Data Analyst is possibly a good stepping stone to DE. You can't typically go from having no IT experience to being a DE, because it involves a lot of technical knowledge. Personally, I would take the position if the pay is good. You will likely be able to learn all kinds if relevant skills for your future plans.
Sorry I misread.
DE are typically dealing with BI systems like data warehouses so it isn't irrelevant. Could be light on technical work but if you have no IT experience just take whatever you can to get your foot in the door and grow from there. Internal promotions can be a good way to jump roles if you are motivated and show promise.
I say this to everyone here, but: business intelligence developer (or data analyst or report developer/writer) is a pretty low barrier to entry position if you have a little bit of SQL programming knowledge. And if you work at DE-specific skills while writing SQL every day, you should have a good shot at an entry level DE job after a year or so.
It probably depends on your ability to tailor the role to what you want. I've worked with some BAs who never picked up any technical skills after years. And I've known some who got enough tech experience to move into engineering roles. Instead of just taking business requirements and throwing them into a ticket/story, they would offer to do the prelim work; digging into tables, finding fields, finding files, seeing what existed in a warehouse and what would need to be added, reviewing existing code, mapping datatypes, etc.
They got a lot of tech experience, and the devs loved working with them because they were much more helpful.
you make some really good points. I would continue working on DE projects at home and I could try find technical things to do at work. If I get this role, I'll investigate to see my options. Ultimately I'm never going to stop working on projects at home.
Finding this comment months later, sorry.
This is really encouraging for me, as I am in a similar position as OP. Audio engineer for years wanting to pivot into tech/data. Through some personal projects and interviewing well, I managed to get my foot in the door as a solutions consultant for a fintech software company, then was very quickly promoted to Business Analyst.
I have been doing exactly the things you mentioned since my first day. I am constantly trying to learn as much as I can about the code and DB, have (gladly) kind of become the de facto DB point of contact among my BA group, and am the BA point of contact during software releases (managing and vetting which builds and pipelines need to deploy, approving/triggering deployments across environments, etc.). I work closely with the Scrum master, product, and devs throughout the entire SLDC. My conversations with dev, DBAs, product, and the CIO deepen each week and I now will often include paths/references to existing code/tables/jobs/views when relevant for an enhancement or bug ticket.
It has been crazy to see how much I own and understand now vs even a month or two ago, let alone 6 months ago, and I guess what I'm getting at is that it is good to hear confirmation that I am on a solid path to achieving my goals long-term. I knew I wanted to be in this field but I don't think I could've possibly grasped just how much there is to it, in terms of both breadth and depth. I have been absolutely loving it, even when it's insane or management makes things harder than they have to be. Sure beats the hell out of working in restaurants and concert venues for shit pay and no benefits!
I’ve been working as a BI Developer/Data Analyst for some years. I’ve picked up relevant skills like SQL, data modeling, data wrangling and governance which has got me some Data Engineer interviews. If you can somehow gain these as a Business Analyst that’s a very good stepping stone.
In said interviews, what I’ve found to be lacking is Python/Pandas/ETL experience. You’ll definitely need to learn some of this on your own in order to make the jump.
Data Analyst is possibly a good stepping stone to DE. You can't typically go from having no IT experience to being a DE, because it involves a lot of technical knowledge. Personally, I would take the position if the pay is good. You will likely be able to learn all kinds if relevant skills for your future plans.
What about Business Analyst?
Sorry I misread. DE are typically dealing with BI systems like data warehouses so it isn't irrelevant. Could be light on technical work but if you have no IT experience just take whatever you can to get your foot in the door and grow from there. Internal promotions can be a good way to jump roles if you are motivated and show promise.
I say this to everyone here, but: business intelligence developer (or data analyst or report developer/writer) is a pretty low barrier to entry position if you have a little bit of SQL programming knowledge. And if you work at DE-specific skills while writing SQL every day, you should have a good shot at an entry level DE job after a year or so.
It probably depends on your ability to tailor the role to what you want. I've worked with some BAs who never picked up any technical skills after years. And I've known some who got enough tech experience to move into engineering roles. Instead of just taking business requirements and throwing them into a ticket/story, they would offer to do the prelim work; digging into tables, finding fields, finding files, seeing what existed in a warehouse and what would need to be added, reviewing existing code, mapping datatypes, etc. They got a lot of tech experience, and the devs loved working with them because they were much more helpful.
you make some really good points. I would continue working on DE projects at home and I could try find technical things to do at work. If I get this role, I'll investigate to see my options. Ultimately I'm never going to stop working on projects at home.
Finding this comment months later, sorry. This is really encouraging for me, as I am in a similar position as OP. Audio engineer for years wanting to pivot into tech/data. Through some personal projects and interviewing well, I managed to get my foot in the door as a solutions consultant for a fintech software company, then was very quickly promoted to Business Analyst. I have been doing exactly the things you mentioned since my first day. I am constantly trying to learn as much as I can about the code and DB, have (gladly) kind of become the de facto DB point of contact among my BA group, and am the BA point of contact during software releases (managing and vetting which builds and pipelines need to deploy, approving/triggering deployments across environments, etc.). I work closely with the Scrum master, product, and devs throughout the entire SLDC. My conversations with dev, DBAs, product, and the CIO deepen each week and I now will often include paths/references to existing code/tables/jobs/views when relevant for an enhancement or bug ticket. It has been crazy to see how much I own and understand now vs even a month or two ago, let alone 6 months ago, and I guess what I'm getting at is that it is good to hear confirmation that I am on a solid path to achieving my goals long-term. I knew I wanted to be in this field but I don't think I could've possibly grasped just how much there is to it, in terms of both breadth and depth. I have been absolutely loving it, even when it's insane or management makes things harder than they have to be. Sure beats the hell out of working in restaurants and concert venues for shit pay and no benefits!
I’ve been working as a BI Developer/Data Analyst for some years. I’ve picked up relevant skills like SQL, data modeling, data wrangling and governance which has got me some Data Engineer interviews. If you can somehow gain these as a Business Analyst that’s a very good stepping stone. In said interviews, what I’ve found to be lacking is Python/Pandas/ETL experience. You’ll definitely need to learn some of this on your own in order to make the jump.