Data Analytics & Engineering Path
From data analyst to data engineer
The credential path for data careers — starting with analysis fundamentals and progressing through business intelligence, cloud data platforms, and professional data engineering.
- Total Cost
- $800–$1,200
- all materials included
- Timeline
- 14–22 months
- at 1–2 hrs/day
- Exam Fees Only
- $399
- required certs
- Steps
- 4 certifications
- 2 required, 2 optional
The Path
Google Data Analytics
Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
Google's entry-level data analytics career credential — no experience required
$234
exam fee
Why at this step: Google's professional certificate covers the full data analysis workflow: data collection, SQL, data cleaning, analysis, visualization, and presentation. Widely recognized and a strong entry signal for analyst roles.
PL-300
Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
The leading business intelligence certification for Power BI professionals
$165
exam fee
Why at this step: Power BI is the dominant BI tool in enterprise environments. PL-300 proves you can build production-grade reports and dashboards — a core skill for analyst and BI developer roles at most companies.
SnowPro Core
SnowPro Core Certification
The essential Snowflake Data Cloud certification
$175
exam fee
Why at this step: Snowflake is the most widely adopted cloud data warehouse. SnowPro Core proves you can manage data at cloud scale — a key transition point from analyst to data engineer.
GCP Data Engineer
Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer
The top credential for cloud data pipeline and BigQuery expertise
$200
exam fee
Why at this step: GCP's Professional Data Engineer is one of the most rigorous data engineering credentials available. Targets senior data engineering roles building large-scale data pipelines and ML-ready infrastructure.
Where to Specialize Next
After completing this path, these are the most popular specializations.
Machine Learning Track
Add ML engineering credentials to your data background.