This document discusses big data and the growing need for professionals with big data skills. It defines big data as large in size, quantity, and variety. The 4Vs of big data are described as volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. Organizations can take data from any source, analyze it to find answers, and make smarter business decisions through cost reductions, time reductions, new product development, and optimized offerings. In-demand big data skills include SQL, business intelligence, data analysis, data warehousing, data management, and extract-transform-load developers. The role of data scientist has seen a 15,000% increase in job postings from 2011-2012 due to the need to extract meaningful insights from raw data