Big Future, Big Opportunities, Big Data, Big Scary!

Big Future, Big Opportunities, Big Data, Big Scary! Posted By Amit

Have you ever shopped online or even just surfing the web and the internet seemed to know exactly what you needed or suggests things that you might need like it knows who you are?

Data collection, management and analysis of this data is a huge growing market right now. Big data is basically large amounts of data that need to be analyzed to reveal trends and patterns of human behavior and interaction. So, what does this mean in normal terms? Let me give you an example. My sister had a slice of cherry pie that her friend made and the next day while she was surfing the net, there were ads for cherry pies and other kinds of pies. She had no idea how the internet knew that she had pie and now it was suggesting it to her. The secret behind this mystery was solved, when it was revealed that her friend on Facebook has posted a pic of the cherry pie and so via Facebook, when my sister was surfing, there were suggestions for pies. While, this may scare some of you in regards to privacy, this is data collection, analysis and then applying that data to consumers.

Many companies can easily gather marketing data, which was done manually before, by watching and monitoring your activities on the net in regards to your searches, online shopping, and pages you visit. The data about you, a specific consumer, is gathered and collected and sold to companies, who can analyze and interpret this information and predict trends of what people might want and need. Hence, there is a huge demand for data analysts, database administrators, and managers.

As you can infer, with so much data being collected and jobs opening up, there are classes and certification programs, simultaneously, also popping up everywhere, to train students interested in entering into a career in Big Data. The perfect job for those who have a keen eye for detail and are skilled in working with numbers and logical reasoning, so that they can interpret the data for their clients. So, remember the next time you are online shopping, somebody is watching and recording your shopping pattern, your interests etc. and then interpreting that data to tell you what interests you. Scary or Not? Invasion of privacy or clever use of data? You decide!