In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world started putting its trust in the information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Big data played a crucial role by helping the government and public agencies understand the situation and make appropriate decisions. Real-time data collected from various sources across the globe helped healthcare workers, policymakers, epidemiologists, and scientists synthesize the data at the global level.

With the continuous growth of technology, the rate at which data is growing has also increased. Undoubtedly, data has is the new fuel in the present day. Not to mention, Hadoop is one of the most in-demand skillsets in the big data realm. This wouldn’t happen without data handling capabilities and who can better handle data if not for Hadoop developers.

Obtaining a career in big data is perhaps one of the wisest career options today. However, before discussing the skills we will first understand the role of a Hadoop developer.

What is Hadoop and who is a Hadoop developer?

Hadoop – an open-source software framework that helps store data within a distributed environment. The framework provides high processing power and the ability to handle virtually any tasks parallelly. Hadoop composes of four modules namely Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS™), Hadoop MapReduce, Hadoop Common, and Hadoop YARN.

Hadoop developer – is an expert professional who holds expertise in managing the Hadoop ecosystem and software development. These developers are responsible for developing, designing, deploying, and handling big data applications. Most of their responsibility revolves around big data, thus, the demand for Hadoop big data professionals is on the rise.

Professionals already in the tech industry can easily switch careers and get into big data. Mainframe experts, ETL experts, and architects are some of the job roles that have an added advantage as compared to freshers. Below are the required skills to help you become a Hadoop developer:

As a beginner, you need to first understand how the Hadoop ecosystem works followed by its components like Spark SQL, HBase, Sqoop, Kafka, MapReduce, Pig, Mahout, Hive, and Apache Spark. Yet, if you’re still unaware of these skills you can start taking up a certification from some of the best big data certification programs available online. Some of the topmost big data certifications recognized by the industry include names like the Data Science Council of America Certification, Microsoft's MCSE, EMC Data Science, and Big Data Analytics Certification, and Hortonworks Hadoop Certification.

Once you’ve learned the fundamentals and components of Hadoop, you need to further polish the other skills.

Any professional can learn Hadoop as long as they stay committed to achieving their goal. However, having basic knowledge in the below skills can be of major help.

•SQL

SQL is one of the major skillset needed despite starting a career in big data. One of the major reasons is because most companies that were utilizing RDBMS have now shifted into the big data field and have started adopting most of the infrastructure with the big data platform.
Data gathered from multiple sources can be in a structured and unstructured format. And since big data platforms utilize the Hadoop ecosystem that uses SQL querying language, having extensive knowledge in SQL is an added benefit.

•Linux

Working knowledge in a Linux environment is a must-have since most Hadoop deployments take place under this environment.

•Programming languages

In-depth knowledge in R and Python is needed for analysis while Java is a must-need for development purposes. However, knowledge of programming languages will also depend upon the job role you’re intending to get into the big data field.

While most people are losing their jobs due to the pandemic, a career in big data could save you.

Some of the best jobs for professionals skilled in Hadoop are – Hadoop Administrator, Hadoop Developer, Hadoop Engineers, Hadoop Testers, and Big Data Architect.

Getting skilled in Hadoop opens multiple job opportunities for both freshers and experienced professionals.

The global Hadoop big data market is estimated to reach a revised size of USD 243.4 billion by 2027 from USD 70.5 billion in 2020 says the Business Wire.