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What Does a Big Data Engineer Do?

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What Does a Big Data Engineer Do?
What Does a Big Data Engineer Do?

When it seems like more and more companies value data above all else, you might wonder what they do with so much information? Who sits down and turns all that data into something that saves organizations time and money?

Enter the Big Data Engineer.

This article will go over what a Big Data Engineer is, what they do, and which technical skills they need most to succeed on the job.

What is a Big Data Engineer?

A Big Data Engineer is a type of data science specialist with expertise working with extremely large data sets known as big data.

And what exactly are data science and big data? Let’s explore these two concepts one by one.

What is data science?

Data science involves finding insights and patterns within data sets using scientific methods, algorithms, and computer processes. Different data science professionals use different methods to work with many types of data sets, but Big Data Engineers focus on particular types of data sets known as big data.

What is big data?

Even though a lot of people have heard of big data, many have different ideas about what it is exactly. That’s because the definition of big data is fairly general.

When a data set is so big that it’s impossible to store, process, or analyze using traditional data science methods, then the data set can be considered big data.

Most big data sets have three characteristics in common, also known as the three Vs.

Volume

Big data sets are made up of hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of data points that can take up petabytes of storage. For example, it’s estimated that Facebook alone stores 250 billion images.

Velocity

Another feature of big data sets is the speed at which new data comes in. Think of remote sensor data, which might provide updated measurements every few seconds or more.

There must be a way to capture, filter, pre-process, and store this constant stream of new data. That’s where big data methods come in.

Variety

It’s a good feeling when everything in a data set can fit neatly into a database with pre-defined attributes. But big data is messy. Big data means variety.

A great example of this is email. No two email messages are alike. Every email has its own text and timestamp, along with other relevant information like hyperlinks, threads of past messages, and attachments. These attachments contain additional data in the form of PDF files, spreadsheets, audio, or video.

What separates Big Data Engineers from other types of data science professionals is that they’re trained to work with big data sets using specific extraction methods, algorithms, and frameworks. These tools are designed to handle large volumes and varieties of data that update and change constantly.

What can a Big Data Engineer do with big data?

Big Data Engineers incorporate these two concepts — data science in general and big data in particular — to turn enormous amounts of data into useful models and insights that help an organization succeed.

Examples of success for different organizations using big data might include:

  • A streaming service improving movie recommendations based on users’ preferences and viewing habits.
  • A hospital using medical records to provide better diagnoses and prescribe personalized treatments.
  • A large retailer being able to group different types of customers to targeted marketing campaigns and increase sales.
  • An autonomous vehicle using live road conditions to optimize routing.

Common day-to-day tasks and responsibilities for a Big Data Engineer include:

  • Gathering and processing raw data sets.
  • Processing unstructured data into a form that can be analyzed.
  • Designing and developing big data applications and systems.
  • Maintaining, updating, and testing those systems.
  • Performing common data-related tasks, including writing SQL queries, writing scripts, and calling APIs.
  • Analyzing processed data.
  • Reading, extracting, transforming, and loading data to and from frameworks and tools.
  • Integrating their work with the rest of the technical teams’ processes and systems.
  • Supporting the business team to make sure results are relevant to improving the organization’s success.

What technical skills does a Big Data Engineer need?

Whether working for an app startup or an established hospital, there are some common tools and technical skills that every Big Data Engineer should know.

Machine learning

Machine learning is the cornerstone of working with big data because it helps Big Data Engineers make sense of a lot of data quickly. Big Data Engineers should understand the basics of machine learning, including the types of machine learning approaches and how to account for machine learning biases.

SQL

Any Data Engineer is likely to spend a lot of time working with databases, and Structured Query Language (SQL) is the industry standard for reading, updating, and searching through databases.

Python

Anyone interested in data science should know Python. Big Data Engineers are no exception. The open-source language is flexible, easy to learn, and boasts a huge worldwide community of contributors.

Java

Java is another popular programming language with Data Engineers because of its efficiency and object-oriented nature. It’s commonly used to build data sorting and machine learning algorithms.

Java includes dozens of libraries and frameworks, and Big Data Engineers should focus on libraries like Java ML for machine learning.

