This question comes up constantly, and the short answer is that most companies advertising data engineering roles in India do not list a CS degree as a mandatory requirement. They list skills — SQL, Python, Spark, cloud platforms — and the ability to build pipelines.
A lot of working data engineers have non-CS degrees. The field attracts people from varied academic backgrounds precisely because the skills are learnable outside of a university curriculum, and because data engineering problems are the kind that benefit from people who think about things differently.
In a technical interview for a data engineering role, nobody is asking about your degree. They are asking you to write a SQL query, explain how you would design an ETL pipeline for a specific use case, describe a project you built, and talk through how you debugged a data issue. None of those questions require a CS background to answer well.
The five skills that get you shortlisted
✓SQL — solid query writing, not just basics
✓Python — practical scripting and data processing
✓Databases — relational concepts, data modelling
✓Cloud Platforms — at least one (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
✓Data Pipelines — a project you can walk through
A GitHub repository with a working ETL pipeline tells a recruiter more than a CS degree from a tier-3 college. A project that pulls from an API, cleans the data in Python, loads it into a Postgres database, and has a README explaining the design — that is evidence of real capability. Degree credentials are background. Projects are proof.
The practical path: build the skills in SQL and Python first, create a couple of working projects, put them on GitHub, and apply for junior data engineering or data analyst roles with a clear trajectory toward engineering. Most people who take this path and put in consistent effort get their first offer within 6–9 months.
We have helped students from Mechanical, Commerce, and non-IT backgrounds build real data engineering skills and land jobs.