8 Best Data Architecture Courses To Boost Your Career

Data architecture—the process of documenting an organization’s data assets—is a hot skill right now, and according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of roles for data architects is going to continue to grow over the next decade. Taking a course to learn these job-ready skills can help you expand your resume, grow into a new role at your company, or even kickstart a new career. 

However, if you’re going to spend the time and money to acquire these essential skills, you’ll want the best quality education you can get, and that requires a lot of research. This guide will show you the most popular and best-value courses on the market right now so you can choose your school and start learning as soon as possible. 

Is a Data Architecture Course Worth It?

Definitely. Online data architecture courses can guide you through expert-written curriculums that cover all the technical and soft skills you need to enter the industry. Along with giving you a strong portfolio and practical experience, these courses are definitely worth it and can help you land your first entry-level architect role. 

8 Best Data Architecture Courses

Here are our top favorite data architecture courses, all with proven ability to create employable graduates. 

Data Science Career Track – Springboard

Rating

Course Report: 4.64 out of 5 (1,304 ratings)

Overview

The Data Science Career Track from Springboard will teach you a variety of in-demand skills that can open up multiple new career directions for you in the tech industry. With this course, you’ll cover the following subjects and more:

• Data wrangling
• Statistical inference
• Machine learning
• Software engineering
• Advanced machine learning

Best For

With expert tutors and 1:1 calls with career experts and mentors, this comprehensive course is perfect if you want to enter a new career as a data scientist. To apply, you need to either have around six months of coding experience or take Springboard’s Foundations to Core prep course before enrolling. 

Duration

There are over 500 hours of content in this career track, and it takes around six months to complete when studying 20-25 hours per week. 

Price

The total price of the course is $9,900, but there are many flexible financing options available.

Become a Data Architect Nanodegree – Udacity

Rating

Course Report: 4.72 out of 5 (611 ratings)

Overview

This course focuses specifically on data architecture rather than the broader subject of data science and covers some of the following topics:

• How to design data systems for business requirements
• Big data systems
• Data governance 

Learn with recorded video lectures and receive as much personal feedback for assignments as you need to progress smoothly. 

Best For

Udacity requires students to have intermediate Python and SQL engineering skills to enroll in this course, as it teaches a specific branch of data science. 

Duration

All Udacity courses are designed to be completed in four months, but you can progress at a slower pace if you choose. 

Price

Four months of access to the course materials cost $1,356.

Architecting Data: Data Architecture – Skillsoft

Rating

FeaturedCustomers: 4.7 out of 5 (2,736 ratings)

Overview

Skillsoft courses put together a range of resources to help self-studiers learn the technical skills they want. With this data architecture offering, you get access to eight video courses and three books that cover topics such as:

• Amazon Redshift
• Quicksight
• Data management 
• Adoption frameworks
• Microservices
• Serverless computing

Best For

These resources are great for students who like to study alone or if you want to add some structure to the studying you do outside of class. 

Duration

There are eight courses totaling seven hours and three books totaling 13 hours. 

Price

Courses are available through a monthly subscription to the Skillsoft website.

Crash Course in Data Architecture – Dataiku on YouTube

Rating

Not applicable.

Overview

This video will help newcomers to the world of data architecture understand the main concepts of the role and the goals of well-designed and implemented data architecture. It covers the basics of data architecture, cybersecurity, scaling, structure, ROIs, and common challenges.

Best For

This crash course is perfect if you’re just beginning your research into the role of data architects and what they do. If you’re not ready to sign up for a bootcamp yet, try watching this video to get a better feel for the job and the foundational database skills you need.

Duration

The video is approximately 45 minutes long. 

Price

This is a free crash course available on YouTube.

Free Data Architect Learning Path – DataKwery

Rating

Not applicable.

Overview

DataKwery has put together a free learning path for data architecture, containing a collection of courses from reputable sites like Microsoft, Udacity, Coursera, and edX. You can take all or a mixture of these courses, which cover topics such as:

• Microsoft Azure
• Python programming language
• Relational databases
• SQL data analysis
• Spark
• Wrangling massive amounts of data
• Linux Command Line
• Git version control
• Enterprise data architecture
• Cloud computing

Best For

You can use these courses to supplement your current studies or use them to help you get a feel for the subject matter before starting a longer course. 

Duration

There are multiple courses to choose from, ranging from two hours in length to 16 weeks.

Price

These courses are free to the public. 

Big Data Architect Certification eLearning Study Kit Bundle – Arcitura

Rating

Not applicable.

