In today’s world where business is big and technology is omnipresent, data is indispensable and inevitable. Data comes in from all kinds of sources, and just piles up if not analyzed. And there are a number of useful insights to be had by properly sifting through the data, and deriving actionable results.
This is precisely where Big Data comes in, and what makes a big data career a good choice. Technologies and initiatives are coming up all the while, to facilitate the analysis of this data and thereby make strategic decisions. A concept that took shape in the early part of this century, it is now catching the attention of technology giants who are working to analyze the voluminous data sets and bring out underlying insights and patterns.
There are a number of career paths you can take if you aspire for a career in big data, of which some are explained below:
- Data Scientist: Responsible for collecting, cleaning and manipulating data; extract meaning from data using technical and analytical skills
- Big Data Engineer: Developing, testing, managing, and maintaining the big data solutions in the enterprises; building designs created by solution architects
- Big Data Analyst: Extract relevant information from datasets, using big data technologies like Hadoop, Hive, Pig and more
- Data Visualization Developer: Design, conceptualize, develop the graphics or data visualization, and support data visualization activities; use strong technical skills to implement visualization with tools
- Machine Learning Engineer: Build the data analysis software to run the product code without human intervention
- Business Intelligence Engineer: Manage the big data warehouses with the help of Big Data tools and solve complex issues related to Big Data
- Business Analytics Specialist: Aid in developing scripts for testing; take up business research activities to analyze the issues for developing cost-effective solutions
- Machine Learning Scientist: Develop algorithms to use in adaptive systems, add product suggestions, and forecast the demand for the same
A big data career involves a number of roles to choose from among roles. There is more than one reason why this is a not-to-be-missed career choice, and some of the reasons are listed below:
- Increased job opportunities: Big Data is becoming a growing need for organizations, with demand for their skills soaring. IBM expects more than 2.7 million jobs for data professionals just in the US.
- Salary growth: The strong demand for their skills has led to high salaries for qualified professionals, with top US firms offering in the range of $80-150K, directly proportional to skills, education, domain experience, technology knowledge, and more.
- Massive adoption of Big Data: Forbes’ data suggests an increase from 17% to 59% in the adoption of Big Data in enterprises, with its presence felt across departments and increasing confidence in its benefits.
- Relevance and usage across industries: Big Data is used widely in a number of firms and across industries.
One way to get a head start is via a big data certification. Organizations are on the hunt for people to administer and analyze big data, and there are a number of options on offer to become a certified big data professional. Suitable candidates would be IT professionals with a knack for and interest in mathematics and statistics, along with a background in analytics, data mining, business intelligence or data management. These attest their skills in working with enormous data sets.
The rising demand from industries and the demonstrated profit increases and cost savings are a clear indicator of why Big Data can most definitely not be ignored. So get yourself a big data certification and take the first step in a successful big data career!
