4 career paths to make it big in the ‘data world’

According to a recent survey by Forbes, there has been a significant increase for big-data related expertise in a host of industries including information technology, manufacturing, finance and insurance, and retail trade.

With soaring amounts of data being generated in every sector, there’s an increasing need to process and analyze the voluminous data, which has created an increasing need for appropriate professionals to do the needful. The complex process right from acquiring, storing, extracting, structuring, integrating to modeling, analysis and finally interpretation of the big data needs expertise at every level. Every year as the number of people using the Internet soars; the career opportunities for qualified big data analytics will only increase. As organizations and enterprises look for ways and means to exploit Big Data, there’s a huge surge in job openings in the field.

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Salary P.A. in USD Source: Indeed

Let’s have a look at the few career paths available for a big data analytics professional:

Data analyst: The role of a data analyst comprises of acquiring, processing and summarizing data using the relevant given tools to solve problems. He/she needs to have a basic understanding of programming, statistics, machine learning, data mugging and visualization. Along with the technical know-how, to be a successful data analyst one needs an eye for details and an ability to present the results effectively.

Data scientist: Although, data analysts and scientists have the same goal, the scientist’s job requires a lot more. Strong business acumen, in-depth understanding and knowledge of one of more fields including applied mathematics, statistics, physics, and computer science, and an ability to communicate effectively to help the organisation get competitive advantage, are a few requisites of a data scientist’s job. A multi-faceted approach to explore big data from multiple sources using a wide variety of tools is what makes a data scientist’s job challenging as well as fascinating.

Data engineer: A data engineer is basically a software engineer who designs, builds, and integrates data from various sources to give it a more organized and cleaner look and structure. They do the groundwork for a data analyst or scientist to be able to easily get the requisite data for experiments and evaluation.

Business intelligence developer: A business intelligence developer or analyst identifies and reports data analysis needs. They work in tandem with the real stakeholders to turn data into key information and maximize its utility that can be used for making sound business decisions.

There are many more roles and career paths one can take in the big data analytics field. Along with requisite technical, software, and programming knowledge, a passion for numbers and data and a keen sense of details and a problem-solving aptitude, a career in big data analytics would be fulfilling as well as rewarding.

Big data analytics skills can not only give a boost to an existing career but can also open a host of new avenues for freshers. With huge enterprises pumping enormous resources into big data analytics, the salary packages are highly competitive. With right qualification and hand-on experience, it’s very much possible to make an exciting career in big data analytics.