Overview

With the Big Data Architect Study Kit Bundle, you’ll have everything you need to study for and pass your certification exams for the Big Data Architect Certification. The bundle includes five modules that cover a range of topics using a mixture of video lessons and digital course materials.

Best For

These materials have been bundled together specifically to help students pass the Big Data Architect Certification, a well-known certification from Arcitura. 

Duration

There are five modules of varying lengths included in the course.

Price

The course materials cost $396.

Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate SAA-C03 – Stephane Maarek on Udemy

Rating

Trustpilot: 2.4 out of 5 (964 ratings)

Overview

The bundle will help students learn cloud computing and take a practice exam in preparation for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Certification SAA-C03. This is a solid piece of software for qualified data architects to have hands-on experience with, and a certification that showcases your practical skills will look good on any data scientist’s resume. 

Best For

The course recommends some basic IT knowledge to make the most of this course, plus a working machine running Windows, Linux, or Mac OS. 

Duration

There are a total of 382 lectures included with the course that total almost 27 hours in length.

Price

The full price of the course when it’s not on sale is $84.99.

Building a Modern Data Architecture for the Data Driven Enterprise – Pluralsight

Rating

Course Report: 3 out of 5 (2 ratings)

Overview

This course includes a video from a talk at a Big Data LDN event and covers some useful topics such as:

• What is data architecture?
• Examples of data architecture 
• The hybrid computing environment 
• Types of database management
• Cloud-based data warehouses
• Data flow

Best For

This video can be accessed for free and gives an accessible and easy-to-understand introduction to the world of data architecture, what it is and what we use it for. If you’re new to this area of study, this is a great resource to help you get started.

Duration

This short-form course is just 30 minutes long.

Price

Pluralsight courses can be accessed through a $45 monthly subscription, but there is also a 10-day free trial available. 

How Do You Choose a Data Architecture Course?

Take a look at our tips on choosing a data architecture course, so you know what to look out for.

Curriculum

Some curriculums start at the beginner level, and others jump in halfway for more intermediate students. Almost all course websites will have a detailed syllabus for you to download and read through, so make sure you do.

Expertise of Instructors

The best instructors have industry experience—both as instructors and as data architects. This way, they can help you through technical problems with professional teaching skills and give you valuable insight into the tech industry and the life of a cloud architect.

Reputation

You wouldn’t buy a new phone without reading reviews, so don’t sign up for a course without reading their reviews, either. It’s good to be sure that the course provider can deliver on their claims and produce satisfied customers. 

Pricing

As well as the upfront price of the course, there will also be a variety of different payment methods for you to consider. The most important thing here is to read the terms and conditions and understand exactly what you’re agreeing to.

Schedule

If you have a job or other obligations, you need to take note of course schedules. While there are self-paced courses available, many opt for live sessions and lectures that will require you to attend at certain times of the day.

Practical Projects and Career Guidance

Career guidance is something you should definitely look out for because you’ll be able to get expert advice on your resume and interviewing skills. Another thing you need for your job hunt will be a portfolio—completing practical projects during the course can help you build one.

Certificate

A certificate can be a helpful tool to get your foot in the door during your job hunt, as it can help land you the all-important interview. The type of certificate a course offers doesn’t matter too much, but always make sure they provide one in some form. Additional certifications, such as the AWS SAA-C03, will also be great additions to your resume.

Making the Most Out of Your Data Architecture Course

Learning at a data science bootcamp isn’t quite the same as studying at school or college, so we recommend researching what you’ll be doing. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

How Will the Course Work?

Data architecture courses are completed completely through your laptop or computer because that’s how you’ll watch and join classes and how you’ll complete the assignments and projects. It’s best to have a webcam and a strong internet connection to help achieve a smooth experience. 

What Should You Expect To Learn in a Data Architecture Course?

Here are some of the topics you can expect to cover in a data architecture course:

• Data wrangling
• Designing enterprise data infrastructure solutions
• Statistical inference
• Machine learning
• Relational databases
• Management systems
• Processing systems
• SQL queries 
• Large-scale data processing systems
• Dimensional Data models
• Hybrid cloud environments
• SQL data analysis
• Organizational data strategy
• Predictive analytics
• Statistical Analysis
• Git version control
• Google Cloud platform

What Will Your Schedule Look Like?

If you choose a full-time course, you can expect a full day of lectures every weekday from around 9:30 am to 6:30 pm. With part-time courses, you’ll attend classes during weekday evenings and weekends, and self-paced courses tend to have no schedules at all. Keep in mind that these times and days change from course to course, so make sure you verify them before you enroll.

FAQs About Data Architecture Courses

To finish, here are some frequently asked questions we get about data architecture courses.