Table 1Transition record

data entry clerktodata engineer

A data entry clerk already meets 28% of what the data engineer role asks for. The move turns on 16 required skills not yet in the profile.

From data entry clerk

28%

Overlap1

To data engineer

7 Skills carried over

16 Required, not held

72.5 Difficulty2

Career overlap Distant match

28%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

72.5/ 100

Easy adjacentmoderatesubstantialcareer change Hard

1 Share of the data engineer role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the data entry clerk profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A data engineer role treats 7 of its required skills as things a data entry clerk already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

data models
data storage
establish data processes
implement data warehousing techniques
manage data
process data

What stands in the way is 16 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 7 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A data engineer role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a data entry clerk background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area

already held implement data warehousing techniques working with computers
already held establish data processes working with computers
already held data models information and communication technologies (icts)
already held use databases working with computers
already held data storage information and communication technologies (icts)
already held manage data information skills

All 7 carried skills, including the 7 the data engineer role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 21 missing skills fall into 5 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier

01 information and communication technologies (icts) 6 required, 2 supplementary

required, not held data warehouse required
required, not held cloud technologies required
required, not held database management systems required
required, not held unstructured data required
required, not held computer science required
required, not held data analytics required

optional, not held SAS Data Management optional
optional, not held Teradata Database optional

02 working with computers 6 required

required, not held develop data processing applications required
required, not held digital data processing required
required, not held manage quantitative data required
required, not held perform dimensionality reduction required
required, not held store digital data and systems required
required, not held use data processing techniques required

03 information skills 2 required, 2 supplementary

required, not held create data sets required
required, not held manage research data required

optional, not held analyse pipeline database information optional
optional, not held create data models optional

04 communication, collaboration and creativity 2 required

required, not held design database in the cloud required
required, not held manage ICT data architecture required

05 natural sciences, mathematics and statistics 1 supplementary

optional, not held statistics optional

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a data engineer role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 7 skills that carry over

Skill Type

already held data models knowledge
already held data storage knowledge
already held establish data processes skill
already held implement data warehousing techniques skill
already held manage data skill
already held process data skill
already held use databases skill

5 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to acquire Tier

optional, not held SAS Data Management optional
optional, not held Teradata Database optional
optional, not held analyse pipeline database information optional
optional, not held create data models optional
optional, not held statistics optional

27 held skills the data engineer role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role ABBYY FineReader knowledge
not needed by the target role LDAP knowledge
not needed by the target role LINQ knowledge
not needed by the target role MDX knowledge
not needed by the target role N1QL knowledge
not needed by the target role OmniPage knowledge
not needed by the target role SPARQL knowledge
not needed by the target role XQuery knowledge
not needed by the target role apply information security policies skill
not needed by the target role apply organisational techniques skill
not needed by the target role apply statistical analysis techniques skill
not needed by the target role database knowledge
not needed by the target role documentation types knowledge
not needed by the target role implement data quality processes skill
not needed by the target role information confidentiality knowledge
not needed by the target role maintain data entry requirements skill
not needed by the target role manage ICT data classification skill
not needed by the target role manage data collection systems skill
not needed by the target role manage digital documents skill
not needed by the target role normalise data skill
not needed by the target role optical character recognition software knowledge
not needed by the target role perform data cleansing skill
not needed by the target role query languages knowledge
not needed by the target role resource description framework query language knowledge
not needed by the target role use an application-specific interface skill
not needed by the target role use spreadsheets software skill
not needed by the target role use word processing software skill

9 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier

required, not held data warehouse required
required, not held cloud technologies required
required, not held database management systems required
required, not held unstructured data required
required, not held computer science required
required, not held data analytics required
optional, not held SAS Data Management optional
optional, not held Teradata Database optional
optional, not held statistics optional

Index

Other moves recorded from data entry clerk

Full index of moves from data entry clerk

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.