Data Analysis is a branch of science which mainly deals with raw data. Although the role of a Data analyst is very specific, it may vary according to the company and how they handles its data.
In today’s business, where there is cutthroat competition staying prominent and ahead of competitors is not the only core area of work. Data Science provides provisions to keep an organisation ahead of its competitors.
Being a data analyst, you need to help your company or the organisation by simply retrieving the bulk data and using various algorithms and programs to make sense of that raw data known as information.
There are various skills that you need to master if you want to pursue your career as a Data Analyst. Some of these skills involve strong analytical abilities, including mastery of mathematics fundamentals, computer science, and relevant IT skills. Apart from all these skills, it would be best if you had business acumen also, and you must be goal-oriented and one who is proficient in various IT tools including working on databases.
Another important skill you may require is working on SAS (Statical Analysis System) or SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). This is a very rapidly growing field where opportunities are immense, always keep in your mind that if you want to enter this field you need to be very adaptable to the growing technology.
In today’s world, “Data” is given undivided importance. Being a Data Analyst, you daily have to deal with it, identifying patterns in it so that you can forecast, and by using various pictorial tools like Excel, and Tableau, you can communicate with the stakeholders and other teams in the organisation.
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Who is a Data Analyst?
A Data Analyst is a professional who uses data to make informed decisions and, in this way, they can help the company to be competitive, productive, and customer friendly. The data analyst works for an organization which collects data from various online databases, organise that data, and tries to generate meaning out of it by successfully managing it. To be a Data Analyst, you must have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or any related field like IT, Mathematics Stats etc.
To be a well-reputed data analyst, you need to have the following skills:
- Proficiency in Mathematics, especially in Stats.
- You must be very well-versed in MS Excel, especially when dealing with spreadsheets.
- You need to handle any amount of data, especially having proficiency in dealing with Big Data.
- You must have very good presentation and communication skills and some data presentation software like MS Excel and Tableau.
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How Can I Make a Career in Data Analytics?
I am sure that by now, you are pretty sure about opting for a career in Data Analytics. To be a successful Data Analyst, you should have a neck for technology, mathematics, and statistics. These basic things will act as a foundation for your career and eventually help you to understand how data is being captured, analysed, and represented.
Further, it is very important to have experience working with different computer and database languages like SQL and various platforms like Oracle DB, and MySQL. While you get comfortable working on these skills which will eventually help you to deal with original raw data and various complex aspects of the project.
These are not the only things that require you to become a Data Analyst. You should have excellent communication and presentation skills. These skills are very important as you need to convey the information to the other departments. They can make a well-informed and precise decision based on your findings.
Other important skills you need to master to be a successful Data Analyst
Proficiency in Data Science
The world around us is changing rapidly. The way things were done previously is not done in the same way. Traditional ways of doing business have taken a 360-degree turn as data is considered the most important thing to understand various business aspects.
More and more companies around the globe moving towards Data Analytics to have a better understanding by interpreting the data. Many sources create data as technological advancements people are investing most of their time over the internet.
Various types of businesses are being done online, though social media platforms are a major reason for staking all this data. Nowadays, people are doing online shopping, buying online educational courses, and making social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. Due to all these technological advancements, data is consumed and floated rapidly. Businesses around the world need to predict that data and generate information from it so that they can make well-informed business decisions.
This is the first and most basic requirement that I have shared with you that a company wants to include data science in their businesses. As a data analyst, you must be proficient in SQL Server, Python, SAS, and R.
Machine Learning
It is a technological advancement technique in which computers are enabled to learn automatically from past data. It uses different algorithms for building mathematical models. All these things are done to predict successfully or forecast the future.
Machine learning is used to improve the speed and accuracy of the analysis of data. The Data Analyst uses a huge amount of data from relevant different sources. By successfully utilising machine learning and algorithms, they want to compare historical trends with real-time data.
They may use Hadoop or Spark to develop custom algorithms. If you are interested in making a career in Data Analytics, you should miss the course that teaches you about machine learning and DBMS (Database Management System).
Data Visualization
To be a successful Data Analyst, you need to be proficient with a data visualization tool. As data is gathered in a pool, it is jumbled and does not make sense. Data Analyst uses various visualising tools to plot that data to extract meaning from it.
The importance of Data Analytics is not just to read the complex data but to successfully derive a meaning out of it is important. There are various data visualization tools some of them are:
- Tableau
- Dundas BI
- JupyteR
- Zoho Reports
- Google Charts
Conclusion
By far, you must have been convinced that the career of a Data Analyst is very bright. This branch of science is in huge demand these days. It requires you to be technically efficient, with data being your favorite thing. You also need good mathematical and analytical skills to correlate things better. You should also be a good communicator and presenter, you are not just liable to interpret the data but need to successfully represent and simplify that data so that others can make meaning out of it.