $105,000 per year.
An experienced developer with over a decade of experience earns around $121,000. These rates, of course, vary depending on the location, experience, skills, and responsibilities of the data warehouse developer.
| Junior | $87,000 |
| Average | $105,000 |
| Senior | $121,000 |
| Average rate Data Warehouse Developers (2022) | $91/hr |
According to freelancermap’s price and rate index in September 2022, freelance Data Warehouse Developers charge $91/hour on average.
Most freelancers in Data Warehouse Development have an hourly freelance rate between $71 and $106.
If we consider an 8-hour working day at $91/hour, the daily rate for freelance Data Warehouse Developers is around $728/day.
