The re-skilling requirements of database administrators in a big data environment

Abstract

Big data generated within organisations is on an exponential increase. It is not only the increase in the volume and velocity of structured data but more so the complexity of unstructured data that has presented new challenges. Organisations have since realised the potential to derive new business value from this unstructured data and therefore, the requirement to manage such data has arisen. Even though the traditional database administrator (DBA) administers the organisation's traditional structured data within the relational database management system (RDBMS) environment, the unstructured nature of big data presents potential new challenges. As a result, there is a requirement for new technologies to store and process both structured and unstructured data, as well as a range of skill sets that are required to administer it. It is however not clear whether these skill sets exist within a single individual such as the traditional DBA or within different roles across various functional departments within the organisation. This study explores the difference in skill set between the DBA administering the RDBMS environment and the requirement to transition into a similar position within a big data environment. It further compares the current DBA's skill set with other roles found within the big data environment to explore where the DBA role fits into the big data environment.