Want to become an IT professional? You have better chances if you have advanced skills in data analytics as the industry is bracing for a wave of big data.
About 44 lakh IT jobs will be created globally to support big data by 2015, according to research firm Gartner.
Big data is used to describe the analysis of the mountains of data produced by companies and individuals with the help of algorithms. It differs from business intelligence solutions that work on human inputs.
According to research firm International Data Corp, in 2011, all of the data created in the world amounted to 1.6 trillion gigabytes.
Online classes
By 2020, about 50 billion devices will be connected to networks and the Internet, which will open huge opportunities in data analytics.
However, Gartner says there is not enough talent in the industry to meet the growing demand.
Faced with shortage of experts to teach students in these newer areas, start-ups and individual professionals are now arranging classes online on analytics. Extensively using social networks such as Facebook and Linkedin, people are offering high-demand courses such as Hadoop, a Java-based programming that supports processing large data sets.
Key domains
“The key software technology domains in demand from an entry-level perspective are Java, .NET, Oracle, PHP, HTML5 and testing. In hardware and networking, A+ , N+ and Cisco are in demand,” says Amitabh Lahiri, President (Career Building Solutions) of NIIT Ltd.
Entry-level salaries range from Rs 1.4 lahk to Rs 3.6 lakh in software and Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh in hardware and networking.
The basic qualifications such as C, C++, Java and HTML, Database Management System, Data Structures and Algorithms are a must for these jobs.
But companies demand more from the candidates.
“They expect the new hires to be well-versed in software engineering, business and system requirements management and software design, testing, quality management, configuration management and reverse engineering,” says Deepali Singh, Business Head, FirstNaukri.com. According to Ninad Karpe, Managing Director and CEO of Aptech, SAP and Oracle courses are high in demand.
“In fact, the demand curve becomes very high once SAP and Oracle professionals have experience. On the other hand, professionals with Java and .NET skillsets are also required.”
Training people specifically on big data is difficult as it is more ‘horizontal’ and less 'vertical' skillset. For a fresher, the difference in pay across all these technologies is not more than 10-20 per cent.
Digital media
Udayan Bose, CEO of analytics solutions firm NetElixir, says the digital media world poses new and unique challenges. The future and, in fact, the present are online, he adds.
“However, there is an acute shortage of relevant courses that students can take. The awareness about digital media remains incredibly low in India. There is also a dearth of digital marketing experts that can provide relevant inputs.”
“I would urge students to take the courses like digital marketing basics, ecommerce fundamentals and analytics. The challenge, though, is most business schools do not offer any courses on the above. The MBA curriculum is still stuck on 1990’s,” Bose says.
Adds Soumya Banerjee, CEO of Attano, an online educational content provider:
“Students today can pick from a wide range of courses on the Internet, in parallel to their regular studies to expand their horizons and gain core skills.
“Digital content has dramatically reduced the price and distance barriers to a quality education.”
(with inputs from Adith Charlie)