private byte [] getColumnBytes() throws IOException {
byte [] lenBytesLen = new byte[4];
buffer.mark();
buffer.get(lenBytesLen);
CodedInputStream ins = CodedInputStream.newInstance(lenBytesLen);
int bytesLen = ins.readUInt32(); // get a variable unsigned integer length to be read
int read = ins.getTotalBytesRead();
buffer.reset();
buffer.position(buffer.position() + read);
byte [] rawBytes = new byte[bytesLen];