AI and data tools

The AI and data tools you will use at work, taught live.

From SQL, Spark and Airflow to Claude, LangGraph and n8n: every tool on a SkilD syllabus, the week you learn it, and how often Indian job ads ask for the main ones.

Taught live by industry experts from Mastercard and Paytm.

Book a 1-on-1 call with a program advisor

*Credits apply to partner tools and platforms only. Terms and conditions apply.

01What employers ask for

The tools and skills in Indian job ads, and the program that teaches each.

Data EngineeringShare of job ads that ask for it
  1. Python51%
  2. Spark46%
  3. SQL41%
  4. Azure25%
  5. Databricks17%
  6. Snowflake16%
  7. AWS16%
  8. Airflow13%

Naukri · 160 Data Engineer job ads · 8–9 Oct 2026

AI EngineerShare of job ads that ask for it
  1. Machine learning56%
  2. SQL32%
  3. Deep learning31%
  4. Generative AI19%
  5. Cloud14%
  6. AI agents13%

Naukri · 100 AI Engineer and ML Engineer job ads · 8–9 Oct 2026

AI GeneralistNumber of listings that name it
  1. Generative AI6,532
  2. Agentic AI6,017
  3. Prompt engineering4,396
  4. ChatGPT3,082
  5. AI automation1,812

Indeed India · listings that name each skill · 30 Sep 2026

Only skills the program teaches are shown. A Naukri ad carries about eight skill tags, so its shares are minimums. The AI Generalist card is a count of listings, not a share. In Data Engineering you learn one cloud, AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, by your track.

02Week by week

Every tool on the syllabus, in the order you meet it.

PG Program in Data Engineering · 34 weeks on weekends · See the program →

  1. Weeks 1–2
    AI Launchpad

    Use the main AI assistants safely and well, check what they tell you, and understand how they work without the maths.

    ChatGPTClaudeGeminiCopilotNotebookLMPerplexitySheets with AIan image and a video generator

  2. Weeks 3–4
    SQL for Data

    Write the SQL that data and AI jobs and interviews ask for.

    PostgreSQLMySQLDBeaver

  3. Weeks 5–6
    Python for Data

    Write clean, tested Python that loads, cleans and reshapes messy data.

    PythonpandasNumPypytestrequestsJupyterVS Code

  4. Week 7
    Linux, Git and an AI coding assistant

    Work the way engineering teams do, with an AI assistant you keep in check.

    bashcronGitGitHubCopilot, Cursor or Claude Code

  5. Week 8
    Project weekend 1 · Kirana Ledger, your first pipeline

    A weekend to build the project live, get it reviewed, and catch up on anything missed.

    Everything taught so far

  6. Weeks 9–10
    Data foundations and modelling

    Decide how data is stored and shaped before you build anything.

    ParquetAvrodbdiagramPostgreSQLMongoDB

  7. Weeks 11–13
    Cloud core on your track

    Build a working pipeline on the cloud you choose, secure and within budget.

    AWS: S3LambdaGlueAthenaRedshiftAzure: ADLSFunctionsMicrosoft Fabric (Lakehouse, Warehouse, Data Factory)GCP: Cloud StorageFunctionsDataflowBigQuery

  8. Week 14
    Project weekend 2 · Highway Toll Data Pipeline

    A weekend to build the project live, get it reviewed, and catch up on anything missed.

    Everything taught so far

  9. Weeks 15–17
    Spark and Databricks

    Process large data with Spark and run it in production on Databricks.

    PySparkDatabricksDelta LakeIcebergUnity CatalogEMR / Azure Databricks / Dataproc

  10. Weeks 18–19
    Snowflake and warehouse cost

    Load, tune and control the cost of a cloud warehouse.

    SnowflakeSnowsightSnowpipe

  11. Week 20
    Project weekend 3 · Festival Sales Spark Pipeline

    A weekend to build the project live, get it reviewed, and catch up on anything missed.

    Everything taught so far

  12. Weeks 21–22
    Pipelines on a schedule

    Run pipelines on a schedule, in containers, with alerts when they fail.

    AirflowDockerMWAA / Fabric Apache Airflow job / ComposerSlack

  13. Weeks 23–24
    Data in motion

    Build pipelines that react to events as they happen.

    KafkaSchema RegistryKinesis / Event Hubs / Pub/SubSpark Structured Streaming

  14. Week 25
    Project weekend 4 · Real-Time Payment Monitor

    A weekend to build the project live, get it reviewed, and catch up on anything missed.

    Everything taught so far

  15. Weeks 26–27
    Analytics engineering and data quality

    Turn raw tables into tested, documented models the business can trust.

    dbt Coredbt-utilsdbt-expectations

  16. Weeks 28–29
    Production, governance and DataOps

    Keep pipelines running, governed and compliant once they are live.

    GitHub ActionsTerraformUnity Catalog / Purview / DataplexCloudWatch / Azure Monitor

  17. Weeks 30–31
    The data layer under AI

    Build the data pipelines that AI products and agents depend on.

    pgvectorChromaDBLangChainMLflowBedrock / Azure OpenAI / Vertex AI

  18. Week 32
    Hiring week

    Pass data engineering interviews and show your work.

    ExcalidrawGitHub Pages

  19. Weeks 33–34
    The end-to-end project

    Prove you can build and present a full data platform.

    Your track’s full stack

03Your tool map

Every tool and its price, in one file.

