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As part of our ‘Ask a Recruiter’ series, we spoke to Patrick Mark, a Lead IT Recruiter, to get an inside look at what characteristics help data professionals stand out. Have a look at his must-know advice that is sure to give you a one-up against the competition.

1. When you meet with data professionals, what are some key characteristics you look for?

One thing that I key in on when talking with Data Professionals is how strong they are with scripting technologies. Scripting allows you to automate things in the Data space that are redundant and also query for information faster than just having it done manually. I would recommend learning Python, PySpark, and Scala. These are the most popular scripting tools I see among candidates.

2. What are the most in demand technical skills that data professionals should have?

Big Data is becoming more and more popular as the data we have grows exponentially. Hadoop, Cassandra, NoSQL and Hive are just a few we see more regularly.

3. What are some key data certifications that will help give professionals an advantage?

I would say that a degree goes a lot further in this space, but some popular certifications are:

Cloudera Certified Hadoop Developer (CCDH)
Cloudera Certified Administrator (CCAH)
Cloudera Certified Professional Scientist for the Hadoop side (CCP-DS)

4. How should data professionals prepare for an interview?

I think not only understanding the data you work with on a day-to-day basis, but also knowing the key differences between other data you may not work with as much. Let’s say you are a Hadoop big data specialist, but the interviewer is asking questions about Cassandra. You may not know the answer, but you could respond by saying “I’m not sure, I would love to learn, but here is how I work with it within Hadoop.”

5. What are some tips to help showcase experience and projects on a resume?

I think quantifying the size of data you are working with and making sure you include details on the projects you have worked on. Don’t put Big data technologies in your resume if you don’t feel comfortable answering “How did you work with X in your last job?”.