Hadoop

One common approach to saving time with big data is to work with many servers in parallel rather than a single server. Hadoop is an open-source Apache framework that helps Big Data Engineers do just that.

What’s the next step toward becoming a Big Data Engineer?

If you have a particular big data engineering job or company in mind, the first step is to look at the job description for specific technical and skill requirements. If you’re missing one or two key skills, our online programming courses will help you fill the gap in no time.

If you’re just starting out in your new career as a Big Data Engineer, we’ve got you covered. Our Data Scientist Career Path will help you get started with the skills you need to land your first big data engineering job on your schedule and at your pace.

Data Science Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy

Data Scientists try to make sense of the data that’s all around us. Learning Data Science can help you make informed decisions, create beautiful visualizations, and even try to predict future events through Machine Learning. If you’re curious about what you can learn about the world using the data p…

Dog Park Friendship

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Dog Park Friendship

Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this illustration — or, tell us about a memory from your own life that this image makes you think of.

Post it in the comments, then read the related Opinion essay to learn more.

Want more Picture Prompts? Find them all in this column.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Word of the Day: astute

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Word of the Day: astute

: marked by practical intelligence

_________

The word astute has appeared in 92 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 9 in the Opinion essay “A Packed Schedule Doesn’t Really ‘Enrich’ Your Child” by Shalini Shankar:

But it’s clear by now that all this expensive enrichment won’t ensure kids’ success. Despite middle- and upper-class millennials mortgaging their childhood to get into college and then toiling through early adulthood in unpaid internships, they are unable to acquire the levels of economic and social security still held by their baby boomer parents.

Perhaps that’s why Gen Z has shown astute awareness of the dangers of overwork, with some high-profile Zoomers demonstrating acts of radical self-preservation. The Gen Z tennis star Naomi Osaka, for example, recently chose to prioritize her well-being over her career’s demands when she dropped out of the French Open after officials fined her for declining to participate in its post-match news conferences. Gen Z seems to have accepted that no matter how much you love your job, your job won’t love you back. Their parents — Gen Xers and even older millennials — were late to this lesson, and if they learned it at all, it was often only when they hit a wall with burnout.

Can you correctly use the word astute in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how astute can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try one of our monthly vocabulary challenges.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

How Well Is Your School Handling Covid This Year?

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How Well Is Your School Handling Covid This Year?

What policies does your school have in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus? Are they working?

Have you or your classmates been exposed to Covid since going back to school? If so, what happened? How do you feel about it?

In “How to Prepare Your Kid for a Coronavirus Exposure at School,” Perri Klass gives parents advice for supporting children and teenagers who are in this situation:

Now that kids are back in the classroom, there’s a very real possibility that they may be exposed to the coronavirus, and may need to be tested — or isolate. This can be alarming for parents, and frightening for some children. Kids may also be disappointed if they have to miss out on certain activities.

Dr. Klass writes that it is important to understand your school’s safety protocols:

First, ask children what they already know and understand about the rules that the school has in place for keeping them safe, and welcome their questions, said Dr. Anna Miller-Fitzwater, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.

What have your kid’s teachers and administrators “officially” said in school? What have kids been hearing from friends or on the news? If your own understanding of the school’s policy is different from how your child is explaining it, you might want to clarify with the school — and if there is misinformation floating around, correct it.

Acknowledge frankly to children that exposures may happen. But remind them that following the procedures for when they do occur helps them protect their friends and classmates and, ultimately, should help keep schools open.

She also writes about how students may feel if they are exposed to Covid:

For many children who are glad to be back in school, close contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus will mean inconveniences and disappointments — getting tested, missing school, staying home from planned activities if isolation is required. You want your child to feel free to discuss those feelings with you.

If your child needs to isolate in such a situation, they may react in a variety of ways, said Louise Dalton, a consultant clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford department of psychiatry. “Some may feel really anxious and worried, some may feel really angry with the person they think exposed them,” she said. Some children will be furious that they have to stay home, but others may be happy about it.

Parents should “validate and normalize their child’s response,” said Melissa Cousino, a psychologist and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. “I often say, ‘This worry that you are feeling or this anger that you are feeling, it’s a normal response to the abnormal,’” she said. The pandemic is what is strange — and wrong — in the world, not the child’s emotions.

