💡 Why it matters: Data scientists and analysts cannot work without clean, organised data. As companies collect more of it, engineers are needed to build the systems that move and store it.
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦2M – ₦5M
- Mid-career
- ₦6M – ₦14M
- Senior
- ₦14M – ₦30M
≈ ₦500k – ₦1.2M a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Closest National Careers Service profile: Data scientist (lists data engineer as an alternative title). Typical starter to experienced salary. National Careers Service, 2026
🇺🇸 United States
Closest US category: Database architects. Median pay. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Closest Job Bank occupation: Database administrator. Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Build systems that collect data from apps and databases
- Clean and store data safely
- Make data fast to search and analyse
- Fix pipelines when they break
- Work with analysts and data scientists
⚡ Skills you'll need
- SQL and databases
- Python coding
- Problem solving
- Planning
- Attention to detail
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Data engineering bootcamp or cloud data certificates
- Starting as a data analyst or database administrator
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Data engineer or data technician apprenticeships
- Starting as a data analyst or database administrator
🇺🇸 United States
- Data engineering bootcamp or cloud data certificates
- Starting as a data analyst or database administrator
🇨🇦 Canada
- College co-op programs with paid placements
- Starting as a data analyst or database administrator
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Learn Python and SQL
- 2Understand how databases store information
- 3Study Computer Science or a related degree
- 4Build a practice data pipeline project
- 5Join as a junior data engineer or data analyst
⏰ A day in the life
Overnight, a pipeline that gathers sales data failed. You find a broken file, fix the pipeline, add a check so it cannot happen again, then help the analysts get their reports.