Live Online Segment Course for Data Engineering

Live Course Module: Segment Course for Data Engineering

Total Duration: 24 Hours (6 Weeks)

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Week 1: Introduction to Segment & Modern Data Infrastructure (4 Hours)

Goal: Understand Segment’s role in the modern data stack and set up the workspace.

1. Introduction to Customer Data Infrastructure (45 mins)

   • Data collection vs ingestion vs integration

   • ETL vs Reverse ETL overview

   • Segment’s role in modern data engineering

2. Understanding Segment (45 mins)

   • What is Segment and how it works

   • Key components: Sources, Destinations, Warehouses, and Personas

   • Segment architecture and data flow

3. Setting Up Segment (1 hour)

   • Creating a Segment workspace and project

   • Navigating the Segment UI

   • Understanding APIs, SDKs, and libraries

4. Your First Data Pipeline (1.5 hours)

   • Connecting a source (e.g., website or app)

   • Setting a destination (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery)

   • Testing, validating, and viewing real-time data flow

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Week 2: Core Components — Sources, Destinations & Warehouses (4 Hours)

Goal: Learn to connect, manage, and optimize sources and destinations.

1. Working with Sources (1 hour)

   • Types of sources: Web, Mobile, Server, and Cloud Apps

   • Using tracking plans and schemas

   • Event tracking with Segment SDKs

2. Working with Destinations (1 hour)

   • Understanding destination categories: Analytics, Marketing, Warehousing

   • Setting up and managing multiple destinations

   • Filtering and transforming data before sending

3. Warehouses and Data Loading (1 hour)

   • Configuring warehouse destinations (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery)

   • Data sync frequency and incremental updates

   • Warehouse schema design and management

4. Hands-on Lab (1 hour)

   • Connect a web app → Segment → BigQuery pipeline

   • Verify data using SQL queries in the warehouse

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Week 3: Tracking Plans, Event Schemas & Data Quality (4 Hours)

Goal: Maintain consistent, accurate, and governed event data.

1. Event Tracking & Instrumentation (1 hour)

   • Anatomy of identify, track, and group calls

   • Defining standard event naming conventions

   • Event payload structure and metadata

2. Tracking Plans (1 hour)

   • Creating and managing tracking plans in Segment

   • Validating data with Tracking Plan Enforcement

   • Ensuring schema consistency

3. Data Quality & Governance (1 hour)

   • Using Segment Protocols for validation

   • Handling schema violations

   • Building clean event pipelines

4. Practical Exercise (1 hour)

   • Implementing a tracking plan for an e-commerce app

   • Testing and validating data using Protocols

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Week 4: Transformations, Functions & Advanced Integrations (4 Hours)

Goal: Learn to manipulate and enrich data using Segment’s transformation capabilities.

1. Transformations in Segment (1 hour)

   • Real-time event transformations overview

   • Writing transformation logic using Functions

   • Applying transformations across multiple sources

2. Building Functions in Segment (1.5 hours)

   • Creating Source and Destination Functions (JavaScript)

   • Using custom logic to filter or enrich event data

   • Hands-on: Build a transformation function to clean event properties

3. Advanced Integrations (1 hour 30 mins)

   • Integrating Segment with data tools (dbt, Airflow, Snowflake)

   • Working with reverse ETL and downstream analytics tools

   • Combining Segment with Fivetran or Airbyte pipelines

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Week 5: Security, Privacy & Enterprise Deployment (4 Hours)

Goal: Secure and scale Segment pipelines for production-grade environments.

1. Security and Compliance (1 hour)

   • Authentication, encryption, and token management

   • Access control and team permissions

   • GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA compliance in Segment

2. Data Privacy and Consent Management (1 hour)

   • Managing user consent and data preferences

   • Data anonymization and PII handling

   • Integrating Segment with consent tools (OneTrust, Osano)

3. Enterprise Configuration & Scaling (1.5 hours)

   • Setting up multi-workspace environments

   • Multi-region and multi-environment setups

   • Best practices for large-scale pipelines

4. Performance Optimization (30 mins)

   • Minimizing event latency

   • Handling high event volumes efficiently

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Week 6: Capstone Project & Certification (4 Hours)

Goal: Apply everything learned to build and present a complete Segment data pipeline.

1. Capstone Project Kickoff (30 mins)

   • Problem statement and dataset introduction

   • Project expectations and evaluation overview

2. Capstone Hands-On Build (2.5 hours)
   Project Example:

   • Source: Website + CRM (e.g., HubSpot / Salesforce)

   • Destination: BigQuery / Snowflake + BI Tool (Looker / Tableau)

   • Apply tracking plan, data transformation, and governance rules

   • Integrate Segment Protocols for validation and monitoring

3. Project Presentation & Discussion (30 mins)

   • Learner presentations

   • Peer review and instructor feedback

4. Final Assessment & Wrap-Up (30 mins)

   • Recap of key topics (Beginner → Advanced)

   • Best practices checklist for real-world implementation

   • Certification test and feedback

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🧩 Optional Add-ons

• Advanced Workshop: Reverse ETL and warehouse-to-app integrations

• Data Governance Lab: Using Segment + dbt + Great Expectations

• Customer Data Platform (CDP) Extension: Integrating Segment Personas

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🧰 Tools & Technologies Used

• Segment Platform (Web App + APIs)

• JavaScript SDK / Server SDKs

• Cloud Data Warehouses: BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift

• dbt for Transformations

• Airflow / Prefect (for orchestration)

• Looker / Tableau (for analytics visualization)

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🎯 Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will:
✅ Understand Segment’s role in building modern data pipelines
✅ Connect and manage multiple data sources and destinations
✅ Implement tracking plans and maintain event data quality
✅ Apply transformations and functions for data enrichment
✅ Build secure, compliant, and scalable data pipelines
✅ Complete an end-to-end Segment + Warehouse + BI project