Post job

Lead data technician vs data engineer

The differences between lead data technicians and data engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a lead data technician, becoming a data engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a lead data technician has an average salary of $124,928, which is higher than the $109,675 average annual salary of a data engineer.

The top three skills for a lead data technician include python, architecture and java. The most important skills for a data engineer are python, java, and cloud.

Lead data technician vs data engineer overview

Lead Data TechnicianData Engineer
Yearly salary$124,928$109,675
Hourly rate$60.06$52.73
Growth rate7%21%
Number of jobs83,455303,105
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age3839
Years of experience124

What does a lead data technician do?

A Lead Data Technician is responsible for supervising the data science division in developing products focused on the technology of analytics. They provide technical assistance to their team members on how they will inspect, monitor, and repair aircraft machinery and the system and the flight controls. This person is the one who performs the daily maintenance operation, resolves the troubleshooting issues as well as reporting all the log repair and maintenance activities

What does a data engineer do?

A data engineer is someone who makes data science possible. This IT job requires the search for data set trends and algorithm development to make raw data more beneficial to the enterprise. Data engineers are responsible for establishing and maintaining an environment that permits other data functions. The necessary skills for the job include in-depth knowledge of multiple programming languages and SQL database design. Among the other skills data engineers should develop include data warehousing and architecture, data mining and modeling, and statistical regression analysis.

Lead data technician vs data engineer salary

Lead data technicians and data engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Lead Data TechnicianData Engineer
Average salary$124,928$109,675
Salary rangeBetween $92,000 And $169,000Between $80,000 And $149,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateAlaskaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaThe Citadel
Best paying industryInsuranceTechnology

Differences between lead data technician and data engineer education

There are a few differences between a lead data technician and a data engineer in terms of educational background:

Lead Data TechnicianData Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Lead data technician vs data engineer demographics

Here are the differences between lead data technicians' and data engineers' demographics:

Lead Data TechnicianData Engineer
Average age3839
Gender ratioMale, 76.1% Female, 23.9%Male, 81.5% Female, 18.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 11.9% White, 55.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 30.1% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between lead data technician and data engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead data technician example responsibilities.

  • Configure and manage JobScope ERP system for a make-to-order/make-to-stock design and manufacturing environment.
  • Create database queries and run SQL scripts to generate reports for data analysis.
  • Configure Bios and Linux through command line remotely and on site.
  • Perform QA checks on criminal expungement/modification and VIPs on a monthly basis.
  • Convert and reformat several PDF files to convenient CD-ROMS for field use.
  • Create data models using star schema methodology and create and schedule ETL processes.
  • Show more

Data engineer example responsibilities.

  • Used SQOOP to import the data from RDBMS to HDFS to achieve the reliability of data.
  • Develop automation scripts in python to automate the test, analyze, plot and report the results.
  • Used Linux shell scripts to automate the build process, and to perform regular jobs like file transfers between different hosts.
  • Increase audit efficiency by developing SAS programs to automate manual testing procedures.
  • Used Teradata database management system to manage the warehousing operations and parallel processing.
  • Configure and manage JobScope ERP system for a make-to-order/make-to-stock design and manufacturing environment.
  • Show more

Lead data technician vs data engineer skills

Common lead data technician skills
  • Python, 10%
  • Architecture, 9%
  • Java, 8%
  • Spark, 7%
  • Data Lake, 6%
  • Hadoop, 6%
Common data engineer skills
  • Python, 12%
  • Java, 9%
  • Cloud, 5%
  • ETL, 5%
  • Scala, 4%
  • Kafka, 4%

Browse life, physical, and social science jobs