Children in middle or high school are more likely to be upset about the social impact of an exposure, such as missing time with friends, school events or sports. “Life was starting to return to some kind of normalcy,” Dr. Cousino said, and now that’s been interrupted. Understand what is most upsetting for that particular child, and if possible, work with the school to recover the opportunity: “It may not be the worry of getting sick, it may be the worry of missing tryouts for that sports team.”

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • What safety measures has your school implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus? Do you think your school is taking the right steps? Are the protocols in place working?

  • Have there been Covid cases at your school? If so, what happens when someone tests positive?

  • Have you or any of your friends contracted coronavirus since going back to school? Have you been exposed to someone who has? What was that experience like?

  • Dr. Klass writes that teenagers may be more worried about missing out on their social lives than getting sick. Do you agree? Have you had to stay home from any planned activities?

  • More than a year and a half into the pandemic, how are you feeling? How are you managing the current state of our battle with the virus, which may continue indefinitely?

  • What do you think of Dr. Klass’s advice for parents on how to support their children through this stage of the pandemic? How do you think adults should talk to teenagers about Covid?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Lesson of the Day: ‘See How the Dixie Fire Created Its Own Weather’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘See How the Dixie Fire Created Its Own Weather’

Featured Article: “See How the Dixie Fire Created Its Own Weather” by Nadja Popovich, Noah Pisner, Nicholas Bartzokas, Evan Grothjan, Daniel Mangosing, Karthik Patanjali and Scott Reinhard

The Dixie fire that has ravaged Northern California since July is finally contained — after having destroyed nearly one million acres, an area larger than the size of Rhode Island, making it the second largest fire in state history.

In this lesson, you will learn how the Dixie fire grew so intense that it powered its own weather systems, spawning towering storm clouds, lightning and even some “fire whirls,” spinning vortices of flames.

In the Going Further activities, you will learn how California started a military-style campaign to fight the Dixie fire and explore the human impact of the largest blaze of this past year.

Part 1. Reflect on the following questions:

  • What do you know about the wildfires in California and the Northwest this summer — some of which still burn today?

  • Do you know anyone who was affected by them?

  • What more do you want to know about the wildfires?

Part 2. Make a prediction.

Look closely at the above video of a storm cloud created by the Dixie fire from July. (Rewatch several times if needed).

Based on the video and what you already know about wildfires and the weather, how do you think the Dixie fire was able to create its own weather systems, with storm clouds, wind, lightning and rain?

Share your predictions with a partner.

Read the featured article, then answer the following questions:

1. Look at The Times’s 3-D model depicting the creation of a firestorm on July 19: What do you notice? What do you wonder? What did you find most fascinating or surprising about the model?

2. In your own words, explain how the Dixie fire powered its own weather systems, including storm clouds, lightning, wind and rain. What role does heat, condensation and moisture play in this process? What is a Pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb for short, cloud?

3. Compare your prediction from the warm-up activity with the actual process. What predictions, if any, did you get right?

4. Understand the scale and scope of the Dixie fire by finding some numbers in this article: How many firestorms did it create over its life span? How many acres of land were destroyed since the fire began? What altitude did the largest fire clouds reach? Taken together, what picture of the Dixie fire do these numbers present?

5. “Wildfires on the West Coast have grown larger and more intense in recent years,” the Times article says. What factors have contributed to the landscape burning at record scale?

6. How was The Times able to reconstruct a 3-D model of the Dixie fire’s first massive thunderclouds? What other natural environmental phenomena would you like The Times to render in a 3-D model?

7. Media Literacy. Why do you think The Times chose to tell the story of the Dixie fire’s firestorms visually? How would the article be different if it were a traditional, text-only piece on wildfires?

Option 1. Learn more about the fight against the Dixie fire.

At the height of the containment operation, 6,579 people worked around the clock to battle the Dixie fire. Officials spent more than $610 million over three months to bring the fire under control — by far the most expensive suppression campaign in California history.

Read “Inside the Massive and Costly Fight Against the Dixie Fire” to learn how California mobilized a military-style operation to contain the wildfire. Then, write about or discuss with a partner: How does the article add to or change your perspective on the Dixie fire? What quotation, image or video do you find most memorable, provocative or informative? What questions does the article raise for you about the costs of containing wildfires? Do you agree with experts who wonder whether California’s approach to fighting wildfires is sustainable? What alternatives would you suggest?

