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Noah Gift
  • Discover the principles of data engineering and its role in building scalable, cloud-based systems.
  • Explore the challenges of the end of Moore's Law and learn to develop distributed systems.
  • Gain hands-on experience with big data technologies and best practices for implementing solutions.
  • Learn to build serverless data engineering pipelines and apply effective data governance strategies.
  • Develop expertise in key data engineering tasks, including ETL, cloud databases, and cloud storage.

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Evaluate best practices for dealing with the end of moore's law
  • Develop distributed systems applying software engineering best practices
  • Evaluate best practices for implementing solutions with big data
  • Analyze best practices in data engineering
  • Build serverless data engineering systems
  • Evaluate effective data governance strategies
  • Develop cloud etl (extract, load, transfer) pipelines
  • Evaluate best practices for cloud databases and cloud storage

Syllabus

Here is the course structure formatted with bullets for each module:
1. Module 1: Methodologies in Data Engineering (12 hours)
- Videos:
- Introduction and Course Overview (4 minutes)
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Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Develops cloud-based systems, which is standard in industry
Taught by Noah Gift, who are recognized for their work in data engineering
Offers hands-on labs and interactive materials, which help learners apply skills

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Reviews summary

Practical cloud data engineering foundations

According to students, this Cloud Data Engineering course offers a largely positive experience, providing a strong foundation for professionals. Many appreciate the incredibly practical hands-on labs that cover a wide range of AWS and GCP services, helping them build real-world pipelines. The instructor's clarity in explaining complex concepts like distributed systems and serverless architectures is frequently highlighted. While generally considered up-to-date and highly relevant for modern data workflows, some older feedback pointed to outdated UI examples or a rapid pace in certain modules. Students note its comprehensive nature in covering topics such as ETL pipelines and data governance, though a few felt some crucial topics could benefit from more depth or clearer lab instructions.
Instructor effectively explains complex technical concepts.
"The instructor explains complex concepts with great clarity, especially on distributed systems and serverless architectures."
"The instructor's passion for the subject shines through."
"I found the instructor very knowledgeable and clear in their delivery."
Course provides directly applicable skills for professional roles.
"It truly prepared me for real-world scenarios."
"Directly applicable to professional data engineering roles."
"I learned how to use practical tools and strategies that I could apply immediately to my work."
Covers a broad spectrum of essential cloud data engineering topics.
"This course provided a superb foundation... covering topics like BigQuery and AWS Glue."
"It's comprehensive, well-taught, and directly applicable to professional data engineering roles."
"The course covers a lot of ground in cloud data engineering... especially for those new to the cloud aspects."
Provides practical experience building real-world data pipelines.
"The hands-on labs are incredibly practical and cover a wide range of AWS and GCP services, allowing me to build real-world pipelines."
"The ungraded labs were challenging but rewarding, reinforcing every lesson."
"I learned how to apply practical tools and strategies that I could apply immediately to my work."
Opinions vary on lab stability and the freshness of content/UI examples.
"Some lab setups felt a bit finicky, requiring external troubleshooting."
"Many labs were broken or required significant debugging on my end, which was not productive."
"Some of the videos felt a bit outdated in terms of UI for AWS services, which quickly changes."
"The content felt very up-to-date, which is essential in this fast-moving field."
Some modules felt rushed or lacked sufficient depth for certain topics.
"While it introduces many concepts, some crucial topics felt rushed or lacked the deep dive necessary for true mastery."
