How To Become A Hadoop Developer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a hadoop developer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A Hadoop developer is a computer professional who codes and programs Hadoop applications in the context of Big Data for an organization or a company. Hadoop is an Apache open-source, Java-based programming language that is used for the large-scale storage and processing of Big Data in a distributed computing environment.

A Hadoop developer is responsible for the actual software programming of Hadoop applications and manages the documentation and development of Hadoop applications. These individuals also handle the installation, configuration, and continued support of Hadoop applications, and perform routine analysis of large data stores. These developers can work in several fields that require computer data storage and management, from travel and healthcare to advertising and retail.

Most Hadoop developers have an associate's or a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology (IT), computer networking, or a related field, and many may have special training and certification in Hadoop development. These individuals should possess strong computer, programming, analytical and organizational skills, and should be comfortable working with other team members and generating status reports for upper management and clients. A Hadoop developer can make up to $108,000 per year, and the career field is expected to grow 21% in the next 10 years.

ScoreHadoop DeveloperUS Average

Salary

7.3

Avg. Salary $93,148

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.0

Growth rate 21%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 32.52%

Black or African American 4.28%

Hispanic or Latino 8.00%

Unknown 4.75%

White 50.28%

Gender

female 22.24%

male 77.76%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

4.0

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a hadoop developer

Explore hadoop developer education requirements

Most common hadoop developer degrees

Bachelor's

74.5 %

Master's

23.2 %

Diploma

1.1 %

Start to develop specific hadoop developer skills

Skills	Percentages
HDFS	6.63%
Python	6.08%
Java	5.93%
HBase	5.39%
Sqoop	5.33%

Complete relevant hadoop developer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New hadoop developers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a hadoop developer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real hadoop developer resumes.

Research hadoop developer duties and responsibilities

Manage the configuration of the cluster to meet the needs of analysis whether I/O bound or CPU bound.
Lead initiatives to automate application builds and deployments using Hudson/Jenkins.
Build and manage development and testing environments, assisting developers in debugging application issues.
Utilize various data analysis and data visualization tools to accomplish data analysis, report design and report delivery.

Prepare your hadoop developer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your hadoop developer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a hadoop developer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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