Are you looking at your career options and want to know what’s in it for you if you choose big data? Do you want to find out more about what you can expect from a career in this field? We’ve got nine advantages of pursuing a career in big data on our list below, and they are compelling.
For many people, deciding on the direction to take your career is a challenge as it involves predicting the future. History is littered with examples of hardworking people left without relevant skills after their industry becomes obsolete. There is a change happening right now, however, that makes predicting the future an even more important consideration.
Those examples in history of skills becoming irrelevant are often in manual industries. For example, car factory works in America’s rust belt, or coal miners in Wales. In the modern business landscape, knowledge careers now face the same risks of becoming obsolete. This change in business and the skills that companies need is being driven by new technologies, particularly technologies like AI, machine learning, robotic process automation, and analytics.
What is a central component of these new and emerging technologies? Data or, more specifically, big dat.
Do you still need to be convinced about pursuing a career in data science? Here are our top nine reasons why this is a good career.
Reason 1: Big Data is a Significant Growth Market
Big-data has been growing significantly over recent years, and that growth is set to continue. According to Statista, the big-data analytics market will be worth USD $68 billion by 2025, up from USD $15 billion in 2019.
That figure might even be a conservative estimate as companies in most industries are only at the beginning of their journeys with data, machine learning, and analytics. As technologies, capabilities, and innovations advance, the take-up of these solutions will grow.
Reason 2: Data Applies to All Industries
The areas of bigdata is a field that applies to businesses in all industries, as well as governments, public sector organisations, and third-sector organisations. Whatever the industry, data science helps organisations improve decision-making and find efficiency savings. The solutions of Big-data also enhance productivity, competitiveness, and much more. It’s one of the reasons the Tesseract Academy has so many resources for all types of industries.
As a result, you can pursue your career in data science within any industry that is of interest to you. From finance to health to sports to education to retail and everything else you can think of, data skills are needed.
Reason 3: A Top Priority for Business
One of the reasons for the growth (and predicted future growth) of big-data is the desire of companies to move to data-driven decision-making. In the past, many business decisions across multiple industries were made by intelligent and experienced people giving a best guess. When data was used, it was often incomplete, inaccurate, and/or irrelevant when compared to the datasets that are available and accessible to businesses today.
Moving to a data-driven decision-making model improves the quality of decisions, ensures those decisions are made faster, and removes the potential for human error. This doesn’t just apply in the boardroom or at C-Suite level, either. Companies want data-driven decision-making across the board.
As achieving this goal of data-driven decision-making is a priority for businesses, recruiting and retaining data talent is also a priority.
Reason 4: In-Demand Profession
Staying with the above theme, the desire for companies to retain and attract data talent means it is an in-demand profession. Research by the UK government, for example, found that almost half of companies surveyed have struggled to fill roles in big dat. Research by Deloitte found that companies in the US are looking for people with analysis skills more than engineering talent.
In other words, there is a skills gap in the industry, as demand for bigdata talent is outstripping supply. This fact doesn’t guarantee you will get the job of your dreams, of course, as you also have to work hard and be good at what you do. That said, it is much better to work in a profession where your skills are in demand.
Reason 5: Competitive Salaries
Given the fact there is a big data skills gap, it is not surprising that average salaries are highly competitive compared to similar professions. How much you will earn will depend on where you are located and the type of role you do, but salaries are healthy in this industry.
There is also potential for career advancement and the salary increases that come with enhanced responsibilities.
Reason 6: Growing Salaries for all data professionals
Another point about salaries – they have been on an upward curve, with that trend set to continue. You only have to look at the bigdata skills gap to see why this is the case.
Reason 7: Excellent Benefits Packages
Not everything is about salary, of course, so companies hiring data professionals also work hard to offer competitive overall packages. Getting a good overall package will help you look after yourself and your family today and plan for the future, while also striking a healthy work-life balance.
Reason 8: Range of Career Options to Choose From
There are a number of paths you can choose if you decide to pursue a career in bigdata. Some examples include:
- Data architect – data architects design big data solutions that teams of data engineers then develop
- Data Engineer – Data engineers develop and maintain big data solutions
- Data Scientist – Data Scientists are generally responsible for collecting, refining, and working with data
- Data Analyzer – The role of a data analyzer is typically to gain insight from data sets
Reason 9: Work with the latest technology
If you are the type who is passionate about the potential of technology and interested in the innovations under development, big dat is an excellent career choice. In addition, we are only at the beginning of what will be possible with the data in the future. As a bigdata professional, you will be at the forefront.
Building a better future with big data
Finally, it is worth emphasizing that bigdata is not just about improving an employer’s prospects and competitiveness. It has a significant positive impact on people’s lives. For example, is used to improve health care outlets and develop new health technologies and therapies. It also contributes to making the world more sustainable and to reducing poverty, preventing crime and fighting diseases such as covid-19 .
I help people start a career in bigdata, AI and data science. Be sure to check out my new initiative, Beyond Machine, and get in touch if you have any questions.