"I found this course somewhat challenging due to the rapid pace and assumption of prior knowledge in certain areas."
"The course tries to cover too many topics superficially without providing enough hands-on guidance."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Cloud Data Engineering with these activities:
Create a Comprehensive Study Guide
Organize, expand, and review your notes, assignments, quizzes, and exams to create a comprehensive study guide that consolidates your learning from the course.
Show steps
  • Gather all your course materials, including notes, assignments, and exams.
  • Organize and categorize the materials by topic and subtopic.
  • Rewrite and expand your notes, ensuring clarity and completeness.
  • Include additional examples, explanations, and resources to enhance understanding.
Review Cloud Computing Basics
Review the fundamentals of cloud computing, including key concepts such as virtualization, cloud storage, and service models.
Browse courses on Cloud Computing
Show steps
  • Read articles and tutorials on cloud computing concepts.
  • Complete online courses or workshops on cloud computing basics.
  • Practice hands-on exercises using cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP.
Follow Tutorials on Serverless Data Engineering
Enhance your knowledge of serverless data engineering by following guided tutorials and demonstrations provided by industry experts and platforms like AWS or GCP.
Browse courses on Cloud Computing
Show steps
  • Identify and enroll in online tutorials on serverless data engineering.
  • Follow the tutorials step-by-step, taking notes and practicing the concepts.
  • Build and deploy serverless data pipelines using cloud services.
Five other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all eight activities
ETL Code Challenges
Practice your ETL skills by solving code challenges and exercises that require you to design and implement ETL pipelines using cloud-based tools.
Browse courses on ETL
Show steps
  • Find ETL code challenges and exercises online or on platforms like LeetCode.
  • Attempt to solve the challenges on your own.
  • Review solutions and best practices.
  • Implement ETL pipelines using cloud-based tools such as AWS Glue or GCP Dataflow.
Read 'Designing Data-Intensive Applications'
Gain insights into the principles and patterns for designing and building data-intensive applications, which are essential for effective data engineering.
View Secret Colors on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read the book thoroughly, taking notes and highlighting key concepts.
  • Summarize the main ideas and principles discussed in the book.
  • Apply the concepts to your own data engineering projects and designs.
Design and Implement a Data Governance Framework
Develop a data governance framework for your organization, ensuring that data is managed and protected effectively and in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Browse courses on Data Governance
Show steps
  • Research data governance best practices and standards.
  • Define the scope, principles, and policies of the data governance framework.
  • Design and implement data governance processes and procedures.
  • Monitor and enforce compliance with the framework.
Contribute to an Open-Source Data Engineering Project
Contribute to the development and maintenance of open-source data engineering tools and projects to enhance your understanding and practical skills.
Browse courses on Open Source
Show steps
  • Identify a suitable open-source data engineering project on platforms like GitHub.
  • Review the project's documentation and contribute to documentation improvements.
  • Fix bugs or implement new features based on project requirements.
  • Collaborate with other contributors and maintainers.
Mentor Junior Data Engineers
Share your knowledge and expertise by mentoring junior data engineers, providing guidance and support to help them develop their skills and grow their careers.
Show steps
  • Connect with junior data engineers through platforms or networking events.
  • Provide mentorship and guidance on technical skills, career development, and industry trends.
  • Review code, provide feedback, and suggest improvements.
  • Encourage and support their professional growth.

Career center

Learners who complete Cloud Data Engineering will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Reading list

