Big data is the buzzy term for a new kind of software that analyzes large volumes of data.
It can handle massive amounts of information in all sorts of formats -- tweets, posts, e-mails, documents, audio, video, whatever.
There are a growing number of technologies that make up the "big data world" including all sorts of analytics, in-memory databases, NoSQL databases, Hadoop and so on. Startups, big tech vendors, companies big and small are all jumping on the big data craze.
Pay for big data-associated jobs has climbed 9.3% over last year, Dice says. It has nearly 35,000 job listings for it.