ELT Testing Fundamentals

Learning Objectives

Understand the difference between ETL vs ELT

Learn why ELT is better than ETL in modern data engineering pipelines

Learn about common failure points in an ETL/ELT process

Understand the importance of ELT testing

Learn about the concept of Shift Left Testing

Learn about different types of ELT testing

Learn how to write test cases to test data engineering pipelines

Overview

This Masterclass covers essential aspects of ETL/ELT testing across four modules. It begins with fundamentals of ETL versus ELT approaches and their business applications, then explores common pipeline failures and their financial impacts. The curriculum demonstrates how "Shift-Left" testing reduces costs by detecting issues earlier in development. Finally, it examines five critical test types—functional, data quality, performance, load, and integration—prioritized by business needs.

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of the idea of testing in a software application