SPOTLIGHT ON

BIG DATASCIENTISTS, ARCHITECTS, OFFICERS AND DEVELOPERS... WITH BIG DATA EMERGING AS ONE OF THE MAJOR FOCUSES FOR MANY ORGANISATIONS IN 2013, THE ROLES WITHIN THIS FIELD SAW SOME SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN DEMAND OVER THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS.

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HERE IS A ROUND-UP OF SOME OF THE MOST IN DEMAND ROLES WITHIN THE BIG DATA ARENA...

1. DATA SCIENTIST 2. DATA WAREHOUSE HARDWARE SPECIALIST

3. INFORMATION ANALYST 4. CDO

LAST YEAR MUCH OF THE BIG DATA DISCOURSE REFERRED TO DATA SCIENTISTS AS THE ‘NEW ROCK-STARS’ OF THE TECHNOLOGY WORLD...

DATA SCIENTISTS, WERE EARLIER REFERRED TO AS DATA ARCHITECTS, WHEN THEY WERE MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED TO IT; NOW THE ROLE REQUIRES A NEW KIND OF TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL WHO IS CAPABLE OF BRINGING DATA ORGANISATION INTO BUSINESS VALUE PROPOSITIONS. DATA SCIENTISTS MUST BE CAPABLE OF ANALYZING DATA AND SPOTTING TRENDS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES WITHIN AN ORGANISATION. ANALYTICAL AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE VITAL IN THIS KIND OF ROLE.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTS PLAY A VITAL ROLE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION’S PLANNING, ORGANISING AND DOCUMENTATION OF DATA, ENSURING THAT IT IS BEING INTERPRETED IN AN EFFECTIVE WAY.

BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE AND DATA MODELLING ARE ESSENTIAL SKILLS FOR AN INFORMATION ARCHITECT.

IQ ANALYTICS ARE SPECIALISTS IN CONNECTING MATHEMATICAL AND STATISTICAL ANALYTICAL SKILLS, EXPERIENCED IN EVALUATING VOLUME BUSINESS DATA WITH CLIENTS SEEKING UNIQUE TALENT.

A KEY FOCUS HERE IS DATA INTEGRATION AND OPTIMISATION OF PERFORMANCE ASSOCIATED WITH MACHINES LIKE EXADATA, TERADATA AND NETAZZA.

THESE ARE THE MACHINES THAT ORGANISATIONS USE TO PROVIDE MASSIVE PARALLEL PROCESSING; UTILISING MEMORY, DISK AND DATA ARCHITECTURES PARTICULAR TO AN ANALYTICS PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT. DATA WAREHOUSING AS A WHOLE IS AN AREA WHICH IS QUICKLY GROWING AND ADVANCING, SO DATA WAREHOUSE HARDWARE SPECIALISTS NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE KEEPING FULLY UP TO SPEED WITH THE LATEST SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENTS AROUND THEIR MACHINES.

THE NUMBER OF ORGANISATIONS APPOINTING CHIEF DATA OFFICERS WAS ON THE INCREASE IN 2013, AS WAS HIGHLIGHTED IN A RECENT GARTNER REPORT PREDICTING THAT 25% OF GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS WOULD HAVE APPOINTED A CDO BY 2015.

IN MANY CASES THE CDO SITS ALONGSIDE THE CIO, IN A ROLE THAT IS FAR MORE DATA FOCUSED; CALLING FOR A TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL WITH A MORE DATA ORIENTED BACKGROUND AND SET OF SKILLS. WHILE MANY PREVIOUSLY SUGGESTED THAT IT WAS TIME FOR THE CIO TO STEP ASIDE IN FAVOUR OF THE CDO, IT HAS ALSO BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THE APPOINTMENT OF A SENIOR DATA PROFESSIONAL AT THIS LEVEL WITHIN AN ORGANISATION ALONGSIDE A CIO CAN BE AN INVALUABLE TOOL IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LONG TERM DATA PROJECTS.