Big Data Job Opportunities Spread Across U.S., Industries: Dice

By Corinne Bernstein | Posted 2013-07-11

Job prospects for big data keep growing. Demand for big data skills is expanding across the United States and in diverse industries—a trend that online employment and career site Dice refers to as "big data sprawl." The number of big data jobs on the site has shown a triple-digit surge year-over-year, according to Dice's July report. The largest percentages of big data jobs on Dice are in Silicon Valley, New York and Washington, D.C./Baltimore. "Big data" has become a household word, and many well-known companies are seeking big data talent, the Dice report said. The types of companies looking for IT pros with big data skills include consulting firms, defense contractors, e-learning businesses, financial firms, online dating sites and more. And, in case you haven't heard, Hadoop is hot, particularly when combined with other in-demand skills such as Java. Although its elephant logo may be a little whimsical, Hadoop—an open-source software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications—offers serious employment opportunities. Dice shared with eWEEK some key data points on big data job opportunities.

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Big Data Job Opportunities Spread Across U.S., Industries: Dice

by Corinne Bernstein
Big Data, Big Job Prospects

Overall, big data jobs are up 143 percent year-over-year on Dice's site.
Serious Opportunities in Hadoop

Hadoop is the most popular skill in the big data category on Dice, and is up 85 percent year-over-year on the site.
Beyond Defense- and Government-Related Employment

Only 3 percent of the big data jobs on Dice require security clearance. At one time, big data was "confined to think tanks and the Pentagon," the Dice report said.
Big Data Crosses All Industries

Big data jobs cross a wide spectrum of industries such as food manufacturing, retail, consulting companies, gaming, online travel, consumer finance and insurance companies.
Job Titles Vary

Some jobs titles on Dice include the words "big data." Two examples are "software engineer-platform/big data" and "big data architect." But other titles listed include "data engineer," "senior Java/Hadoop developer," "senior SDE Java" and "cyber systems administrator with Hadoop." These jobs often combine hot big data requirements with other in-demand skills such as Java.
Big Data in the Valley

Silicon Valley is home to 24 percent of the big data jobs on Dice, although the region represents only 7 percent of the jobs on the employment site.
Big Data Opportunities in the Big Apple, D.C.

New York and Washington, D.C./Baltimore, rank second and third in big data job postings on Dice. New York has 13.1 percent, and Washington/Baltimore has 11.9 percent.
Boston Comes in Fourth and Seattle in Fifth

Boston and Seattle each account for less than 4 percent of all jobs posted on Dice, but have 7 and 6 percent, respectively, of the big data jobs posted.
Other Top 10 Cities for Big Data Jobs

Rounding out the top 10 cities for big data jobs are Los Angeles (6 percent), Chicago (3.4 percent), Atlanta (3.3 percent), Dallas (3.2 percent) and Philadelphia (2.9 percent).
Big Plans for Big Data

Dice points to a study last spring from Gartner showing that 42 percent of IT leaders have invested in big data technology or plan to do so within a year.
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