If anybody would ask me to name a smart job in the coming years I will say ‘big data’. No, I am not kidding!!
If we look at data, it is the most valuable commodity to work upon as it is associated with every part of our lives.
For obvious reasons, any person or organization will look into the reasons for adopting big data in their routines. Just like before buying a new smartphone, we look into the memory, efficiency, color, and quality of it to have a lasting satisfaction out of it.
“Big data was my best choice to enhance knowledge and fly to the heights of success,” says Sam Hamilton, PayPal vice-president (Data Technology) in an interview by The Hindu.
Came from a small village in Tamil Nadu, Sam Hamilton rose to become vice-president of Data Technology at PayPal, the online money transfer giant. After spending more than two decades in the United States, he is considered as an expert on big data and data platforms that drive analytical insights, experimentation, next-generation machine learning, and data science at PayPal.
The above story highlights how one can grow with big data and it is an exceptional career choice.
Now, let us quickly jump down to the fundamental reasons to choose big data as your career.
Reasons to Select a Career in Big Data
Below are the top reasons that justify why big data is most suitable career option:
1. Exponential Rise of Data
Big data is transforming the future with innovation, business intelligence, and lower cost of ownership. Experts say that companies will expand their use of Hadoop and big data technologies as they are looking for ways to speed up their big data processing because every day a huge amount of data is being collected. This will, in turn, increase the demand for more and more big data professionals in the companies.
2. Higher Demand for Data Analysts Professionals
There are loads of opportunities available in big data analytics and management structures. Moreover, there are various IT professionals ready to invest money and time for the training sectors. Some of the professions are Big Data Analyst, Metrics and Analytics Specialist, Data Scientist, Data Architect, and Software Developer.
3. Huge Skill Gap
Technologies such as big data, data science, and artificial intelligence are growing. There must be enough skilled people to curate meaningful information out of the Data. Therefore the demand for skilled data analysts is increasing and organizations are looking to hire people from this domain.
4. Unstructured/Semi-structured Data Analytics
There is a possibility of big growth from unstructured and semi-structured data. Many organizations are processing and evaluating such data sources. This data comes from social media, email, weblogs, photos, and videos. Manpower is required at each level to gather, process, evaluate, and store this data from social mediums.
5. Better Profile
Big data professionals are highly in demand for the services they provide and are difficult to retain. This gives professionals a better opportunity to enhance their skills and also a chance to get hikes in their salaries.
Now, let us see what demand big data held in the economy.
The Demand for Big Data Jobs in the Economy
Big Data Analytics brings the most in-demand jobs of the coming years.
Across the globe, there is potentially a good market for big data. With the decrease in computation costs, big data is increasingly coming into the big picture. Several sectors have a huge demand for big data such as healthcare, retail, and e-commerce, financial services, telecommunications, banking, travel, etc.
According to the forecast of the World Economic Forum, by 2020, data analysts will be in high demand in companies around the world. The LinkedIn Workforce Report mentioned that, in the USA, the requirement for these professional figures has grown when compared to five years ago, and data analysts will continue to be the most sought after profiles over the next five years.
This is further confirmed by IBM, which claims that the annual demand for Data Scientists, Data Developers, and Data Engineers will lead to 700000 new recruitments in the year 2020. Moreover, big data has become a field that has almost reached complete equality of men and women data professionals.
If we talk about salaries, these professionals are offered pretty well in the United States.
According to recent studies, big data has improved over the years. The processing, analyzing, sorting, and extracting of information from datasets have been easy and simple. The technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, etc. are helping big data to improve organizational performance. Therefore, all these technologies must be mastered by an individual who is planning to make a career in big data.
“Learning from data is virtually universally useful. Master it and you will be welcomed anywhere.” – By John Elder, Elder Research.
“Every company has Big Data in its future and every company will eventually be in the data business.” – By Thomas H. Davenport.
As suggested by the leaders, you must plan for your Big Data training and excel in this latest technology.
Summary
Big Data Analytics is utilized in almost all the arenas. This is why more and more organizations are looking towards harnessing the powers of big data technology and professionals. Those who are analytically skilled are especially high in demand.
Also with the increase in demand for professionals, few countries are planning to outsource professionals from India.
So it is high time one should opt for this opportunity without spending much time thinking about which career to choose.