The document discusses the promising career prospects in big data, highlighting the higher demand for talent compared to supply. It outlines key sectors hiring big data professionals, such as organized retail and banking, as well as the types of jobs emerging, including data scientists and technology-oriented roles. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of industry knowledge and upskilling for current professionals to enhance their data analysis capabilities.

1. WHY BIG DATA PROMISES ‘BIG’ FUTURE FOR JOB SEEKERS
The term ‘Big Data’ is associated with a promising career, where demand for
talent is higher than supply.
We reached out to an expert to answer common queries on jobs coming up
in Big Data segment and the skills required as well.
Here is what Himanshu Gupta,
director-strategic accounts, EMEA at Fuzzy Logix, a Big Data analytics company, has
to say on emerging careers in Big Data, skills and the hiring scenario.
 TimesJobs: Which sectors are hiring big data professionals?
Himanshu Gupta: Most Big Data jobs are in the sectors which have
traditionally had rich and large data. Organised retail, telcom, airlines, banking,
financial services are some good examples. Some sectors like healthcare have been
employing Big Data professional in advanced economies but not so much in
developing economies.
Newer opportunities are emerging in ecommerce, internet of things,
engineering and process.

2.  TimesJobs: What kind of jobs is Big Data industry generating now? Which of
these will be relevant for next decade?
Himanshu Gupta: There are three distinct types of requirements:
1. The need for data scientists with background of statistics, algorithms and
mathematics is pronounced and not many people have these skills.
2. Then there are technology oriented jobs requiring programming skills in the area
of R, Hadoop, SQL besides Java/C++ and database administration. As the data
storage requirement increases, the demand will rise for data architect as well as
people who can help store data more efficiently.
3. The third type of requirements come from people with skills in products (SAS,
Matlab, Fuzzy Logix, Aster, etc) as well as BI and reporting tools like Microstrategy,
Tableau and Qlikview.
 TimesJobs: What skills are required for Big Data-related jobs?
Himanshu Gupta: Besides mathematics, technology or product skills, one big
advantage would be industry knowledge (someone who can interpret the
conclusions derived from a particular sector). Many companies are now creating
roles like ‘chief data officer’ who is not exactly technical or mathematics oriented
person, but knows the business well to understand the outcomes. Some companies
now have an insight manager who creates stories around the conclusions of analysis
and helps individual units implement them.
 TimesJobs: For the present professionals, what methods/means are available
for upskilling?

3. Himanshu Gupta: If you are already working in the industry, try to go
cross-skills. Most useful skills would be to marry your industry/function knowledge
to data analysis. For example, only someone who knows the sector well can
understand when the correlation between two factors is due to causation and when
it is not. Such skills will always be in high demand.