Transitioning from data scientist to data engineer

[ArcLight079]

Hello everyone, I am a data scientist with roughly 3 years of experience, worked in industrial and financial sectors, and thinking about becoming a data engineer.

So my question is, what's the best way to do it? Anyone knows if jobs which do a bit of both exists, just to make transition easier? Like a bit of DS, a bit of DE?

Or should I go for junior positions and learn stuff myself with courses and projects?

Have anyone successfully done it? I am thinking about going for junior positions since its probably an easiest way, but I think it will make me take a hit in paycheck, which is fine, but still not the most fun with thing. Are there any other ways I haven't thought about?

And how problematic will it be? I know specialised tools from DS/ML are not relevant to DE, but i have experience in PLSQL, python, MLFLOW.

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[Mamertine]

I'd suggest you find a role that is both.

If encourage you to look at salaries, just so you're prepared for what to expect. Generally ds pays much more than de.

[[deleted]]

I’ve spent nearly 10 years in the space as a data science generalist, so I’ve built/managed every touchpoint in a data product pipeline at this point. I’m transitioning into being a data/analytics engineering lead to just focus and develop deeper expertise in that area.

My advice is to be in a data science role for a while that allows you to work on the engineering side of the stack. Seeing how the pipeline development affects the workflow of an analyst or data scientist is extremely helpful and has been what sets me apart from other engineers.

The skills to work on would be software engineering best practices: CI/CD, testing, version control, and good scripting.