We've selected 50 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Cloud Data Engineering.
Is widely considered a must-read for anyone working with distributed systems. It provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamental concepts and challenges in building data-intensive applications, which form the basis of many distributed systems. It's highly valuable as a reference tool and is often recommended as essential reading for both students and professionals.
Is specifically dedicated to the ETL process within a data warehousing context. It provides practical techniques and best practices for extracting, cleaning, transforming, and loading data. It's an excellent resource for understanding the intricacies of building robust ETL systems and is considered a key text for ETL developers and architects. This book is highly valuable as a reference tool for practitioners.
Gathers hundreds of battle-tested recipes covering network programming, memory management, data structures, and functional decorators for veteran application developers.
Provides a comprehensive guide to Hadoop, the open-source framework for Big Data processing. It covers the core concepts and components of Hadoop, as well as advanced topics such as data warehousing and machine learning.
A foundational textbook providing a broad understanding of distributed systems principles. It covers essential topics like communication, synchronization, consistency, and fault tolerance with clear explanations and real-world examples. is commonly used as a textbook in university programs and solid resource for gaining prerequisite knowledge.
Provides a comprehensive overview of building serverless applications specifically on the AWS platform. It covers key AWS services like Lambda, API Gateway, and Kinesis, offering practical insights and real-world use cases. It's valuable for understanding the practical application of serverless principles within a major cloud ecosystem and is suitable for those looking to implement serverless solutions on AWS.
Provides a comprehensive overview of cloud computing, covering concepts, technologies, and architectures. It is written by leading experts in the field.
Delivers the canonical blueprint for numeric analysis from the creator of pandas, thoroughly detailing NumPy structures, data cleaning, and high-speed transformations.
Given the increasing importance of data security and privacy, this book is highly relevant for understanding contemporary challenges in cloud storage. It provides practical guidance and case studies, making it valuable for professionals and students interested in cloud security. It useful reference for security practitioners.
Introduces clean architecture, domain-driven design, and event-driven microservices to Python developers, demonstrating repository patterns and dependency inversion.
A recent publication focusing on leveraging AWS Lambda for building scalable and cost-effective serverless solutions. It covers basics to advanced deployment, including event-driven design, hyper-scaling, and operational techniques. is highly relevant for those specifically focused on AWS Lambda and seeking to deepen their expertise.
Essential for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of SQL performance and optimization. explains how databases execute queries and provides insights into writing efficient SQL code. It's highly recommended for developers and database administrators aiming to improve application performance.
Security is paramount in cloud storage. must-read for understanding the security and privacy implications of storing data in the cloud. It provides an enterprise perspective on risks, compliance, and best practices, making it essential for IT professionals, security practitioners, and business managers.
Provides a solid introduction to the field of data engineering, covering the entire data lifecycle from data generation to consumption. ETL core component of this lifecycle, and the book provides context and foundational knowledge for understanding its role within a larger data ecosystem. It's a great starting point for anyone entering the field.
Microservices are a prevalent architectural style in modern distributed systems. provides a practical guide to designing and implementing microservices, covering topics like service decomposition, communication, and deployment. It's highly relevant for professionals and students interested in contemporary distributed system architectures.
Demystifies programming for practical utility, guiding beginners through real-world automation projects including web scraping, spreadsheet generation, and file audits.
Offers a vendor-agnostic view of serverless computing, covering AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and open-source options. It provides a broad understanding of the serverless landscape and helps in selecting appropriate technologies. It's a good resource for gaining a wider perspective beyond a single cloud provider.
Covers the latest AWS certification exam blueprint and provides comprehensive coverage of all exam topics. It is an excellent resource for anyone preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional exam.
While this book is not specific to cloud databases, it provides a comprehensive overview of data management and architecture principles that are highly relevant to designing and implementing cloud-based database solutions.
Provides a comprehensive overview of deep learning, a subfield of machine learning that has revolutionized the field of artificial intelligence. It covers the fundamental concepts and algorithms of deep learning, as well as applications in various domains.
Provides an in-depth introduction to machine learning, covering the fundamental concepts and algorithms used in Big Data analysis. It is written by Andrew Ng, a leading expert in machine learning, and is highly recommended for those who want to gain a deeper understanding of Big Data.
Covers the latest AWS certification exam blueprint and provides comprehensive coverage of all exam topics. It is an excellent resource for anyone preparing for the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional exam.
Focuses on static typing, structural subtyping, and defensive design techniques, demonstrating how modern type annotations prevent regressions in enterprise codebases.
