How can I learn big data analytics?

Data analytics is an extremely popular topic in the tech industry, and big data professionals are in high demand. Analytics refers to the software and processes that help businesses to interpret and sort big data. Since big data analytics are employed in a broad range of different fields ranging from marketing to security and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, there are many online courses available in some of the most popular e-learning platforms.

Individual professionals and those interested in learning about this field of data science need to become familiar with programming skills, some degree of machine learning, time series analysis, math, and statistics. A big data specialist’s work is to collect, aggregate, and study data, visualize it so it can be communicated, extract meaningful information from it, and use this info to provide actionable insights and guide informed business decisions. Knowing this, a big data specialist must be knowledgeable in all steps required to process data, from mining to storing, cleaning, and analyzing before it is presented in a consumable way.

Generally, the first and most basic step taught in all online courses is to understand the key terms used in big data analytics. After becoming familiar with these basic ideas, the next step is usually becoming familiar with a programming language such as Python and Java. These languages represent the basis upon which future knowledge is built, generally by learning how to employ more advanced analytics tools such as Hadoop, MapReduce, Hive, Spark, Frameworks, Impala, and others. A good knowledge of Relational Database Management Systems (RDBS) such as SQL is needed, as well as a proper understanding of how to perform regressions, clustering, and how to transform unstructured data into structured data.

Those who are looking for more in-depth resources can seek more information about cloud computing software setups, or any other designs that have to do with analytics methods. Learners can get information from vendors or suppliers, sign up for training courses within a company or organization, or utilize training resources from third-party entities.