Option 2. Learn about the human impact of the Dixie fire.

The Dixie fire burned through nearly a million acres across the Sierra Nevada, prompting mass evacuations and destroying thousands of homes, businesses and other structures, including much of the town of Greenville. Learn more about the human toll of the blaze by reading one of the following articles:

Then, write about or discuss with a partner: How does reading about the Dixie fire from a human-impact perspective add to or change your understanding of the story that numbers and graphics alone could not communicate? What did you find most surprising, moving or memorable? What questions does the article raise for you about how we should think about the growing crisis of wildfires in America?

Option 3. Learn more about wildfires and their connection to climate change.

In “Wildfires Are Intensifying. Here’s Why, and What Can Be Done,” Winston Choi-Schagrin writes:

By nearly every metric, the wildfires in the Western United States are worsening. They are growing larger, spreading faster and reaching higher, scaling mountain elevations that previously were too wet and cool to have supported fires this fierce.

He continues:

Wildfire experts see the signature of climate change in the dryness, high heat and longer fire season that have made these fires more extreme. “We wouldn’t be seeing this giant ramp up in fire activity as fast as it is happening without climate change,” said Park Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA. “There’s just no way.”

Read the entire article, then answer the following questions in writing or discussion with a partner: What are two new things you learned about wildfires and why they are intensifying? What quote, image or statistic was most provocative or memorable? What is your reaction to the remedies explored in the article?

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.

6 Strategies for Tackling Unfamiliar Words, Suggested by Students

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6 Strategies for Tackling Unfamiliar Words, Suggested by Students

Edward and Mario started with recognizable parts of their words to piece together the full definitions.

endoscopy | Edward, McAllen, Texas

While researching sterilization for a school project, the word “endoscopy” stood out from an article about locating ulcers. I had definitely heard the prefix “endo-” in my biology class and the word “scope” in my everyday life, so I assumed it meant to look into some part of the body. And to my surprise, the word does actually mean to examine the inside of an organ! I guess some words aren’t too hard to figure out if you split them up into little parts.

reinvigorated | Mario, El Salvador

I chose the word “reinvigorated” from the article “A Tense Lunar New Year for the Bay Area After Attacks on Asian Americans.” “Reinvigorated” quickly sparked my curiosity because of the complexity of the word’s etymology. Although I knew that the prefix “re-” meant something like “back or again,” I did not have a clue what “invigorated” meant. Once I discovered that the definition of “invigorate” is “to give strength or energy to something or someone,” I began to see daylight. Then it became easy for me to understand that “reinvigorate” stands for giving strength to something. According to the context of the article, it relates to the racist movement against the Asian American community.

Amy and Christian scoured the sentences surrounding their chosen vocabulary words. Familiar words nearby clued them into what their words might mean.

torrent | Amy, Elizabeth, N.J.

When I was reading the article “De Blasio Vowed to Make City Streets Safer. They’ve Turned More Deadly,” the word “torrent” caught my eye since I had never heard it before. With the use of context clues like “unleashed” and “anger,” I came to the conclusion that the word might be related to “outburst.” As it turns out, the word did have something to do with an overwhelming number or amount.

heralding | Christian Mereyde, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, N.C.

In the article “One Man’s Endless Hunt for a Dopamine Rush in Virtual Reality,” I discovered the unfamiliar word “heralding.” The paragraph was talking about how Mark Zuckerberg and other executives were “heralding” a digital world. Based on the context of that sentence, I guessed that the word meant to announce something, and upon further research I discovered that the word “herald” is defined as “to be a sign that something is going to happen.” A few synonyms are “proclaiming,” “declaring” and, yes, “announcing.”

