PG Program in Big Data Engineering

You will receive a Post Graduate Certification in Big Data Engineering from BITS Pilani upon successful completion of the program. To successfully complete the program, a student needs to pass in all the courses and get a CGPA of atleast 5.0 out of 10. 

All students will also receive a transcript and an official program GPA. Only students who successfully complete the program will receive the PG certification.

This is an extensive, rigorous 11 month program certified by BITS Pilani is unlike any other. The curriculum and learning experience developed in this program through interaction with top BITS Pilani faculty and 40-50 leading professional experts is exactly what the industry wants:

• Extensive Hands On Expertise - This program provides you with 5 projects which are sourced from the industry. By the time you graduate from the program, you have worked on several industry relevant projects and problem statements, which is a key pillar to help in your transition to the Big Data Industry
• Knowledge on Latest Tools & Technologies - This program provides you with hands-on experience and knowledge in the latest Big Data Tools and Technologies like NoSQL Databases, Spark, Scala and also AWS Cloud. In fact, you will get a chance to deploy several projects on AWS Cloud.
• End-to-End Knowledge as opposed to knowledge of a few areas in Big Data - This program gives you a chance to learn concepts and tools/technologies relevant for Distributed Computing, Data Ingestion, ETL, Data Lakes & Warehousing, Batch Processing, Real Time Processing, Big Data Analytics and Visualizations. Hence, you graduate as a professional with deep knowledge of Big Data Engineering and Analytics.
• Core Conceptual Clarity - In addition to hands on knowledge with latest tools and technologies, this program provides you with an understanding of core concepts in Distributed Computing. While tools and technologies keep evolving at a fast pace, knowledge of Distributed Computing concepts will keep you evergreen in the industry.

No other program creates big data engineers who have end to end skills - a thorough understanding of fundamental concepts and thinking beyond tools! In the world of rapidly evolving tools and technologies, this course will equip you for working on technologies that do not even exist today!

Beyond that, the UpGrad Experience ensures that you develop a wide network of peers, connects with industry faculty, extensive career support - overall, an immersive and holistic online and offline learning experience!

Knowledge Front -

• Learn the fundamentals of Distributed Computing, required to succeed in Big Data
• Learn and get hands-on experience on the most popular Big Data tools to do Data Processing, Data Ingestion, Data Storage and Data Visualization
• Learn architecture and design principles of some of the most popular big data frameworks and technologies like Hadoop and Spark
• Learn the basics of analytics to run Machine Learning on big data

Career Front -

a) Job Outcomes - Depending on your past background, this program will prepare you for a career as a Big Data     Developer/Lead/Architect/Manager. You can learn more about these career paths here.

b) Job Preparation - Get access to

• Big Data Career Tests
• One-on-One career mentoring calls
• Mock interviews with big data industry experts
• Hiring Partnerships with 250+ Hiring Partners

Big Data Engineering deals with developing platforms and applications that can store, process and analyze huge volumes of data. Data Science deals with developing predictive models on such big data.

Depending on your past background, the PG Program in Big Data Engineering is preparing you for a career as a Big Data Developer/Architect/Lead/Manager in leading IT and Tech companies, whereas the PG Diploma in Data Science is preparing you for a career as an analyst or data scientist.

Following is a suggested way of choosing between Big Data and Data Science programs:

• If you have an experience or interest in IT/Software Engineering and developing large-scale data platforms/applications (for e.g.: Aadhaar System, Recommendation System for an e-commerce firm, etc.) and wish to build a career in the big data technologies, you should consider the PG Program in Big Data Engineering.
• If you have an experience or interest in Mathematics, Statistics and wish to build a career in predictive modelling/analysis of data, you should consider the PG Diploma in Data Science.

Still not sure of the difference, get in touch with our admissions counsellors by sending an email to bigdata_bitspilani@upgrad.com

Big Data industry in India is expected to grow to $16 billion, by 2025, with an annualized growth rate of 25%, thus paving upon thousands of job opportunities. To give you an example, here are the number of job postings related to “Big Data” on the following websites (as of date):

• Naukri - 6,000
• LinkedIn - 5,000
• Indeed - 3,500

Moreover, we will help you secure your dream job in the following ways:

• Mapping of career aspirations
• 1:1 Mentoring on highlighting your skills
• Resume feedback and profile building
• Interview preparation and coaching by industry experts
• Access to Opportunities in the extensive UpGrad industry network

The program schedule is designed to ensure that you can successfully study alongside your job. Devoting ~10 hours every week should be enough to graduate from the program. However, the more time you devote, the greater will be the learning from the program.

All academic doubts will be cleared in the following way:

• Dedicated team of teaching associates (TAs) to help you with your academic doubts
• Private group chat, wherein you and your team members will help each other work through the study material and assignments 
• Batch-wide discussion forum, wherein other students and Teaching Associates (TAs) respond to your doubts
• Live sessions with industry faculty
• Detailed feedback from industry experts on each assignment/project

The capstone project (lasting for 6 weeks at the end of the program) encapsulates the concepts taught throughout the entire program and gives you a chance to apply that learning in an industry relevant project. This also helps build a project portfolio that will give you an edge when applying for jobs or progressing in your current company.

Click here to know more about Capstone Project.

Yes. In order to apply for the program, you need to meet all of the following criteria:

• Should have a minimum 3 years undergraduate degree like B.Tech/B.E./B.Sc/BCA or any other degree with adequate Mathematics and Computation experience
• Should have secured minimum 55% CGPA in your undergraduate examinations
• Should have minimum 6 months of overall work experience

Yes. The program requires you to be comfortable with coding in Java i.e. working knowledge of concepts like Classes, Objects and be able to write simple Java Programs. If you don’t have prior coding experience in Java, we recommend you to go through the Pre-Program Preparatory Sessions. Please refer to Q 13.

