Here’s your no-BS roadmap:

Learn ETL’s ABCs – If you can’t explain “why NOT to transform data mid-flight” to a 5-year-old, go back to SQL basics.
Master DataStage’s “Dark Arts” – Parallel jobs, partitioning, and why Aggregator stages cause 73% of devs to question their life choices.
Cram Smarter – IBM’s DataStage Essentials course + Udemy’s crash guides = 80% of what you’ll need. The other 20%? Trial, error, and Googling error codes at 3 a.m.
Pass C2090-418 – It’s less about knowing every stage and more about troubleshooting why Job #42 failed again.
Brag Quietly – Certificates collect dust; real cred comes from fixing legacy jobs that still run on Java 6.

Tools evolve, but data hygiene and patience are forever.