Big Data Architect: Who, What, and How to Become One?

If the title of this post interests you, the chances are high that you are planning to make a career in the field of big data. As the big data world is growing very fast, where you end up in it mainly depends upon your first step. Fortunately, we are going to start from scratch and give you a complete guide to pursuing a career as a big data architect. Before diving deep into the subject of big data architect, let’s take a sneak peek at what’ll get covered in this post.

·         Who is a big data architect?

·         The job description of a big data architect

·         The necessary qualifications for a big data architect

Who is a big data architect?

In the computer science world, ‘architecture’ means building computer systems. The “systems” can be large and complex, and to keep them running, you should strictly follow a list of rules and methods.  In other words, a big data architect is a person who comes up with certain rules and methods and meticulously implies them to the building of a computer system. 

Just as a homeowner hires an architect to envision a picture of his dream home and communicate how all the small pieces will ultimately come together, similarly a business owner employs a big data architect to fill a similar job role in their domain.  Instead of concrete, lumber, and tradespeople, a big data architecture encompasses voluminous sets of data, hardware, software, networks, testers, developers, cloud services, database administrators, system admins, and all other resources of an IT infrastructure. In a nutshell, a big data architect is a person who is responsible for aligning all IT assets with the desired goals and objectives of the business.

The job description of a big data architect

The job description of a big data architect varies from organization to organization depending upon the requirement. We’ve sorted out a few generic elements that are commonly sought for by most organizations.

·         A big data architect is a person who provides the solution. Thereby, the primary task of a data architect is to collaborate with the people whose problem they’re solving, such as data scientists, data engineers, and product architects.

·    

      Designing and development of big data components. Generally, data components are a unique combination of big data tools and technologies.  There are hundreds and thousands of tools and technologies out there – a data architect must pick the right ones.

·         Programming: Be it Python, R, Scala, Java, or other scripting languages such as UNIX Shell scripts, coding is an integral part of the big data architect’s activities.  

The necessary qualifications for a big data architect

Education: Undergraduate degree in software engineering/computer science and/or equivalent work experience

Required Qualifications

·         2-5 years of experience in data science, machine learning, and big data

·         5+ years of experience with data warehouses

·         5+ years of experience in database administration, design and development

·         Good experience in Agile/Scrum methodologies

·         Knowledge about data masking, data replication, and performance factors etc.

·         Should know how to design data lake/warehouse for data integration

·         Ability to combine technical and analytical skills

Now, if you are looking into big data as a career, we suggest you enroll for big data certification and training programs from any good institute in India.