Big data analytics refers to the application of advanced data analysis techniques to datasets that are very large, diverse (including structured and unstructured data), and often arriving in real time. The ability to process data at this scale is increasingly essential to navigating today’s business world, and it is at the core of important applications such as machine learning, business intelligence, financial engineering, and other software tools to enable data-informed decision-making.

Computer programs have been used to assist with data analysis for decades, but tools like Microsoft Excel and traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS) queried with SQL are not capable of handling today’s high-volume, high-velocity datasets. Instead, today’s data management professionals rely on high-powered data infrastructure designed to work with distributed file systems and cloud computing resources - particularly the open-source Apache Hadoop ecosystem, including high-speed data processing with Apache Spark and distributed SQL engines like Apache Hive.

Organizations of all types and sizes are seeking ways to leverage the possibilities of big data to improve operations through reduced costs and faster decision-making, create new products and services, or advance our knowledge about the world. Big data analytics skills can thus open up a wide range of career opportunities, from working as a “quant” on Wall Street to developing navigation systems for autonomous vehicles to helping to discover more effective medicines and drugs in health science.

Two of the most broadly-applicable roles in this field are data engineers, who build the data infrastructure needed to deliver big data-scale datasets efficiently and reliably, and the data scientists responsible for analyzing them. These roles are in high demand, and are highly-paid as well; according to Glassdoor, data engineers earn an average annual salary of $102,864, and data scientists earn an average annual salary of $113,309.

Absolutely! Data science is one of the most popular topics to learn about on Coursera, and there are a variety of options to build your skills in big data analytics. You can take online courses and Specializations from top-ranked schools like the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California San Diego, as well as leading companies like IBM, PwC, Cloudera, and Google Cloud. And regardless of where you choose to learn from, Coursera gives you the ability to access course materials and complete assignments on a flexible schedule, making this a great fit for students and mid-career professionals alike.