Yes. If your previous education involved adequate computation and mathematics experience, we encourage you to apply for the program and provide details of the same (For e.g. Upload supporting documents like Transcripts). You can also consult the Admissions Cell at bigdata_bitspilani@upgrad.com to get more information.

Upon enrolling, you will be provided access to pre-program preparatory sessions. If you don’t have prior programming experience in Java, you should use these sessions to build your knowledge on the same.

These sessions will cover the following topics:

• Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Principles
• Programming in Java
• Data Structures and Algorithms
• Databases (RDBMS and SQL)

These sessions will have ~50 hours of content having learning material and practice questions which will help build this knowledge.

The admissions process is completely online and is customised to meet your educational and professional profile. Following are the key steps in the application process:

• Step 1 - You must apply for the program on UpGrad’s website. The application form will capture information related to your educational and professional experience.
• Step 2 - Post application, the suitability of your profile will be evaluated. If required, you may be asked to appear for a 30 mins, online entrance test on mathematics and programming aptitude.
• Step 3 - Shortlisted candidates will receive a provisional admissions offer. Final admissions offer will be granted upon payment of the full program fee and successful submission of the required documents.

You will be required to submit the following documents on the UpGrad platform (prior to program launch date):

• A self-attested copy of your undergraduate transcript/degree clearly mentioning your GPA/Grades
• A proof of employment clearly mentioning the number of years of work experience (e.g. A Bonafide Letter from your employer, experience certificate, etc.)

Please note, you will only receive the final admissions offer on submitting the documents.

• In order to block your seat in the program, you need to pay a block amount of Rs. 25,000 within one week of having received the provisional admissions offer
• You can pay the remaining amount of Rs. 2,10,000 within 3 weeks of having paid the block amount. This can be paid in smaller instalments of minimum Rs. 1,00,000

We have an Education Loan partnership with Axis Bank and an Installment Payment option with Zest Fund to facilitate easy payment. For more details, send an email to bigdata_bitspilani@upgrad.com

It is preferred if you have a personal laptop/computer as this will give you administrative access and the rights to install softwares needed in the program.

In addition, we recommend the following machine specifications:

You will also need 40-50 GB free hard disk space during the course of the program.

Upon successful enrolment, you will receive a referral code which will be valid for 6 months from the start of the cohort.

The enrolled student can refer the program to his/her peers for a maximum of 5 times. For every referral, upto the maximum number of referrals, the referrer (person who refers) and referee (person being referred), both get Rs. 10,000 discount/referral bonus.

In order to avail the referral bonus/discount, the applicant/referee  must apply a valid referral code on UpGrad’s platform while submitting the application. Please note, no other means of application of referral code will be allowed.

Refund Policy: 

• You have to pay an amount of Rs. 25,000 as caution money/block amount for the enrollment of the program. This will be adjustable against the total program fee payable.
• You can claim a refund for the course at any time before the cohort start date by sending an email request to your Student Mentor and Admissions Counselor with reasons listed. The pre-program preparatory session (prep) login will be activated immediately post completion of the ‘payment of the block amount (caution money)’ or on the ‘Specified date’ as communicated by UpGrad. Processing fee of Rs. 10,000 will be levied in case refund is claimed.
• You have to pay the balance fee within 15 days of payment of block amount (i.e. caution money) or cohort start date, whichever is earlier, otherwise the admission letter will be rescinded and processing fee of Rs. 10,000 will be levied.
• Any taxes paid by you shall not be refundable, and the amount to be withheld will be higher of taxes paid or Rs. 10,000 processing fees.
• There shall be no refund applicable once the program has started. This is applicable even for those students who could not complete their payment and could not be enrolled in the batch opted for. However, the student can avail pre-program deferral as per the policy defined below for the same.
• Refund shall be processed to an eligible student within 30 working days from the date of receipt of written application from him/her in this regard.
• Refund shall be subject to deduction of Rs. 10,000 processing charges or the GST paid, whichever is higher as mentioned above.

Deferral Policy (Post Program Commencement): If a student is facing severe issues in dedicating time to the course, we provide the opportunity for the student defer to another batch. A student can request for deferral ONLY ONCE and to either of the scheduled cohorts to start in the next 1 year from the batch date of the initial batch the student enrolled for of the same program.

A student will be required to pay a deferral fee of 10% of program fees + ST. The deferral request will be approved once the deferral fees are paid.

Till this is completed, the student will be assumed to be continuing in the same cohort. A student will start learning on the new cohort from the point of leaving the deferred cohort. If, however, the deferral request is raised before the issue of login - 10% deferral fees will not be charged and the student will be deferred to the next scheduled cohort.

Deferral Policy (Pre- Program Commencement):

If a student, due to unavoidable circumstances is unable to commence with the cohort and requests for a deferral before the cohort starts, we provide the opportunity for the student to defer to another batch.

However, the student will be required to pay 50% of the total course fee amount (inclusive of taxes) before the deferral can be approved. Till this is completed, the student will be assumed to be continuing in the same cohort.

A student can request for deferral only once and to either of the scheduled cohorts to start in the next 1 year from the batch start date of the initial batch the student enrolled for.

The student has time till the current cohort launch date to make the payment of the 50% program fee, post which the deferral request will expire and the student will have to continue as part of the current cohort by paying the applicable program fees. If the student still does not wish to continue with the program, he has the option to withdraw, however, any amount of caution money paid will become non-refundable. (provided the 7 day refund period has passed)

The fee applicable to the deferred student will be as per prevailing fee for the batch student has opted to defer to (No additional deferral fee is required to be paid).