Data pipelines are the foundation for success in data analytics. Moving data from numerous diverse sources and transforming it to provide context is the difference between having data and actually gaining value from it. This pocket reference defines data pipelines and explains how they work in today's modern data stack.
 

You'll learn common considerations and key decision points when implementing pipelines, such as batch versus streaming data ingestion and build versus buy. This book addresses the most common decisions made by data professionals and discusses foundational concepts that apply to open source frameworks, commercial products, and homegrown solutions.

You'll learn:

• •  What a data pipeline is and how it works
• •  How data is moved and processed on modern data infrastructure, including cloud platforms
• •  Common tools and products used by data engineers to build pipelines
• •  How pipelines support analytics and reporting needs
• •  Considerations for pipeline maintenance, testing, and alerting
  
  From the Preface

Data pipelines are the foundation for success in data analytics and machine learning. Moving data from numerous, diverse sources and processing it to provide context is the difference between having data and getting value from it.

I’ve worked as a data analyst, data engineer, and leader in the data analytics field for more than 10 years. In that time, I’ve seen rapid change and growth in the field. The emergence of cloud infrastructure, and cloud data warehouses in particular, has created an opportunity to rethink the way data pipelines are designed and implemented.
 

This book describes what I believe are the foundations and best practices of building data pipelines in the modern era. I base my opinions and observations on my own experience as well as those of industry leaders who I know and follow.
 

My goal is for this book to serve as a blueprint as well as a reference. While your needs are specific to your organization and the problems you’ve set out to solve, I’ve found success with variations of these foundations many times over. I hope you find it a valuable resource in your journey to building and maintaining data pipelines that power your data organization.

Who This Book Is For

This book’s primary audience is current and aspiring data engineers as well as analytics team members who want to understand what data pipelines are and how they are implemented. Their job titles include data engineers, technical leads, data warehouse engineers, analytics engineers, business intelligence engineers, and director/VP-level analytics leaders.

I assume that you have a basic understanding of data warehousing concepts. To implement the examples discussed, you should be comfortable with SQL databases, REST APIs, and JSON. You should be proficient in a scripting language, such as Python. Basic knowledge of the Linux command line and at least one cloud computing platform is ideal as well.

All code samples are written in Python and SQL and make use of many open source libraries. I use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to demonstrate the techniques described in the book, and AWS services are used in many of the code samples. When possible, I note similar services on other major cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). All code samples can be modified for the cloud provider of your choice, as well as for on-premises use.

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About the Author

James is the Director of Data Infrastructure at HubSpot as well as the founder and Principal Consultant at Data Liftoff. He has more than 10 years of experience leading data teams and building data infrastructure at Wayfair, O'Reilly Media, and Degreed. James has a BS in Computer Science from Northeastern University and an MBA from Boston College.