Careers in Big Data Big Data analysts are responsible for analyzing data, identifying relationships, and building models. Skills: Python, R programming, Java, Ruby, Matlab, Pig, SQL, Hadoop, Hive, and MapReduce, ML, NLP Big Data Engineer / BigData Developer / BigData Architect: responsible for building and maintaining data pipelines, writes code to implement data processing logic, designs the overall data infrastructure Skills: Java / C / C++, HADOOP, HIVE/PIG/ML Big Data Admin/Hadoop Administrator: administers and manages hadoop clusters and all other resources in the entire Hadoop ecosystem. Skills:Linux and shell Scripting, Hadoop Ecosystem, ability to troubleshoot complex issue Top companies hiring big data professionals: Google, IBM, Salesforce, Oracle,. EMC, Splunk, GE, Apple, Adobe, Qualcomm In the US, the average salary for a big data engineer is around $134,277, according to Built In.