How to Crack the 'Hadoop Developer' Interview?

Big data’s biggest tool Hadoop - is an open-source, Java-based framework used for distributed storage and distributed processing of massive amounts of data, popularly known as Big Data. The recent market report from Google clearly states that almost 84% of the companies have incorporated Big Data, or in the verge of doing so. The report also revealed that the Hadoop Big Data analytics market is projected to grow to USD 40.69 Billion by the year 2021.

With the growing demand for Big Data practices, more people have started considering Apache Hadoop skills as the prerequisite for a challenging and rewarding career, which accordingly has created a stiff market competition for the entry-level and mid-level data analysts.

Depending on the projected market figures and severity of the competition, cracking the Hadoop developer interview is no longer a simple task. It needs a lot of commitment and focused efforts to work on, and you cannot also afford to overlook the importance of Hadoop training in today’s business acumen.

For information on Big Data Hadoop training, click here.

Though cracking the Hadoop developer interview is a tough task, it can be easily surpassed with committed preparation and little attention on the aspects mentioned in this article.

Let us begin by discussing what is Hadoop development, followed by the job responsibilities and the required skill set of a Hadoop developer. Lastly, a few tips for successfully cracking the Hadoop developer interview will be discussed.

1.    What Hadoop Developer is all about?

A Hadoop developer is somewhat related to a Software developer, whose major responsibility is to write code and programs. The major difference is that the Hadoop developer works in a Big Data environment, handling large amounts of data that goes beyond the processing capability of the traditional data processing systems.

Apart from coding and programming, the Hadoop developer is also responsible for:

• Writing scripts in Pig and Hive
• Writing jobs in MapReduce
• Coordinating and Scheduling the jobs across the Hadoop Cluster, etc.
• Loading and Extracting data from HDFS
• Reviewing Hadoop log files

2.    Job Responsibilities of a Hadoop Developer

Big Data is everywhere, and the job role of the Hadoop developers vary with their domain of work. But, the key responsibilities will remain the same across all domains, which are explained below.

• Adhering with Hadoop development and implementation
• Analyzing huge amounts of data, and gain future insights
• Designing, building, installing, configuring, and supporting Hadoop
• Handling Hadoop log files
• Supervising Hadoop jobs using scheduler
• Outlining job flows
• Preprocessing using Pig and Hive
• Performing cluster coordination services using ZooKeeper
• Preserving security and data privacy
• Managing and deploying HBase
• Assisting MapReduce programs running on a Hadoop cluster
• High-speed querying
• Building scalable and high-performance web services for data tracking
• Troubleshooting and fine-tuning the applications and systems for high performance and high throughput

Undoubtedly, the Big Data developer is a rewarding career path that offers multiple opportunities to boost your professional life. 

3.    Skill sets required for a Hadoop Developer

As you are now familiar with the responsibilities of a Hadoop developer, let us discuss the skills required for you to emerge as an expert Hadoop developer. 

Before discussing the skill set, remember that Hadoop does not work alone. A combination of different software packages like Ambari, Flume, Hive, HBase, Oozie, etc. makes the Hadoop architecture. Therefore, a Hadoop developer is required to have a good knowledge of these technologies. The possible set of skills required for a Hadoop developer is:

• Good knowledge in Hadoop
• Strong knowledge of back-end programming, namely Java, JS, Node.js, OOAD etc.
• Ability to write MapReduce jobs
• Proficiency in writing reliable and scalable code
• Strong knowledge of database related concepts
• Hands-on practice in HiveQL
• Knowledge of writing Pig Latin scripts
• Familiarity with data loading tools (Flume, Sqoop, etc.)
• Good knowledge in HBase, Hive, and Pig
• Willingness to learn technologies
• Ability to perform in competitive and dynamic environment

4.    Tips to Crack the Hadoop Developer Interview

Preparation is always important to crack any interview, but it becomes more important when cracking a Hadoop developer interview. You should prepare yourself on different aspects that can help you to rock in the interview.

• Knowledge

Start from the basics, learn all the complex theories, principles, prototypes, and programming languages in Hadoop, and go through with some of the general big data interview questions, Java interview questions, and Hadoop interview questions.

• Application

Knowing alone is not sufficient for cracking the Hadoop developer interview, you are also required to have a hands-on practice of the different tasks related to Hadoop architecture.

• Identify your Domain

Select the domain of your interest where you are willing to work, and do a research. Understand how things work in the domain, and know how your role will benefit the business.  

• Communication

This is the area where most of the developers overlook its significance while preparing for an interview. You may have expertise in Hadoop, but do not simply ignore the importance of communication.

• Determine Future trends

Technology changes fast, and today, Hadoop is one of the trending technologies that has made a strong impact in the field of data processing. To stay competitive in the market, you are required to keep yourself up-to-date with the market trends and technologies.

Above are the five effective tips that can certainly help you to successfully crack the Hadoop developer interview.

Keep in mind, there is no shortcut for success, and success comes to those who are ready to accept the change. Today, Hadoop is undoubtedly the largely preferred big data tool for efficient data processing and data storing. However, there is a great scarcity of skilled Hadoop big data developers in the current market, and the reason is the lack of proper knowledge. 

Wrapping up

Remember, things won’t work until they are practiced, similarly, your career won’t be progressed until you start learning and practicing the new technologies that are stealing the limelight. Kovid Academy is one such platform, where you can learn and master the various groundbreaking technologies that are making a deeper impact across the globe.  

To get acquainted with all the concepts of the Hadoop Big Data Developer, join Kovid Academy today, and start exploring your career to new greater heights.