Big Data Industry Trends and Career Advice for Data Developers

I wrote an article over the weekend titled " ‘Big Data God Path – Fourth Edition Completed’ . At the end I briefly mentioned two points:

Major companies releasing Q3 earnings

The establishment of the national anti‑monopoly bureau

I have no intention of creating anxiety, and I strongly condemn organizations or individuals that exploit developers' fears for personal gain.

About the Financial Reports

The most obvious trend is a collective slowdown in advertising revenue for internet companies.

According to data from LatePost, Baidu’s Q3 advertising revenue was about 20.83 billion CNY, a year‑over‑year increase of only 4.2% and a month‑over‑month increase of 1.1%.

In 2020 Baidu’s ad revenue growth had been hit by the pandemic and competition, resulting in three consecutive quarters of negative growth before recovering in early 2021. The current slowdown is again evident, though Baidu’s management claims the impact on its marketing business is weaker than that on peers.

Tencent’s Q3 network ad revenue grew just 5% year‑over‑year to 22.495 billion CNY, with media ad revenue on Tencent News falling 4% to 3.5 billion CNY.

Alibaba’s Q3 FY2022 revenue reached 200.7 billion CNY (+29% YoY). Excluding the impact of the high‑growth retail merger, the growth rate drops to 16%, the lowest since its 2014 IPO. Within its revenue structure, “domestic demand, globalization, and cloud computing” are the three strategic pillars, with domestic demand contributing the lowest YoY growth (31%) compared with globalization (41%) and cloud (33%).

ByteDance, one of the world’s largest advertisers, saw its 2021 revenue growth fall from over 200% in previous years to about 60%.

Bilibili, despite being less ad‑dependent, also felt the pressure: its Q3 ad revenue growth slowed from 200.6% to 109.9%, the lowest in four quarters.

Key industries such as education, gaming, and insurance faced stricter regulations from Q3 onward, sharply reducing ad placements. Education, which accounted for roughly one‑third of ByteDance’s ad revenue in 2020, saw K12 companies contribute about 70% of that segment.

About Developers Themselves

The audience is mainly data‑development engineers, with a few algorithm and backend engineers.

Business Side

Domestic markets for these companies have hit a ceiling; growth driven by traffic is ending, and low birth rates further limit expansion. Companies are now forced to look overseas, especially Southeast Asia and the Middle East, but many have struggled with internationalization, whereas some gaming firms (e.g., Genshin Impact) have succeeded.

Hiring freezes (HC) have become common. In data engineering, low‑level talent is abundant, but senior or expert‑level talent is scarce, leading to fierce competition among recruiters.

Why? Because data engineering is a severely uneven field: some can become senior architects in 3‑5 years, while many remain at junior or intermediate levels even after a decade.

Highly experienced developers can produce output equivalent to three‑to‑five junior developers, creating a “whip‑effect” where skill accumulation is non‑linear.

Many data engineers lack solid fundamentals, often unable to draw basic domain models or architecture diagrams, which becomes a critical weakness when business growth stalls and competition intensifies.

Data Platforms / Middle‑Office

Essentially, these platforms provide generic services to internal customers. When business growth slows, the boundaries between middle‑office and business blur, leading to conflicts and turning what was once an enabler into a bottleneck.

Different business lines evolve at varying speeds; C‑end new initiatives require rapid iteration, while platform upgrades are more cautious, often misaligned with business expectations.

Some teams consider “thinning” the platform—cutting staff and reallocating resources—though this can increase cost burdens for data platform teams.

What Should We Do

Balance Technical Breadth and Depth

When new opportunities arise, you need both breadth and depth to seize them.

Accelerate Out of the Junior Stage

New graduates enjoy high starting salaries, but the market is tightening; platforms are mature and require less brainpower, while regulatory pressure increases.

Focus on deep learning, avoid shallow “click‑bait” tutorials, and aim to leave the junior developer stage quickly.

Improve Soft Skills

Many engineers can write code but struggle to communicate clearly.

Boost Risk‑Resistance

Just as the 2019 COVID‑19 pandemic showed, weak economic resilience is dangerous.

Workers face tough times; keep pushing forward.