With Jobs at Risk, can a Career in Big Data Keep You Safe?

Last updated on March 22nd, 2024 at 04:00 am

Data powers the information economy just like oil powers industrial economy. No wonder they say, “data is the new oil”. A critical asset to many industries, data science and AI changed the way information is gathered and processed. Even when COVID-19 hit the global economy, leading to job cuts and hiring freeze, data science remained unaffected.

While companies do not debate on the importance of data science, collecting and storing the huge volume of data was a big challenge. With limited capabilities, companies had a big struggle to maintain and process data. However, AI and cloud-based technologies provide a solution to this problem. These technologies have created better job opportunities for data professionals than ever before. If you are aspiring for a data analyst career, there isn’t a better time than this.

Why Big Data?

The world is consumer-centric and will remain so despite the hard hits on the economy. Consumerism is the driving force that creates revenue, and job opportunities. From healthcare to e-commerce, all industries are data-driven. The data requirement changes from one business to another, from one company to another. But the enormous amount of unstructured data can be collected using various tools and techniques, organized and structured according to the business needs.

No matter the business is consumer data is vital to all businesses. The tech giants like Google, Amazon etc, and the social media giants like Facebook have been using the potential of data to achieve a competitive advantage over their rivals. And the result is pretty much evident. They are far ahead of their competitors.

What is common among all of them is that they collect large swathes of data regarding their customers – right from what products they buy, which products they ditched after adding to the cart, which posts get better engagement, how long does a person spend time on their webpages – every single move of their customer after arriving on their website is tracked, processed and analyzed to make better business decisions.

The global health crisis saw the extensive application of data, how it can be used to manage a crisis better. From contact tracing, health screening and mitigating the spread. Many apps were developed to help contain the spread, leveraging the GPS to identify the COVID-19 hotspots.

The Increasing Demand for Data Scientists

COVID-19 has indeed changed the way the world functions. With more people staying indoors, individuals flocking the internet also increased. From work to shopping, everything is being done online. And this has increased the requirements for data scientists. While many companies struggle to acclimatize and manage their current employees logging in from a remote place, Tech firms are out with a pressing need to recruit more talents.

With more students and professionals active online, the need for online tools and platforms is growing, and this has led to the demand for an intense expansion of their talent pool.

AI and cybersecurity talents are the most coveted as many companies need technical support in digitizing their businesses. This calls for the improvement of data security measures and to enhance automation to reduce the on-site manpower.

Firms that rely on AI-powered software and those which provide such platforms are on a lookout for technical talents including software engineers and data analysts. Furthermore, financial services companies are also gearing up to become market-ready when the economy reopens. They have started headhunting for people with risk management and data analytics skills to cater to the recent spike in digital banking and online payments activities.

Data science is one of those areas not affected by COVID-19. In fact, the pandemic and the enforced stay-ins have resulted in an increased demand for data scientists. If you are a new graduate, take this opportunity to make the most out of the current market situation.