  • Every tool across the three PG programs and the five courses
  • What each one does, and the job it is best for
  • Free, free plan or paid, for each
  • The program and the week where you use it

Download it now. A program advisor calls within one working day to match the tools to the role you want.

The PDF opens straight away.

04Who you learn from

Taught live by industry experts who use these tools at work.

They teach live, review your builds, and answer in the cohort chat between sessions, by name.

Dipandhu Shekhar
Dipandhu ShekharMastercardManager, Data Engineering, Mastercard · 14 years · big data, ETL and AWSAt work: Ran the migration of a card-payments reporting pipeline to AWS.
Devesh Pandey
Devesh PandeyPaytmSenior Tech Lead, Paytm · 11 years · ML, AI and GenAIAt work: Shipped a fraud-scoring model that screens transactions as they happen.
Amit Mishra
Amit MishraLead Data Engineering Trainer · 15 years · big data and cloudAt work: Built the Spark and Kafka training labs used across corporate cohorts.
Ashok Padmanabhan
Ashok PadmanabhanCorporate Consultant and Trainer · 20 years · ETL and data architectureAt work: Designed the data warehouse behind a retail chain’s daily sales reporting.

Meet the faculty before you apply: try a free live build, ninety minutes, live and free.

05Why these tools

How we choose the AI and data tools we teach.

It has to be in the job posts

The stack comes from what Indian employers ask for, read every fortnight for The SkilD Brief. If employers stop asking for a tool, we stop teaching it.

One tool per job, taught properly

Two hours on one tool beats twenty minutes each on six. Where the market is still choosing, as with coding assistants, you learn all three side by side.

Opened in a live class

Every tool on the syllabus is one you open in a live session and use on a build the faculty review.

In writing

The SkilD Code

Carried by every learner, on every program.

Read the full Code →
  • One price, everything includedevery project, every clinic, every mock interview.
  • Live means livea room of thirty, every question answered in the session.
  • Dates that holdplan your months around us.
  • A mentor who knows your namefirst reply within one working day.
  • Miss a weekwatch the recording, then bring your questions to the Saturday doubt clinic.
  • Everything you build is yourscode, projects, portfolio. For good.
07Apply

Start your application.

Three short steps. Step one takes a minute; finish the rest now or later.

Which PG program are you applying for?
08Asked, answered

AI and data engineering tools: your questions, answered.

Data engineering
What tools are used in data engineering?

SQL and Python first, with Git; then a cloud (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud); Spark and Databricks for scale; Snowflake for the warehouse; Airflow and Docker to schedule and ship; Kafka to stream; dbt to model and test; and GitHub Actions to deploy. The PG Program in Data Engineering teaches them in that order, over 34 weeks.

Which data engineering tools should I learn first?

SQL, Python and Git, in that order. They are weeks 3 to 7 of the PG Program in Data Engineering, and every tool after them stands on them.

Will AI replace ETL tools and data engineers?

AI now writes a good share of ETL code. Companies still hire the engineer who tests it, schedules it, reruns it safely and fixes it when it breaks. Weeks 28 and 29 of the program are that job.

AI Engineer
Which AI tools are taught in the AI Engineer program?

scikit-learn, XGBoost and SHAP; PyTorch and Hugging Face; the OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini APIs with LlamaIndex, pgvector and RAGAS; LangGraph, MCP and CrewAI for agents; and FastAPI, Docker, MLflow, Evidently and Langfuse in production, plus the tools of the track you pick in week 33.

Which AI tool is best for data analysis?

If you work in spreadsheets, ChatGPT or Claude on an uploaded file, with every number checked: weeks 5 and 6 of the AI Generalist program. If you write code, Python and pandas with an assistant drafting it: weeks 5 to 7 of Data Engineering or AI Engineer.

Which coding assistant should I learn: Cursor, GitHub Copilot or Claude Code?

All three. AI-Assisted Development compares them and ends with one tool shipped in public, with its log of every suggestion kept or refused.

No code
Can I learn AI tools without coding?

Yes. The PG Program · AI Generalist uses no code at any point: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, NotebookLM, Power BI, n8n, KNIME and Lovable, over 22 weeks of weekends.

What is n8n used for?

Automating work across apps, and building AI agents on a visual canvas, with a person approving anything that can’t be undone. Weeks 10 to 16 of the AI Generalist program build in it.

Costs and support
Do I need paid plans for the AI tools in the course?

Free plans, trials and open-source versions cover your coursework. The PG Programs add cloud credits (Data Engineering) and GPU and API credits (AI Engineer) for approved projects, and AI Generalist ends with a cost model for running the tools afterwards.

Is there an AI tools course with placement support?

Yes: all three PG Programs include placement support in five steps: timed whiteboard rounds, a panel review of your end-to-end project, mock interviews with people who have hired for the role, portfolio reviews, and introductions into the 39+ companies our learners work at.

Next cohort begins 28 Nov 2026 · 30 seats in each program

Most people will read about these tools. Join the ones who build with them.

22 to 34 weeks on weekends, the industry experts who use each tool teaching it live, a portfolio you built on them, and placement support to your first offer.

Not ready to apply yet? Get the full tool map first.

Job alerts and The SkilD Brief

Data and AI openings on WhatsApp, and the hiring market twice a month.

The roles the companies our learners work at are hiring for, and the dates of the next free live build. Read three issues of the Brief and you’ll know whether we’re your kind of school.

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