If you remember, 2017 started off on a rather upsetting note for thousands of IT professionals. Massive layoffs marked the beginning of last year and several elite tech companies from across the country either gave pink slips to their employees or fired them without second thoughts.
From Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services to Infosys and Cognizant, companies simply laid off employees in the pretext of diverse reasons. 2017 was no less of a nightmare for IT professionals, where the paranoia of getting back to work the next day always plagued the offices of major players.
One of the shocking aspects of the layoffs last year was the fact that it arrived at a time when IT in India was booming. When our country was becoming a global hub for outsourcing and IT-based projects, the sudden retrenchments came off as a shocker. The year also ended on a depressing note with companies like Verizon laying off employees in its Indian wing.
Though foreign policies and international concerns were reasoned for the layoffs, one of the inevitable truth is the lack of a competent workforce. If you notice, Big Data has been gaining significant grounds in India after its massive integration with almost every industry abroad.
The sudden onset of new technology and incompetency amongst employees in adapting to it and staying relevant in the field has been one of the undisclosed truths we need to understand by reading between the lines.
Big Data gave rise to automation and Machine Learning based applications and workflow management systems that replaced redundant skillsets with mere codes, and on the other hand, it gave rise to newer job roles and opportunities IT professionals hardly knew existed.
While the world may say automation and Big Data have snatched away jobs, the undisputed fact is that they had only created an avenue of opportunities for the current talent pool in companies, which when they realized would reach greater heights.
Big Data – the Hottest Industry in India Today
Unlike the skills that became redundant last year, Big Data arrived as an acquired specialized skill set that needed proper industry exposure, technical knowledge, communication skills and more.
Not everyone who coded could immediately switch to Big Data and take up niche organizational responsibilities. Their coding skills only made the learning process and orientation into the sector easier for them, and there was a long way to go in understanding the functioning of the IT sector. Today, data is considered as digital gold and companies are increasingly and solely relying on data for almost all of their decisions.
From enhancing customer experience and optimizing supply-chain to tweaking workflows for better employee performance and automation, data is the backbone of all these processes, and Big Data lies as the source at its fulcrum. People who understand the value of data, read it, uncover insights, visualize inferences, communicate them with concerned authorities and pave the way for an ecosystem where management could make an informed decision, are Big Data specialists and the demand for them today in India is phenomenal.
So, being a new skill to learn, will Big Data fade away with time too?
Definitely not!
Big Data is not a wave of technology to subside after its rise. It is, in fact, forming the basis of how industries will operate and function tomorrow. As you know, artificial intelligence, IoT, Machine Learning, and analytics are all becoming norms in IT and what is common amongst all of them is data.
Since all of us own a smartphone today, the inevitability of data in our everyday life just multiplies by manifold. Simply put, Big Data is here to stay and the sooner you realize this, the better it is for your career.
Big Data Specialist Versus an Average IT Professional
Big Data salary in India is very lucrative. Apart from being a designation of high authority, the best aspect of a career in this sector is the big data analytics salary. If you compare an average IT employee with a Big Data specialist, you will realize that Big Data’s salary in India is 50% more than its IT counterparts. This means that a fresher would earn Rs. 4.5 lacs in It would earn close to Rs. 8.5 lacs per annum in Big Data.
If you didn’t know, India is the second-largest Big Data analytics hub after the US and reports suggest that by the end of 2018 over 2,00,000 data scientists will be in demand and the industry is expected to rise to become a $2bn industry.
The best part is that the demand for Big Data jobs in India is not concentrated at just one place or region but distributed equally amongst all major Indian cities, including a few tier-II cities. Now that you have an idea of big data salary in India read on to find out in detail the big data analyst salary in India.
How Much Does a Big Data Expert in India Make?
Shattering conventions, this disruptive technology has managed to lure not just the market players like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and the likes but startups too. Startups are now overlooking their expenses on big data developer salary in India and are willing to go any mile to have the best team of big data experts and data scientists on board.
So if you are wondering about the big data analytics salary in India, know that non-managers in Big Data take home as much as Rs. 8.5 lacs on average per annum. So, what about managers? Well, the big data analyst salary in India for managers increases by almost 50%, wherein they receive approximately Rs. 16 lacs per annum.
If you further break down the salary structure, you will also realize that people with specialized skill sets in Big Data earn furthermore. For instance, the big data Hadoop salary in India can range from Rs. 12 to 14 lacs on average, and managers with such specialized skills earn up to Rs. 18 lacs on an average.
Reports also reveal that the big data developer salary or the big data engineer salary also increases by significant amounts when candidates switch careers and upskill to Big Data from their IT professions and job roles. Companies are seen multiplying salary hikes to even up to 250% for the right candidates, who can use data and take organizations to the next level.
In short, the big data salary for freshers with a master’s degree in Big Data or analytics ranges between Rs. 4 and 10 lacs per annum. The Big Data salary in India for the experienced ones can go anywhere between Rs. 10 and 30 lacs per annum. Whereas, experienced IT professionals who have been in the industry for over 10 years get to enjoy big data analytics salary of up to Rs. 1 crore.
Big Data Salary Study 2018
As we mentioned, the big data salary in India is distributed quite evenly throughout India. However, reports from various sources reveal that Big Data experts with specializations in Hadoop are some of the most sought-after candidates for recruitment in this sector.
With the demand for Big Data specialists increasing phenomenally by the week, companies are constantly on the lookout for skilled experts who can take up specific job roles and help companies make informed decisions. Some of the major Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai are also regarded to be the perfect cities for freshers and professionals to venture into a career in Big Data.
Approximately, there are over 90,000 big data experts in our country but will stun you is the fact that Bengaluru recruits almost 30% of the entire big data talent in India. Mumbai, on the other hand, is known to offer the best big data salary in India – Rs. 12.9 lacs per annum. This is followed by Bengaluru, which offers Rs. 10.48 lacs per annum and then by Delhi, which offers a big data salary of Rs. 10.4 lacs per annum.
Another interesting fact is that the big data salary in India is higher than that of a data scientist!
When Are You Upskilling to Big Data?
By now, we are sure that most of your questions on the big data salary in India are answered, and you are quite confident about venturing into a career in Big Data. The analysis would have also cleared a few hesitations and apprehensions that arise before making your decision.
We understand, and that is exactly why we came up with this analysis. With all the information you need in your hands right now, the only question you need to answer is when you are you upskilling to Big Data? With the industry right and ripe and with salary packages and job profiles future-proof, this is the perfect time to make that career shift you have been thinking about for long. This 2018, make your career count and pave the way for a lucrative career path with Big Data.
Thank you for providing such useful information, very good article, keep providing such articles.
Thanks for providing such a good article. Please also do share how we can switch our profile to a big data engineer? what all we need to prepare to get ready as an experienced still fresher for big data engineering to crack interviews.