Continuing Opportunities in Big Data for IT Pros

While glancing at reporting on the recent Robert Half 2016 Salary Guide for Technology Professional in this week's Certification Watch Newsletter (Vol. 18 No. 47), I once again saw Big Data high on the list of "highly valued IT skills sets" for the upcoming year. Though it's been sizzling for some time now, the heat index for Big Data keeps climbing, as more and more companies start to dig into and light up their always burgeoning collections of information about customers, processes, activity, and so forth. That makes Big Data learning and certification a good bet for future career growth.

It seems that no matter where IT pros happen to turn for guidance on promising new technologies nowadays, Big Data is never far from the top of any list of alluring prospects for professional growth, development, and opportunity.

The Robert Half 2016 Salary Guide for Technology Professionals (PDF format) provides the latest confirmation of this trend, listing Big Data as number two (behind only mobile technology) on its list of "highly valued IT skills sets for 2016." IT pros interested in the general realm of Big Data will find a wealth of materials on the subject right here at GoCertify searching on the term "Big Data" turned up over 140 articles and references).

I'd also like to recommend my writing on this topic for Tom's IT Pro as well, starting with my article, co-authored with Mary Lemons, entitled Best Big Data Certifications for 2016. In that story, we identify the following credentials (or programs) as the cr�me de la cr�me for this subject matter:

? MCSE: Business Intelligence
? Cloudera Certified Professional: Data Scientist (CCP: DS)
? EMC Data Science Associate
? Oracle Business Intelligence Certification
? Business Intelligence and Analytics Certifications (numerous other options available, see SAS Cert Page)

Other credentials that come in for honorable mention in this area include the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP), the HP Vertica Big Data Solutions Administrator, and IBM's Big Data Fundamentals. Stanford's excellent Data Mining and Applications graduate certificate also comes in for some kudos, widely acknowledged as one of the best academic programs available for IT pros seeking to improve their understanding of and knowledge about Big Data.

Here are links to other Tom's IT Pro Big Data related items I've worked on as well, to help you find your own way into this subject matter:

? 10 Skills To Become A Data Scientist (Or A Data Analyst)
? Big Data Pays Big Dividends, Career-Wise
? Finding a Career Path in Big Data and Business Intelligence
? Big Data in the Enterprise: Notes from the Trenches

One thing about Big Data seems certain for those IT pros who do decide to dive in and start skilling up: It's clearly an investment of time, money, and effort that can pay big dividends, career-wise.