Maybe a word reminds you of Latin class — or the “Harry Potter” series.

luminaries | Nicholas Wu, Hunter College High School, New York City

Toward the end of an episode of “The Daily” titled “The United States v. Elizabeth Holmes,” I heard the word “luminaries” used to describe certain Silicon Valley investors. I immediately thought of the “Harry Potter” flashlight spell “lumos,” a word whose bright connotations were startling to me when used in a dark podcast episode about fraud and dishonesty. I learned that a “luminary” is a figure who inspires and guides other people, much like the lumos spell itself.

adolescents | Hannah Reiterer, Leibnitz, Austria

I chose the word “adolescents” from an article about whether school should start later. At first glance, I immediately thought of a Latin lesson last year when we learned the word “adulescentes,” which means “young men.” When I looked up the word in the dictionary I found out that “adolescents” means “teenagers,” which confirmed my assumption that the word might be derived from Latin.

Coursera offers Google Professional Certificates to community colleges and CTE high schools for free; Announces ACE®️ Credit Recommendation for Google entry-level certificates

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Coursera offers Google Professional Certificates to community colleges and CTE high schools for free; Announces ACE®️ Credit Recommendation for Google entry-level certificates

By Leah Belsky, Chief Enterprise Officer, Coursera 

Students entering today’s competitive job market need flexible pathways to a college degree and opportunities to learn career-specific skills. Today, we’re proud to announce two new initiatives to help broaden access to job-relevant learning for students of all backgrounds.

Free certificates for any U.S. community college and CTE high school 

Starting today, Google’s Professional Certificates on Coursera are available to US community colleges and Career and Technical Education (CTE) high schools for free. Institutions that sign up can offer industry-relevant skills training to their students. With the Google certificates, students can prepare for a range of well-paying roles, including data analytics, project management, UX design, or IT support. 

In addition to receiving career services to help in their job search, participating students will be able to apply for open jobs from over 150 employers who are currently hiring, including Walmart, Verizon, and Google. Institutions will have access to skills development analytics offered through Coursera for Campus that allow administrators to track student progress against their career goals and benchmark against employees in the industry.  

ACE®️ Credit Recommendation for entry-level Google certificates 

Additionally, we’re pleased to announce that now, learners who complete any of Google’s entry-level Professional Certificates on Coursera—which include Data Analytics, IT Support, Project Management, and UX Design—are eligible to receive up to 12 college credits from participating colleges and universities in the US, or the equivalent of four college courses at the associate’s degree level. While each college and university has its own policies around credit for prior learning, ACE®️ recommendations enable more universities to accept the certificates for credit toward a degree. 

“We are excited about this expansion of our Grow with Google Certificates program and the opportunity to partner with academic institutions across the US, including community colleges, which are critical to workforce development and economic mobility,” said Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google CFO. “We believe that to have sustainable economic growth, we must have inclusive growth, and we are committed to continuing to help people develop the digital skills they need to participate in this economy.”

The University of London Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and University of North Texas Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degrees on Coursera as well as Northeastern University are among the institutions accepting college credit from entry-level Google certificates. 

The free initiative for community colleges and CTE high schools along with ACE®️ Credit Recommendation are major milestones on our journey to build a more just world through equal access to learning. To further expand flexible degree pathways, we’re working with our industry partners to put more entry-level Professional Certificates on Coursera through the ACE®️ Credit Recommendation process. 

Launch a new career with Google’s Professional Certificates. 

Teach your students in-demand job skills with certificates on Coursera. 

Sign up for our community college and CTE high school initiative here and offer job-relevant training to your students for free. 

*Signups for the free initiative for a limited time only

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5 Courses for the Perfect Halloween!

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5 Courses for the Perfect Halloween!

From catering for trick-or-treaters to costume-making, from bonfire safety to decorating, this Halloween you’ll find yourself using skills that don’t get called on most days of the year! So it’s understandable that perhaps you’re costume-making skills are a bit rusty.

As a free treat, we’ve put together five great courses that cover all of the unique skills that you’ll need to have a fantastic Halloween. One thing you definitely don’t need to be scared of this Halloween is not having the right skills!

Happy Halloween from everyone at Alison!

 

Halloween is a great opportunity to let your hair down and eat whatever you want! This delicious baking course covers all varieties of cakes and pastries. By baking your own treats this Halloween, you can indulge your sweet tooth while also staying reasonably healthy! Homemade baked goods have less sugar and additives than shop-bought cakes and you can also adapt recipes for individual dietary requirements.

