How to Become a Big Data Hadoop Architect?

Ever since the explosion of Big Data, Hadoop professionals who have knowledge to work around big technologies are in huge demand. They earn a huge salary of about $1,00,000 to $1,72,000 a year. They are the personnel who are responsible for designing high-end Big Data systems and looking after the deployment of Hadoop applications. If you are keen to work in this domain then you need to familiarize yourself with all the requirements of the IT industry.

Companies are often in need of a Big Data Architect who can handle the lifecycle of a Hadoop application. This involves handling platform selection, requirement analysis, testing, design of technical architecture and finally the deployment of the proposed solution.

Why is Hadoop being hailed by most of the technocrats?

Open source solutions like Hadoop dominate the arena when it comes to working on Big Data. It shouldn’t be surprising if Hadoop is continually used for many years to come by big multinationals. Experts forecast that the Hadoop market is set to cross $16 billion by 2020. Data storage was a big issue with companies using traditional RDBMS. Hadoop has HDFS storage made up of clusters of cheap commodity server hardware. The data that is stored is replicated across many regions ensuring availability. It is one of the reasons why it became widely popular.

The skills required to shine as a Big Data Hadoop Architect

You should be well grounded in all concepts of data mining and data analysis. The following is a list of required skills :

• Expertise in analytics frameworks like Hadoop, Spark.
• Should be able to implement cloud computing, NoSQL and MapReduce.
• Robust hands-on experience in big concepts like Pig, Hive, Impala.
• Strong knowledge of concepts like Oozie, Hue, Flume and also Zookeeper.
• Should be well verse with roles and responsibilities of Hadoop professional

Hadoop Certifications:

Top hadoop certifications include:

Cloudera Hadoop Certification

Cloudera has been Hadoop Certification for the last many years. It offers three kinds of Hadoop Certifications namely,

1. 1. Cloudera Certified Professional – Data Scientist (CCP DS)
2. 2. Cloudera Certified Administrator for Hadoop (CCAH)
3. 3. Cloudera Certified Hadoop Developer (CCDH).

Hortonworks Hadoop Certification

Hortonworks is well known for offering Hadoop Certification for individual specific and relevant job positions they are interested in. They offer certifications namely:

1. 1. Hortonworks Certified Apache Hadoop Developer (HCAHD)
2. 2. Hortonworks Certified Apache Hadoop Administrator (HCAHA)

MapR Hadoop Certification

MapR Hadoop Certification offers industry-specific Hadoop Certification through advanced cluster knowledge and skills tested in the candidate. The certifications provided are namely:

1. 1. MapR Certified Hadoop Developer (MCHD)
2. 2. MapR Certified Hadoop Administrator (MCHA)
3. 3. MapR Certified HBase Developer (MCHBD)

IBM Hadoop Certification

IBM Hadoop Certification comes with the Hadoop training and real-time industry projects that are needed to be cleared for gaining certifications. The candidates are validated with high-level knowledge, skills, and training processes that apply in-depth knowledge of Hadoop tools and concepts. The best part of IBM Hadoop Certification is that it comes with NO EXPIRY. This means you won’t have to give tests again and again after every two years. The name of the Certifications are:

1. 1. IBM Big Data Architect Certification.
2. 2. IBM Big Data Engineer Certification.

SAS Hadoop Certification

SAS is well known for offering certifications in analytics. Their certifications are highly cost-effective and supported by courses that are delivered by highly professional and experienced faculties. The certifications by SAS are namely:

1. 1. Big Data Professional Using SAS 9 Certification.
2. 2. Advanced Analytics Professional Using SAS 9 Certification.

Six steps to launching a successful Data Architect career

Step 1: Obtain your undergraduate degree

Appropriate bachelor’s degrees are in computer science, computer engineering, information technology, or a related field. Data architects usually have very solid backgrounds in application design, systems development, and information management. You’ll want to successfully complete coursework in these topics, as well as in computer programming, web development, operating systems, systems analysis, and technology architecture.

Step 2: Complete an internship

Data architecture is not usually an entry-level job. Therefore, you’ll want to gain as much experience early on as you can to prepare you for this role. Look for internships in IT fields that help you build skills in application architecture, network management, and performance management. 

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Step 3: Gain work experience in information technology

Again, your first job title probably won’t be “data architect.” You’ll likely need at least 3-5 years of job experience with proven project success before becoming a data architect. Apply for entry-level jobs in programming or database administration. Continue to work on your skills in database design, development, management, modeling, and warehousing. 

