Springboard your Big Data career. Master fundamentals of NoSQL, Big Data, and Apache Spark with hands-on job-ready skills in machine learning and data engineering.

4.4

stars

92 ratings

Rav Ahuja +5 more instructors

4,329 already enrolled

Offered By

NoSQL, Big Data, and Spark Foundations SpecializationIBM Skills Network

What you will learn

Work with NoSQL databases to insert, update, delete, query, index, aggregate, and shard/partition data.
Develop hands-on NoSQL experience working with MongoDB, Apache Cassandra, and IBM Cloudant.
Develop foundational knowledge of Big Data and gain hands-on lab experience using Apache Hadoop, MapReduce, Apache Spark, Spark SQL, and Kubernetes.
Perform Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) processing and Machine Learning model training and deployment with Apache Spark.

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

9,155 recent views

Big Data Engineers and professionals with NoSQL skills are highly sought after in the data management industry. This Specialization is designed for those seeking to develop fundamental skills for working with Big Data, Apache Spark, and NoSQL databases. Three information-packed courses cover popular NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Apache Cassandra, the widely used Apache Hadoop ecosystem of Big Data tools, as well as Apache Spark analytics engine for large-scale data processing. You start with an overview of various categories of NoSQL (Not only SQL) data repositories, and then work hands-on with several of them including IBM Cloudant, MonogoDB and Cassandra. You’ll perform various data management tasks, such as creating & replicating databases, inserting, updating, deleting, querying, indexing, aggregating & sharding data. Next, you’ll gain fundamental knowledge of Big Data technologies such as Hadoop, MapReduce, HDFS, Hive, and HBase, followed by a more in depth working knowledge of Apache Spark, Spark Dataframes, Spark SQL, PySpark, the Spark Application UI, and scaling Spark with Kubernetes. In the final course, you will learn to work with Spark Structured Streaming Spark ML - for performing Extract, Transform and Load processing (ETL) and machine learning tasks. This specialization is suitable for beginners in the fields of NoSQL and Big Data – whether you are or preparing to be a Data Engineer, Software Developer, IT Architect, Data Scientist, or IT Manager.

Applied Learning Project

The emphasis in this specialization is on learning by doing. As such, each course includes hands-on labs to practice & apply the NoSQL and Big Data skills you learn during lectures.

In the first course, you will work hands-on with several NoSQL databases- MongoDB, Apache Cassandra, and IBM Cloudant to perform a variety of tasks: creating the database, adding documents, querying data, utilizing the HTTP API, performing Create, Read, Update & Delete (CRUD) operations, limiting & sorting records, indexing, aggregation, replication, using CQL shell, keyspace operations, & other table operations.

In the next course, you’ll launch a Hadoop cluster using Docker and run Map Reduce jobs. You’ll explore working with Spark using Jupyter notebooks on a Python kernel. You’ll build your Spark skills using DataFrames, Spark SQL, and scale your jobs using Kubernetes.

In the final course you will use Spark for ETL processing, and Machine Learning model training and deployment using IBM Watson.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 4 months to complete

Suggested pace of 3 hours/week

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online courses

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible Schedule

Set and maintain flexible deadlines.

Beginner Level

Approximately 4 months to complete

Suggested pace of 3 hours/week

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Learn more about Coursera for Business

How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 3 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Introduction to NoSQL Databases

4.6

stars

145 ratings

This course will provide you with technical hands-on knowledge of NoSQL databases and Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings. With the advent of Big Data and agile development methodologies, NoSQL databases have gained a lot of relevance in the database landscape. Their main advantage is the ability to effectively handle scalability and flexibility issues raised by modern applications.

You will start by learning the history and the basics of NoSQL databases and discover their key characteristics and benefits. You will learn about the four categories of NoSQL databases and how they differ from each other. You will explore the architecture and features of several different implementations of NoSQL databases, namely MongoDB, Cassandra, and IBM Cloudant. You will then get hands-on experience using those NoSQL databases to perform standard database management tasks, such as creating and replicating databases, loading and querying data, modifying database permissions, indexing and aggregating data, and sharding (or partitioning) data.

Course2

Course 2

Introduction to Big Data with Spark and Hadoop

4.3

stars

188 ratings

Bernard Marr defines Big Data as the digital trace that we are generating in this digital era. In this course, you will learn about the characteristics of Big Data and its application in Big Data Analytics. You will gain an understanding about the features, benefits, limitations, and applications of some of the Big Data processing tools. You’ll explore how Hadoop and Hive help leverage the benefits of Big Data while overcoming some of the challenges it poses.

Hadoop is an open-source framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using simple programming models. Hive, a data warehouse software, provides an SQL-like interface to efficiently query and manipulate large data sets residing in various databases and file systems that integrate with Hadoop. Apache Spark is an open-source processing engine that provides users new ways to store and make use of big data. It is an open-source processing engine built around speed, ease of use, and analytics. In this course, you will discover how to leverage Spark to deliver reliable insights. The course provides an overview of the platform, going into the different components that make up Apache Spark. In this course, you will also learn about Resilient Distributed Datasets, or RDDs, that enable parallel processing across the nodes of a Spark cluster.

Course3

Course 3

Data Engineering and Machine Learning using Spark

3.8

stars

79 ratings

Organizations need skilled, forward-thinking Big Data practitioners who can apply their business and technical skills to unstructured data such as tweets, posts, pictures, audio files, videos, sensor data, and satellite imagery and more to identify behaviors and preferences of prospects, clients, competitors, and others.

In this short course you'll gain practical skills when you learn how to work with Apache Spark for Data Engineering and Machine Learning (ML) applications. You will work hands-on with Spark MLlib, Spark Structured Streaming, and more to perform extract, transform and load (ETL) tasks as well as Regression, Classification, and Clustering. The course culminates in a project where you will apply your Spark skills to an ETL for ML workflow use-case. NOTE: This course requires that you have foundational skills for working with Apache Spark and Jupyter Notebooks. The Introduction to Big Data with Spark and Hadoop course from IBM will equip you with these skills and it is recommended that you have completed that course or similar prior to starting this one.

Instructors

Offered by

IBM Skills Network

IBM is the global leader in business transformation through an open hybrid cloud platform and AI, serving clients in more than 170 countries around the world. Today 47 of the Fortune 50 Companies rely on the IBM Cloud to run their business, and IBM Watson enterprise AI is hard at work in more than 30,000 engagements. IBM is also one of the world’s most vital corporate research organizations, with 28 consecutive years of patent leadership. Above all, guided by principles for trust and transparency and support for a more inclusive society, IBM is committed to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the refund policy?
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Can I just enroll in a single course?
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Can I take the course for free?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
The specialization requires 36-42 hours of effort to complete. Working 6-8 hours a week, it can be completed within 1-2 months. Working 3-4 hours a week, it can be completed in 4-6 months.
What background knowledge is necessary?
Basic computer literacy, a grounding in IT systems, working experience with one or more Operating Systems, and programming languages such as Python, data literacy skills, some knowledge of SQL, and a willingness to self-learn online. No prior knowledge of Big Data or NoSQL is required.
Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?
It is recommended that you complete the courses in the order in which they occur in the Specialization. Course 2 is a pre-requisite for Course 3.
Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?
University credit is currently not available for this Specialization.
What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?
Upon successful completion of the Specialization, you will have the practical knowledge and experience to start tackling Data Engineering tasks involving NoSQL Databases, Big Data and Apache Spark.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

Build employee skills, drive business results

Discover Coursera for Business

NoSQL, Big Data, and Spark Foundations Specialization

What you will learn

Skills you will gain

About this Specialization

Applied Learning Project