Module 5 · Matillion & ELT Orchestration
Matillion is a visual, cloud-native ELT tool with a GUI that compiles to SQL running inside Snowflake. Different mental model than CI/CD or GitOps tooling — but the concepts transfer once you grasp the pushdown model.
Required skill · s3 (ELT platform half)
Python plus an ELT platform such as Matillion. · Python half → Module 3.
Your coverage: Gap
What we're assuming
- Orchestration mental model: you've used Jenkins pipelines and GitOps tooling — DAGs, branching, conditional runs are familiar.
- IaC & versioning: you know Terraform (or similar) and Git — Matillion jobs are XML that versions into a repo like anything else.
- Data movement: you've moved bytes across networks for years. No need for "what is a source vs target."
What we modify for your background
- Skip: "what is orchestration," "what is ELT" (covered in Module 1).
- Emphasize: the pushdown model — Matillion doesn't do compute, it generates SQL and Snowflake executes it. This is the single most important thing to internalize for interview questions.
- New: Orchestration vs Transformation job distinction, Shared Jobs and environment variables, CI/CD for Matillion (Git integration is native).
Matillion caveat: the "Matillion ETL" VM product (AMI on AWS) is legacy. The current product is Matillion Hub / Data Productivity Cloud. If a skill list was written 2+ years ago they might still mean the legacy VM — in the interview, ask which. We teach the current Hub because it's the direction.
Want more depth?
See Credits → Module 5. Best additional resource: Matillion Academy (free, vendor-run).
Lessons
- Lesson 5.1 — What Matillion Is (and Isn't) in the Modern Data Stack crash deep
- Lesson 5.2 — Orchestration Jobs vs Transformation Jobs crash deep
- Lesson 5.3 — Versioning, Environments, and CI/CD for Matillion deep