Provides a comprehensive guide to Spark, the popular open-source framework for Big Data processing. It covers the core concepts and components of Spark, as well as advanced topics such as streaming data and machine learning.
Following up on the concept of microservices, this book dives into common patterns for building microservices-based applications. While it includes Java examples, the patterns themselves are broadly applicable. It's valuable for deepening understanding of practical microservices implementation strategies.
Must-read for anyone involved in an organization's cloud adoption journey. It provides proven strategies for transforming an organization using the cloud, addressing not just the technology but also the cultural and organizational changes required. Understanding this context is crucial for making informed decisions about cloud storage adoption and strategy.
Airflow popular platform for orchestrating complex data pipelines, including ETL workflows. provides a practical guide to using Airflow for building, scheduling, and monitoring data pipelines. It's highly relevant for data engineers and developers managing ETL processes in a production environment.
Apache Spark widely used engine for big data processing. provides a comprehensive introduction to Spark, covering its core concepts and APIs. It's essential for anyone working with big data pipelines and aligns with courses mentioning Spark. The 3rd edition, published in 2020, covers recent features and improvements.
Unpacks professional testing methodologies using pytest, explaining fixture management, parameterized tests, coverage tracking, and automated CI test execution.
Dives into common mistakes and suboptimal solutions in database design and SQL coding, explaining how to identify and correct them. It's crucial for deepening understanding and writing more robust and maintainable SQL. It's a valuable resource for developers and database professionals seeking to improve their practices.
Authored by Google SREs, this book provides invaluable insights into operating large-scale distributed systems reliably. It covers practices like monitoring, incident response, and capacity planning, which are critical for the successful operation of distributed systems in the real world.
Written by Google experts, this book shares best practices for designing secure and reliable systems. It integrates security and reliability into the system design lifecycle, offering valuable insights for building robust applications on platforms like GCP. is highly relevant for contemporary cloud development and operations.
Aligning with the Google Cloud focused course titles, this book provides guidance on performing data engineering tasks on GCP. It's a valuable resource for those preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer exam or working with GCP data services. It covers the relevant tools and services offered by Google Cloud.
Classic in the field, focusing on the theoretical underpinnings of distributed algorithms. It's a rigorous exploration of fundamental problems like consensus, and while theoretical, it solidifies understanding of the core algorithmic challenges in distributed systems. It is more suitable for those seeking a deep, theoretical understanding.
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Contemporary distributed systems often involve large-scale data processing, and this book focuses on streaming systems. It covers the principles and practices of building systems for processing data in motion, a key aspect of many modern distributed applications.
This textbook covers a wide range of topics in distributed computing, including principles, algorithms, and systems. It's a valuable resource for gaining a solid academic understanding of the field and is suitable for advanced undergraduate or graduate-level study.
While focused on MySQL, this book provides in-depth coverage of database and SQL performance tuning that is applicable to other systems. It's essential for those working with large datasets and high-traffic applications. It's a comprehensive guide for optimizing SQL queries and database infrastructure.
Focuses on using SQL specifically for data analysis, covering techniques beyond basic querying to transform and gain insights from data. It's suitable for those who have a foundational understanding of SQL and want to apply it in a data analysis context. It's relevant for data scientists and analysts.
This handbook focuses on best practices and real-world applications of serverless architecture, particularly using the AWS Well-Architected Framework's Serverless Lens. It's designed for technology leaders and architects, offering insights into operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, cost optimization, and sustainability in a serverless context.
Focuses on implementing data engineering concepts, including ETL, using Python. It's a practical guide for those who want to build data pipelines with a popular programming language. It covers extracting, transforming, and loading data using Python libraries and tools. This book is valuable for hands-on learners and professionals using Python for ETL tasks.
Investigates advanced software craft, detailing packaging distribution, bytecode internals, scaling architectures, and maintainability across large distributed systems.
Is often cited as a foundational text in the academic study of cloud computing, covering key principles and paradigms that include storage. It's suitable for graduate students and researchers seeking a comprehensive overview of the field.
Apache Kafka widely used distributed streaming platform. provides a comprehensive guide to Kafka, covering its architecture, design, and implementation. It's highly relevant for anyone working with or interested in stream processing in distributed systems.
Tailored for aspiring data scientists, this book focuses on the SQL skills needed for data analysis, including dataset construction and manipulation. It bridges the gap between basic SQL and its application in data science workflows. Relevant for those entering or working in the data science field.
Given the importance of data in distributed systems, understanding how databases work internally is crucial. explores the fundamental concepts behind distributed data systems, including storage engines and replication. It provides valuable background knowledge for anyone building or working with data-intensive distributed applications.

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