HOW TO BECOME A DATA ANALYST

HOW TO BECOME A DATA ANALYST?

Data is the new oil of the modern era.

In the world of the internet, it's strenuous to keep a vet on  your data privacy. Every organisation crystal clearly relies on the data to make respective business decisions- which new products to develop , customer base , time slot of investment etc.

In almost all business firms , the job of the data analyst is to assign a numerical figure to all these significant business decisions which eventually results in the growth of the company. 

In the universe of technology, data has all the answers but the fulcrum is hitting the spot question

And this is the job of Data Analyst.

A data analyst collects, processes and performs statistical analysis on large datasets.  One of the core reasons why everyone is jumping onto the field of data is that they are highly paid.

Now let’s focus on the  point of the article!!!

Descriptive analytics examines what happened in the past: Monthly revenue, quarterly sales, yearly website traffic, and so on. These types of findings allow an organization to spot trends.

Diagnostic analytics considers why something happened by comparing descriptive data sets to identify dependencies and patterns. This helps an organization determine the cause of a positive or negative outcome.

Predictive analytics seeks to determine likely outcomes by detecting tendencies in descriptive and diagnostic analyses. This allows an organization to take proactive action—like reaching out to a customer who is unlikely to renew a contract, for example.

Prescriptive analytics attempts to identify what business action to take. While this type of analysis brings significant value in the ability to address potential problems or stay ahead of industry trends, it often requires the use of complex algorithms and advanced technology such as machine learning.

In a 2016 survey of more than 2,000 business executives, the consultancy PwC found that organizations find descriptive analytics to be insufficient for informed, data-driven decision making. As such, diagnostic and predictive analytics are increasingly important to organizations.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA ANALYST AND DATA SCIENTIST

A data analyst apparently acts as a gatekeeper for a company or any organisation so that the stakeholders can understand the data and use it to make strategic business decisions. It is sheerly a technical skill which requires mathematical knowledge, computer modelling inputs and of course a degree which can be of Bachelor's or of the Master's.

DATA SCIENTIST:

Data Scientist is actually the next step in the working arena of Data Analyst. Data scientist takes the data visualization created by the data analysts a step further, sifting through data to identify trends and opportunities for the organisation. But in a way , here as well, the skillset which is required is overlaps with that of a data analyst such as math or computer sci

   HOW TO BECOME A DATA ANALYST?

EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS TO BECOME A DATA ANALYST:

There are flurry and volley of roadmaps to reach your goal of Data Analyst. But you need to choose one. This path depends on the person who's willing and wishing to hit his career

- DEGREE: First and Foremost, you need to have a bachelor's degree ,say B.Tech or B.E in any field, although a Computer Science B.Tech degree gives you an edge.

You can also have a bachelor's degree in Data science as it will instill and imbibe a chunk of skills required to collect, analyse and interpret large amounts of data.

SKILLS REQUIRED:

 

- PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: Any technical job demands you to know a particular language associated with the job.  Data analyst should be proficient enough in either R or SAS which will eventually advocate your job of data cleaning, statistical analysis and data visualization.

 

-ANALYTICAL THINKING

This is by far the most explanatory skill required to become a data analyst.

This is the ability to analyse and interpret large amounts of data. It's critical and crucial to look at the data and problems with analytical and creative lenses.

 

-DATA VISUALIZATION:

 

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data. By using visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data.

Effective data visualization takes time and error. It's never easy to be superfluous and virtuous in Data visualization as it involves what types of graph to use, where to use histogram,tree structure or pie chart for that matter. In order to make it look good, you need to make it interactive which is essentially and effectively a brainstorming task to do.

 

COMMUNICATION:

They say ,"YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD STORYTELLER".

This is a skill which the majority of the crowd underestimate and undermine. It's absolutely fair and square that you are the best in terms of skills required in data analysis but until and unless you don't convey to your audience, say to the executives or to your Boss , all your skills will be boiled down to vain. You need to translate your understanding of data into quantified insights for a non-technical team which is helping you to complete your task.

 

SQL:

Standard Query Language : it’s actually a database .SQL databases are relational databases with structured data. Data is stored in tables and a data analyst pulls information from different tables to perform analysis.

ADVANCED MICROSOFT EXCEL:

You might think excel is something which you know really well as it visualises just  like a spreadsheet. But remember,  in data analysis, Appearance can be Deceptive. You must understand advanced modelling and have the knowledge of analytics techniques in Excel.

 

MACHINE LEARNING:

It's really lethal and handy if you have the knowledge of Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning. It will give you an edge in terms of analysing the dataset.

In a nutshell, Key Responsibilities of a Data Analyst is :

- using advanced computerised models to extract data needed.

- removing the error and corrupted data 

-performing initial analysis in terms of determining the quality of the data and performing final analysis to provide additional data screening and ultimately presenting the reports on it.

SALARY STRUCTURE

The average annual salary of a data analyst can range from approximately $60,000 to $138,000. According to the sites’ job listings, roles at financial and technology firms tend to pay higher than average. In any corporate sector, particularly in the field of IT ,salary structure gets hiked along with the experience, performance and skill which you acquire as per the demand of the current market scenario.

SHOULD YOU BECOME A DATA ANALYST

After reading all the skills , responsibilities and the roadmap on how to become a Data Analyst, the ultimate question arises

"Should you become a Data Analyst"?

Well, the answer is yes as it upgrades ur skills in terms of working arena and fills you with a whopping sum of money  and it keeps on hiki and over and above, it improves your character.

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Data Analyst is one of the sexiest and demanding jobs of right now and future too.

You'll be ruling the universe of Technology as a winner in terms of income and skills.

There are many scopes such as integrating data analytics  with augmented analytics because it can scrub raw data for valuable parts for analysis, automating certain parts of the process and making the data preparation process easier.

Hence , A DATA ANALYST who must turn data into information and information into insights for others to understand.