When was the last time you had to design a witch’s costume from scratch? If you need to brush up on your sketching, sewing and design basics then this is the course for you. Home-made Halloween outfits are a great way to spend time and bond with children. They can exercise their imaginations while also trying out skills they never get to use any other time of the year. Who knows, this year’s witch might be a future fashion designer!

While Halloween is a time to celebrate and have fun, it’s also important to make sure that the fun and games remain safe. Fireworks, bonfires, unsupervised children – this can potentially be a recipe for disaster if the adults aren’t paying attention. To make sure that you’re prepared for all possibilities this Halloween, our popular First Aid course is a must to make sure that your Halloween is remembered for all the right reasons.

 

Halloween offers endless opportunities to let your imagination and creativity run wild! From pumpkin carving to home-made decorations to costumes, all visual projects need to start with sketches and design plans. Our How to Draw course will teach you everything you need to know to be able to transform your great ideas into fantastic drawings and then into even better realities!

Halloween always has incredible potential for great photographs. The decorations, the fireworks, not to mention the autumn leaves! Kids always love being able to look back at their different costumes over the years and you’ll never regret having an album to look back on. Make those photographic memories even more special by upskilling in digital photography with this in depth diploma course.

What is Integration Testing?

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What is Integration Testing?
What is Integration Testing?

Multiple forms of testing, both manual and automated, can ensure quality control and determine how well the software performs. One such type, integration testing, is sometimes lumped in with other types of tests.

But, integration testing happens at a specific part of a development project, and it has a very particular purpose. But what is it, exactly?

Integration testing is the testing of various modules of the software under development together as a group. This determines whether or not they function together seamlessly as part of the system or whole.

Some confuse it with unit testing, which also tests parts of the whole, but the difference is when you perform the test and how you carry it out.

Unit testing is done on modules or units of the project individually to make sure they function as they should. Integration testing is done on groups of these modules to make sure they work together and interact properly. While unit testing is one of the earliest tests performed in a project, integration testing is usually done later in the project timeline.

Below, we’ll take a closer look at integration testing, why it’s important, best practices for integration testing, integration testing tools, and more.

Why is integration testing important?

No matter how well you write code, the potential for bugs, vulnerabilities, and errors to occur will always exist. This is more likely when multiple programmers work together and collaborate on a single project.

Each will use their own logic and problem-solving methods, despite the plans and strategies created by the development team. So, integration testing has multiple benefits in this environment, including:

  • Successful integration of modules. Most projects are big enough that development is broken down into numerous parts or modules. Integration testing verifies that all the parts communicate well and work together to achieve the purpose of the software.
  • Data integrity. When programmers move from one module to another in development, there’s always the risk of losing or inadvertently changing pieces of data. Integration testing can be used as a form of regression testing to verify that no inadvertent changes or corruptions have taken place.
  • User-based scenarios. One of the most important reasons to conduct integration tests is to create critical user-based scenarios and make sure they play out correctly. Individual components of the software will need to communicate properly when grouped, adapting and responding to multiple possible results.
  • Third-party testing. Integration testing also verifies that groups of modules or units of coding interact properly with Application Programming Interface (API) tools. This lays the foundation for acceptance testing toward the end of the project, ensuring a user-friendly end product.

Criteria and best practices for integration testing

Since integration testing has a specific purpose and place within the overall software testing strategy, what are the requirements for running integration tests?

  • The team should create a test plan to determine the type of test and the desired results.
  • Test cases need to be prepared and testing data created.
  • Unit testing must have been completed already (this is perhaps the most important criteria).
  • Any of the defects exposed by unit testing must be resolved.
  • A test environment needs to be set up.

Some examples of the test cases you could run to verify that components work together to achieve the desired result might be:

  • The checkout process on an e-Commerce site.
  • The login process on a site where users enter credentials.
  • Message notifications and their respective redirect links.

Types of integration tests

In general, there are two types of integration testing: The Big Bang Approach and The Incremental Approach.

The Big Bang Approach

As the name suggests, in this type of test, all the units or modules are grouped together and tested as a whole.

Advantages:

  • Works best for small systems.
  • Yields quick results.

