One page, school to practice
The route into data engineer
Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.
1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen
Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.
Saudi curriculum track
مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering
A-Level
- Mathematicsrequiredfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Further Mathematicshelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Physicshelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Computer Sciencehelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Economicshelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
IB Diploma
- Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Physics HLhelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Computer Sciencehelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- Economics HLhelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Advanced Placement
- AP Calculus BChelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- AP Computer Science Ahelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- AP Statisticshelpsfor Computer Science, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
- AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Computer Science
2. The degree
More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.
The data platforms everything else runs on — better market, less competition.
Three to four years in the UK, four to five in the Kingdom and the US, often with a placement year.
The pipelines underneath — less contested, similarly paid, and consistently in demand.
Three to four years in the UK, four to five in the Kingdom and the US.
3. Exams, and when to sit them
Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.
- TMUAOctober
Required or advantageous at Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick and others — and now carries Oxford's computer science admissions since the MAT was retired from 2026 entry.
- July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
- September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
- OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
- JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
- Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12
The Saudi composite for computing colleges.
- Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
- Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
- Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
- SAT or ACTGrade 11 to early Grade 12
For US applications, where computer science is among the most competitive majors to be admitted directly into.
- March, May, JuneSpring sittings. The standard first attempt, in Grade 11.
- August, October, November, DecemberAutumn sittings. The second attempt, and the last one that reaches early US deadlines is usually the October or November date.
- Two to four weeks after each sittingScores released; sending them to universities is a separate step with its own timing.
4. After the degree
Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.
Saudi Arabia
- schoolSecondary school — computer science and engineering track (مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة)3 yr
- undergraduateBSc in computer science, software engineering or information systems4–5 yrs
- practiceData engineer, usually after a first role in software or analytics0 yr
LicensingNone.
United States
- schoolHigh school with strong mathematics4 yr
- undergraduateBachelor's in computer science or a related field — 76% of this occupation's highest qualification4 yr
- practiceData engineer0 yr
LicensingNone.
5. What the route costs
Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.
Saudi Arabia
School-leaving to independent practice: 4–5 years.
The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 1 year by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 140,000–220,000 of earnings deferred.
United States
School-leaving to independent practice: 4–6 years.
The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 2 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $97,560–125,260 of earnings deferred.
How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out
It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.
Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.