Phase 4 · SQL & Data Engineering Basics

Topics

ETL vs ELT

Part of the AI Engineer Roadmap.

Summary

Two orderings of extract/transform/load — ETL transforms before loading, ELT loads raw data first and transforms inside the warehouse — a distinction that shapes modern data stack design.

How to Learn This

  • 1Learn the practical trade-offs between ETL and ELT for different team sizes.
  • 2Identify which pattern a tool you've used (e.g. dbt) follows.
  • 3Sketch both patterns for the same dataset to see the difference concretely.
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