Introduction
There is no question that the Big Data revolution sweeping through the world of business has made its impact on companies big and small. Multinational giants and startups alike are going out of their way to incorporate Big Data capabilities, including the likes of Google, Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Facebook, Tesla, and more.
The Big Data boom has resulted in a surge in the demand for skilled Big Data professionals not just in India – but around the world. In particular, the insurance, FMCG, online marketing, and e-commerce sectors -which deal with huge volumes of data on a regular basis – are facing a shortage of data specialists.
And according to a report by McKinsey Global, the demand-supply gap is acute, with an estimated 1.5 million Big Data managers needed by 2018!
Simplilearn’s Big Data and Hadoop Developer Certification Training offers you an opportunity to start your dream career in big data from scratch.
Not too long ago, I had a chance to chat with Indranil Banerjee, Associate Director, Simplilearn. I learned about their motives for launching this course and how they are trying to transform big data industry in India. I met their course instructors and learned about their methodology of teaching this course.
Recently I came to know that many students are contemplating taking this course and looking for further information on the same. To help them make a more informed choice, I’ve reviewed the course and offered my input.
Read on to find out more about this popular course and why it’s been the starting point for thousands of successful Big Data professionals the world over.
What is the objective of this course ?
The main objective of this course is to develop skilled professionals in various big data technologies like Hadoop, Apache Spark, Mapreduce, Cassandra and many more. The course aims to provide comprehensive knowledge of Big Data tools to enable professionals at any level tackle data assignments with ease. The mandatory real-life industry projects that are included with the course ensure participants get adequate hands-on experience.
Needless to say, all this will contribute to one’s chances of employability in big data industry.
What is the Course Structure ?
This course is available in two formats: Self-paced, and Instructor-led \ Online Classroom. The online classroom instructor led program is offered via Flexipass. This feature allows access to multiple batches of training, across timezones for a period of 90 days. Both formats provide high quality e-learning content for 180 days to enable self paced training.
In both cases, the self-contained pedagogy used in this course primarily benefits students with no prior knowledge of big data. For instance, big data requires knowledge of Java. But even if you have no formal training in Java, the course offers a module in Java to get you started.
This course follows a basic to advanced level teaching structure. In addition to other big data tools, this course offers a dedicated module on Apache Spark (widely considered to be the future of Big Data). This course is thus up-to-date and is in-line with the latest industry trends and developments. The course offers training in Hadoop 2.7, MapReduce, Pig, Hive, HBase, Zookeeper, Sqoop, Flume and predictive modeling in R (additional course). Check out the complete course listing here.
For an enhanced learning experience, it offers a unique CloudLab feature. This feature gives the user the experience of working on a state of the art hadoop cluster with no maintenance issues. Also, the inclusion of industry projects across retail, insurance, social media, offers the much-needed practical experience of working on Big Data. A candidate will receive a 3 months experience certificate after the successful completion of this course.
However, amidst such exemplary offerings, moving with the currents trends, I understand that they are adding Python/R in the course as well. Use of these analytic tools with Big Data will further strengthen their course, which is already among the best available today.
What’s the Faculty like ?
The training faculty that host the sessions are fairly experienced and aware of the latest industry developments. I found no instances where the course instructor struggled to answer questions adequately
I noticed that the instructors laid more emphasis on explaining technical topics with illustrations from real-world scenarios. This helps participants relate theory with practice and absorb dense technical details easily.
Needles to say, if you opt for self paced classes, you’d miss out on this experience. However, the choice of course is completely left to your discretion.
How good is the content ?
The pre-recorded video tutorials have nice and clear video & voice clarity. The instructor’s accent is easy to understand and interpret. Difficult topics are explained using interesting real life examples.
The upcoming version of the course will provide upgraded content based on the new Cloudera certification. They will also feature motion graphics and an on-screen instructor. I think that will be an exciting change as I always feel that on-screen instructor provides higher engagement.
This will help increase concentration and make learning more visualized compared to voice explaining slide mode.
Who should take this course ?
This course is broadly suited for candidates of all domains who are keen to pursue big data as a career. The inclusion of Java module has made it even more appealing for non-technical candidates as well.
However, as per my understanding, prior knowledge of java in this course should be a major advantage. The additional java module can be used as a refresher (if required). Candidates from IT background would find this course easier to relate and understand. On the other hand, a newbie with some diligence and enough practice should be able to discern the terminologies used in different stages of this course.
Hence, I would thus suggest that this course is best suited for experienced (<2 years) IT professionals. But that doesn’t mean a newbie cannot benefit from the training. You might need to work harder than others, but if you truly aspire to become a big data scientist, I don’t see it being impossible.
Past Students Experience
Professionals who have taken the Big Data certification training in the past seem quite satisfied. Many have landed their first big gig in Big Data as a direct result of the course. Here are a few reviews I have picked from their website.
Deepak Priyadarshi (Founder and CEO at Filament Factory) – a student of this course : It was an amazing experience to train on BIG DATA with Simplilearn. This course is very feasible to the beginners and the course contents are downloadable on the go.
Devendra Sahu (Project Manager at Wipro) – This program is very well structured and planned to help anyone who want to understand Big Data & Hadoop concepts. I recommend it to everyone who wants to get into the Hadoop ecosystem.
Overall Recommendation
My final verdict is: I recommend this course to all aspiring big data candidates. This is a good starting point for your journey. Apart from the quality of the offerings, which is exceptional, the price point of the course also makes it value-for-money material.
The self paced module is available for just Rs.10,999. The instructor led / online classroom module can be availed at Rs. 21,999. After looking around a bit, I’ve come to realize that it’s difficult to find a course in this price range, considering the immense array of offerings being provided.
Also, the CloudLab feature offered saves a lot of time spent in installation and configuration. This virtual hadoop environment provides an accelerated learning experience. The inclusion of industry projects across sectors make for an much needed practical experience on your resume.
End Notes
I hope this review would help you in deciding on your first or next big data course. I understand there are many courses available on big data and each has its own “value proposition”, Simplilearn’s course is a great place to begin.
If you have any questions about the program, I’ll be happy to share my views & perspective. If I don’t have the answer myself, I’ll reach out to people who do.
You can test your skills and knowledge. Check out Live Competitions and compete with best Data Scientists from all over the world.
Kunal is a post graduate from IIT Bombay in Aerospace Engineering. He has spent more than 10 years in field of Data Science. His work experience ranges from mature markets like UK to a developing market like India. During this period he has lead teams of various sizes and has worked on various tools like SAS, SPSS, Qlikview, R, Python and Matlab.