Step 4: Get hired as a data architect

After the necessary training and years of experience, you’ll be ready to start your career in data architecture. Look for jobs in finance, large educational entities, healthcare firms and insurance companies, businesses, and other organizations that take in and process large amounts of client data. You can also find success looking for data architect jobs with computer manufacturers and software corporations.

Step 5: Earn professional certifications

The most well-known professional certificate is the CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional), offered by the Institute for Certified Computing Professionals. This certificate requires candidates to have 2 years of work experience as well as a bachelor’s degree before taking the certification exam, either at the “practitioner” or “mastery” level.

Step 6: Pursue a Master’s degree

A master’s degree is preferred for many senior positions in data architecture. The best options are master’s degrees in computer science or data science. 

What is a Data Architect?

Data architects are generally senior-level professionals, and are highly valued in large companies. They use sophisticated computer design skills to develop databases for organizations, allowing for the collection and analysis of big data. Data architects must be creative problem-solvers who use a vast amount of programming tools to innovate and design new solutions to store and manage data. 

What does a Data Architect do?

A database architect helps a company understand its strategic goals with regards to data management, and works with software designers and data engineers to develop plans for new integration of databases. Data architects must have keen business intelligence to work with higher level officials in a company and assess the particular needs of that company. Keeping aware of industry trends, data architects then create a new platform that can function for many people and in many areas.

Data architects are also in charge of scheduling updates and improvements to the database they have created with minimal impact to the company. This can mean that a data architect must work long hours and/or on the weekends to complete projects and updates on time. 

Data Architect job description

• Communicate with many different company stakeholders to assess needs and goals
• Evaluate current data architecture and databases
• Plan end-to-end model for data consumption and analysis
• Code new data architecture, integrating existing databases 
• Use ETL (extract, transform, load) best practices in the creation of the database 
• Research and discover new methods to acquire data
• Monitor databases and report on effectiveness and accuracy, updating as needed
• Maintain security of the database, and create standards to ensure that the system is safe
• Preserve a repository of all data architecture artifacts  

Skills needed to become a Data Architect

Data architects are highly trained workers, who are fluent in a wide range of programming languages as well as other technologies, and must be good communicators with keen business insights. Data architects must have strong attention to detail, as any problems in coding can cost a business millions to repair.

Technical skills involved with being a data architect include strength in:

1. 1. Applied math and statistics
2. 2. Data visualization and data migration
3. 3. RDMSs (relational database management systems) or foundational database skills
4. 4. Database management system software, especially Microsoft SQL Server 
5. 5. Databases such as NoSQL and cloud computing 
6. 6. Hadoop technologies, like MapReduce, Hive, and Pig
7. 7. Information management and data processing on multiple platforms
8. 8. Machine learning
9. 9. Data mining and modeling tools, especially ERWin, Enterprise Architect, and Visio
10. 10. Programming languages, especially Python and Java, as well as C/C++ and Perl
11. 11. Operating systems, including UNIX, Linux, Solaris, and MS Windows
12. 12. Application server software, especially Oracle
13. 13. Backup/archival software

Successful data architects have a number of other business skills. Though they must have a depth and breadth of experience in the field, data architects must also be creative problem-solvers, who are ready to innovate new solutions, and change along with evolving technology. 

As data architects are often senior officials on a project, they must be able to effectively lead members of a team, such as data modelers, data engineers, and database administrators. They must also be able to communicate solutions to colleagues with non-technical backgrounds. Finally, data architects should have a deep knowledge of their own particular industry, including best practices and trends for how data is collected, stored, and analyzed in that industry.

Data Architect salary

According to recent information from payscale.com, “a data architect earns an average salary of $111,139 per year.” The highest paying data architect jobs require expertise in Apache Hadoop. Data architects can expect to make much higher salaries with 10 or more years of experience. The highest-paid data architects are in Silicon Valley, with other higher-than-average salaries in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

Data Architect job outlook

Data architects report high job satisfaction, probably due to the fact that the role presents new and important challenges every day. The role will certainly continue to change as technology evolves, and the best data architects welcome this change by staying up-to-date with new systems and languages. Massive amounts of data are generated by the minute, and data architects are necessary to solve problems on a daily basis, as well as take the long view and try to imagine what problems a company will face in 3-5 years. 

More and more companies are realizing that data architects are one of the most important links in the data chain. As one big data architect at IBM put it, “More data actually doesn’t make us smarter if we don’t have the ability to consume it.” Businesses of all types have come to understand that data architects are necessary to introduce order into the chaos and provide access to data that data scientists and analysts can then mine for business solutions.