Phase 2: Enterprise Data Engineering · 55 min · Python · dbt · Snowflake

dbt Data Quality & Medallion Architecture

Bronze in, Silver cleaned, Gold served. Every layer tested.

Hiring signal: Data engineering interviews at Snowflake, Databricks, and dbt-using companies test Medallion Architecture knowledge. Candidates who can structure a dbt project with Bronze/Silver/Gold layering, configure incremental models with merge strategy, and write dbt tests (unique, not_null, relationships) pass. Candidates who treat dbt as just SQL templating fail.

What you will learn

Structure a dbt project: models/, tests/, macros/, snapshots/, sources.yml
Implement Medallion Architecture: Bronze (raw), Silver (cleaned/typed), Gold (business-ready marts)
Write dbt tests: unique, not_null, relationships, accepted_values, custom singular tests
Configure incremental models with merge strategy and _etl_loaded_at partitioning
Use dbt snapshots for SCD2: tracking slowly-changing dimensions

What You'll Learn

This lesson takes approximately 55 min. By the end, you will be able to:

Structure a dbt project: models/, tests/, macros/, snapshots/, sources.yml
Implement Medallion Architecture: Bronze (raw), Silver (cleaned/typed), Gold (business-ready marts)
Write dbt tests: unique, not_null, relationships, accepted_values, custom singular tests
Configure incremental models with merge strategy and _etl_loaded_at partitioning
Use dbt snapshots for SCD2: tracking slowly-changing dimensions

The Problem

Data quality is the silent killer of enterprise AI. If your source data has nulls where there shouldn't be nulls, duplicates that create phantom records, or type mismatches that break your parser, your RAG system will return garbage. dbt gives you a framework for testing data quality at every layer using the medallion architecture: bronze (raw), silver (cleaned), gold (served).

Unlock the full lesson

You've read the first 2 sections. The rest of this lesson covers Structuring a dbt Project, Medallion Architecture: Bronze → Silver → Gold, dbt Tests, dbt Snapshots for SCD2, Practical Application, What Hiring Managers Look For, Resources, Key Takeaways, Next Steps — plus a hands-on lab, quiz, and project artifact.

Create a free account to unlock Phase 0 and Phase 1 of every course — no credit card.