Data Engineer vs. Data Analyst

A data engineer is an IT professional who conceptualizes and builds platforms that gather, manage, and analyze data, while a data analyst scrutinizes numeric data and uses it to help companies make certain decisions.

A data engineer aims to make raw data usable for other colleagues, such as business analysts, so they may implement the information into company decisions. Data engineers have duties like gathering data sets that line up with business goals and needs, creating algorithms to transform data into valuable information, and creating, testing, and maintaining database architectures.

A data analyst focuses on pre-processing and data gathering. They represent data through reporting and other visual means. Data analysts are also responsible for statistical analysis, data interpretation, ensuring data acquisition and maintenance, and optimizing statistical quality and efficiency.

Here are the key differences between a data engineer and a data analyst:

• Data engineers create and develop technologies that allow data scientists and analysts to focus on practical data collection and processing applications

• Data analysts study data to draw inferences from the data utilizing specific systems software, focusing on certain regions with specific objectives

• Data engineers build and optimize the systems that allow data scientists and analysts to perform their work

• Data analysts deliver value to their companies by taking data, using it to answer questions, and communicating the results to help make better business decisions

• On average data engineers have higher salaries than data analysts