Disadvantages:

  • Greater difficulty in locating faults.
  • Potential for overlooking a component.
  • All units need to be complete, so testing can’t begin early.
  • High-risk modules don’t get specialized attention.

The Incremental Approach

Rather than grouping and testing all the modules at once, incremental testing tests the integration or interaction of a few units at a time. There are two basic methods for this: “Bottom-Up” and “Top-Down.”

Bottom-Up

In this approach, lower-level modules are integrated and tested first. The results lay the foundation for higher-level testing later.

Advantages:

  • Locating and fixing faults is easier.
  • No need to wait for all units to be completed before testing begins.

Disadvantages:

  • Critical, high-level components are tested last.
  • Not possible to create an early prototype.

Top-Down

This approach is the opposite of the bottom-up approach. High-level modules are integrated and tested first, and then low-level modules are tested and then integrated as their functionality is verified.

Advantages:

  • Locating and fixing faults is easier.
  • It’s possible to create an early prototype.
  • Tests performed based on priority reveal major flaws you can fix before complete integration.

Disadvantages:

  • Stubs have to be created for missing modules.
  • Lower-level units are often inadequately tested.

A third approach that combines the best of these two approaches is called Sandwich Testing or Hybrid Integrated Testing.

Tools for integration testing can be categorized as follows:

Some tools are designed to test software coded in a specific coding language, for example, Pytest for Python, H2 Database for Java, or jQuery for JavaScript and PHP.

You can qualify for a job developing and testing software by signing up for any of our online courses. For example, if you’re already familiar with JavaScript, you can learn jQuery.

Rare-language tools

These are tools used for rarer languages or languages with fewer tests available. An example is GoConvey for Golang. You can begin programming with Go by enrolling in our online course for learning Go.

Multiple-language tools

These tools are designed to be able to perform tests on programs coded in various languages. Some examples are VectorCast for C and C++, Selenium for Java and Dockerfile, and Cucumber for Java, JavaScript, Ruby, and Kotlin.

Careers using integration testing

Professionals of all kinds either conduct integration tests or use their results for their job, including:

  • Business Analysts
  • Quality Analysts
  • Software Engineers

We can quickly equip you with the skills you need to start or further a career in various tech positions. To start learning some of the programming languages used in software development and testing, check out courses like:

Web Development Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy

Web Development is the practice of developing websites and web apps that live on the internet. Whether you’re interested in front-end, back-end, or going full-stack, the content in our Web Development domain will help you get there.

15 Javascript Projects for Beginners

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15 Javascript Projects for Beginners
15 Javascript Projects for Beginners

JavaScript is a scripting language for making dynamic web pages and so much more. As a beginner, you may be wondering what JavaScript can do.

A good way to learn its capabilities is to practice by building projects. Here are 15 JavaScript projects for beginners to help you develop your JavaScript abilities and propel you to an intermediate skill level.

1. Master the navbar

Learning how to build modern web page navigation with JavaScript is a time-worthy and skill-building task — especially if you anticipate working on web pages in the future. JavaScript can create slide menus, interactive tabs, modals, and the three-barred hamburger menu.

Hamburger menus are handy on smaller screens. They allow the web browser’s navigation tabs to be hidden away but viewable with just a click or tap. To get started on this, you’ll want to use event listeners to trigger certain actions on the webpage.

2. Create inventory

Building and managing an inventory is another great beginner-friendly project. If you don’t know what to keep track of, start small with an imaginary list of items. For example, if you were selling a product line and housing it as inventory, what would your items be, and how would you want to keep track of them?

This is an excellent project to understand arrays. Within an array, you can create product classes to set the properties for your products, such as name and a value stat. Then, to keep track of certain aspects of those products, you can create subclasses.

Programming a responsive image gallery allows you to practice with looping and event handlers. Whether you want images to enlarge with mouse rollover effects or create a flip image, scripting is the way to do it.

4. Create interactive elements

Interactive elements are fun and simple to practice different JavaScript techniques with. They’ll get you up to speed with implementing variables and if/else conditionals. Some common elements that beginner programmers can make are calendars, calculators, and any other responsive widget-like tools you can think of.

Projects like these can help you grow quickly, so don’t skip them because they sound simple. Building a foundation of skills is essential in taking on larger, complex application builds.

