A Comprehensive Guide to Become a Senior Big Data Analyst in 2021

Trying to decide which online big data certification is best for you? Perhaps, the big data analyst certification program from the world’s finest credentialing body might just be perfect for you.

“In God we trust, all others bring data.” ~ William Edwards Deming

Isn’t this a beautiful quote projecting why data is essential to prove the existence of valuable insights?

Well, whether you agree or not, big data is the new economy!

In “The 2021 Data Science Interview Report,” an analysis of more than 10,000 data science interviews was conducted in an attempt to check the employment status of the data industry.

The findings from the survey:

✦ 40% of the increase in the data engineering field in the past year

✦ Facebook, Amazon, and Google interviewed 25% more candidates in 2020 as compared to 2019 in the data field

✦ The fastest career that plateaued went to data analysts demonstrating an increase of 20%

These results show the relevance of big data analyst jobs and skills making this job role the most prioritized across multiple industries.

“Data analysts positioned itself as the top-ranked type of role most business leaders plan to hire in 2021 and 2022.”

Big data analyst: Who are they

Essentially, a big data analyst is accountable to handle multiple skills. More so, from gathering to mining data and interpreting these data in a manner that can be beneficial for business success. Such specialists must visualize the data and create reports in the form of graphs and charts. A visual representation helps stakeholders understand the data findings much better. On finalization of the data gathered, the business team along with the IT team collectively brainstorm on finding different ways of using the insights. These insights are critical for making business decisions, boost customer satisfaction, and influence customer decisions.

Problem-solving skills and critical thinking form a relatively large part of a big data analyst skillset. Recent trends also indicate that data mining and auditing are among the highest skillset in the labor market.

Tools to create an impact as a big data analyst

With big data, it is highly possible for you to come across multiple tools and technologies. However, every tool, technology, or methodology used will depend upon the type of project. Perhaps this is one of the major reasons, why seeking a clear learning path before actually getting into the job role is a must-have.

Not only will it provide hands-on experience but also gives you the confidence in handling projects on your own.

Tools used in big data:

✔ Hive

✔ Hadoop Frameworks

✔ MapReduce

✔ Impala

✔ Pig

✔ Sqoop

✔ YARN

✔ HDFS

✔ HBase

✔ Apache Spark

✔ Flume

That said, business stakeholders, academicians, and industry influencers certainly agree that big data has the potential to transform businesses in ways we cannot comprehend. And for this, the world will need a sufficient number of specialists with big data skills.

Career prospects and salaries

The Future of Jobs Report 2018 by the World Economic Forum made a prediction stating that by 2022, big data analytics and cloud technology would have dominated most industries causing a positive effect on business growth.

And as technology evolves and transforms the way we work; the exact skills can help us earn whopping salaries.

Talking about the salary, a data analyst having big data skills is likely to earn USD 84,955 per annum in the U.S. according to PayScale. However, as a senior data analyst with big data skills, you’re likely to earn a whopping salary of USD 82,081 per annum.

Now if you’re looking to settle down with a career that will remain stable till the foreseeable future, then opting for a career as a big data analyst might be an ideal choice.

Drivers of change: Become a big data analyst or a senior big data analyst

Big data jobs often require the candidate to know mathematics, finance, economics, statistics, or computer science. However, this is not always the case since most companies have started seeking experts having hands-on experience in the field, educational qualification is not always a must.

As workforce transformation advances, the widespread adoption of big data will accelerate. Thus, questions may arise aiming at the issues at hand i.e. lack of skilled big data experts. This is where online educational platforms exhibit a growing trend to bridge gaps the industry is facing. The demand for big data professionals forecasts to grow in the next couple of years. Given the current labor market situation, upskilling and reskilling seems to be the right approach.

❖ The Associate Big Data Analyst (ABDA™) and Senior Big Data Analyst (SBDA™) from the Data Science Council of America (DASCA) offer a wide range of learning opportunities to prepare for the global labor market, thereby leveraging employers to hire relevant talent for their organization.

❖ Recognized globally, DASCA, a vendor-neutral and third-party credentialing body offers one of the most comprehensive yet affordable big data analyst certifications both for early beginners and experienced folks to pursue a career in big data.

If you’re seeking to get ahead of your peers, then perhaps getting certified is the best option. By enrolling in the DASCA’s ABDA™ and SBDA™ certification programs, you’re eligible enough to succeed in the field.

To sum up

The global Hadoop market is forecasted to hit USD 84.6 billion by 2021, says Allied Market Research, and currently, there’s a dwindling number of big data analysts. And with certification programs, a career in big data could be a great deal for employers looking to hire the best talent.