5. Interact with HTML lists

These are sometimes called CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) applications. For this project, you’ll assign functions that allow users to add or delete items in lists. It’ll also involve implementing event listeners and grabbing elements by their CSS ID selectors.

6. Create a responsive questionnaire

HTML forms are a commonly used tool on web pages to collect data from site visitors. You can also use forms with booleans and conditionals to interact with a visitor’s answers right in the browser.

You’ll use conditional expressions that respond depending on the answer to specific questions. Another option is to create a quiz or test that displays results after all the questions have been answered.

7. Make a music player

A lot of fun things can be done with audio in JavaScript. Making a personal music player is one of them. At its core, this project utilizes functions to play, pause, and load the next or previous track. You can also create a playlist of your all-time favorite songs.

8. Get creative with the canvas API

Another JavaScript project is using Canvas to create graphics, which is also a good introduction to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Canvas is an HTML element and beginner-friendly API. Even though you may have never used a programming interface before and don’t understand what they’re all about, don’t worry. Taking on this project is a great way to add APIs to your coding repertoire.

Note, APIs usually require intermediate coding skills to incorporate, but we think you can handle the Canvas API because it’s more of a creative tool. Have fun layering to create something awesome!

9. Build a 2D/3D game

Everyone loves games! Today, it seems like there’s an endless variety of web games coded in JavaScript. Canvas API is a tool often used for game graphics (mainly 2D). So, once you get comfortable with the basics of implementing your first API, you can start putting your new skills to the test.

Making 2D games is more straightforward than making 3D games, so maybe start with 2D. When it comes to game ideas, creativity is encouraged! Maybe try to recreate your favorite Atari game or create something new, like Neptune Cows versus Plutonian Droids (working title).

10. Build a simple front-facing social platform

Creating a basic social platform isn’t as complicated as it seems. All you need to do is add a text box, allow a log of chat history, and maybe some emoticon-like buttons. Don’t worry about setting up a server just yet since we’re building the foundation for JavaScript.

11. Automate tasks

A popular chore to automate is repetitive, monotonous spreadsheet tasks. This is possible with help from Excel JavaScript API.

This one is a bit more advanced, but it’s a good project to take the time to learn because it has various applicable uses. Take it one step at a time. The first part of this project could be simply loading a worksheet.

12. Data science

Do you want to take spreadsheet tasks a bit further? Maybe you want to get comfortable with working with a lot of data. Or perhaps you want to be able to compute some statistics from said data. This is possible with JavaScript.

If you’re a Data Analyst or prospective analyst, you can program an application that’ll calculate the significance of a given data set.

13. Generate things

This one partly falls into the interactive element’s project column, but we included it as a separate project because it’s an enjoyable way to learn about arrays. What you generate is up to you, but here are some ideas: jokes, usernames, or maybe images.

Essentially, you’re scripting an application that will pull an item from a list when a button is pressed in the browser. Some websites are solely dedicated to this, so if you pick a niche enough topic, you could get some decent web traffic from folks who need help deciding on something.

14. Play with algorithms

Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of variables, arrays, loops, and functions, you’ll be ready to take on algorithms. Programming algorithms is a robust skill set that teaches problem-solving techniques.

To get started with JavaScript algorithms, you’ll want to identify a simple problem that you can solve with code. Then, build your algorithm to solve the problem one step at a time.

15. Create a single page application (SPA)

SPAs give users a smooth navigation experience by loading all web pages’ contents onto a single page. The page updates the document with the help of JavaScript APIs.

This one is for JavaScripters ready to advance to the intermediate level. If you decide to take on this project, you’ll want to look into which JavaScript framework is best for you. Good luck coding, and don’t forget about your vanilla JavaScript foundation.

Continue building your JavaScript skills

Finding the right project to devote your time to can be difficult. If this list doesn’t quite do it for you, we have more project ideas in our forums.

Or maybe you’re interested in building a more complex project that’s tailored toward your career path? Take a look at the new Portfolio Projects in our Career Center. And, if you still need help brushing up on your JavaScript fundamentals, check out our Learn JavaScript course.

JavaScript Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy

JavaScript is a fun and flexible programming language. It’s one of the core technologies of web development and can be used on both the front-end and the back-end.

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