What Is a Data Analyst?
Data analyst is a broad term for someone paid to analyze data and create insights that viewers can act on.Skilled data analysts are some of the most sought-after professionals in the world.
Because demand is strong and the supply of people who can do this job well is limited, data analysts command higher-than-average salaries and perks, even at the entry level.
Data analyst jobs can be found throughout a diverse mix of companies and industries.Some top jobs in data analysis involve using data to make investment decisions, target customers, assess risks, or decide on capital allocations.
Key Takeaways
– The role of the data analyst has become increasingly important since the early 2000s, with employment opportunities in industries ranging from
financeto marketing to social media.
– In addition to knowing your way around computers, data analysts must also be well-versed in statistical methods and models.
– Big data and machine learning are among the cutting-edge applications of data analysis.
What Do Data Analysts Do?
Data analysts take mountains of data and manipulate it to
spot trends, make forecasts, and extract information to help their employers make better-informed business decisions.The career path you take as a data analyst depends in large part on your employer.
Where Do They Work?
Data analysts work on
Wall Street at big investment banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms.
They also work in the healthcare industry, marketing, and retail.In general, data analysts are everywhere.
You can also find them in almost every industry—large insurance companies, credit bureaus, technology firms, banks, and manufacturers.
Tech companies such as Meta and Google analyze big data to a dizzying degree.To do so, they employ many of the top data analysts for various purposes, including advertising, internal analysis, and a great deal of user analysis.
At
financial institutions such as investment banks, the management track is the most common career path analysts take from the entry-level.
Data Analyst Qualifications
Education
Graduating from a data analysis program, particularly if you have a strong grade point average and a high ranking in your class, should lead to an entry-level data analysis position without much trouble.
Even a less-focused degree in mathematics,
statistics, or economics from a reputable university is enough to get your foot in the door.
Most colleges in the United States offer data analytics or data science as both a major and a minor.Beyond the bachelor’s degree, there are also a vast number of data science master’s programs.
If you are interested in building your skills in a more flexible or shorter timeframe, multiple certification programs and courses are available from various educational institutions.
Skills
Overall, data analysts usually have a dynamic skill set.They are good at working with numbers and details.They are also confident and organized in managing multiple tasks, data programs, and data flows.
Data analysts usually are required to have strong presentation skills as they are typically asked to present their analysis orally or visually regularly.
Experience
Experience can come from working as an entry-level analyst or in a related field, such as
investment analysis.However, education is often the most important thing on your resume when applying for a data analyst job.Few people get hired without solid academic performances in math-related fields of study.
Data Analyst Career Paths
Below is a list of the many different roles you may encounter when searching for or considering data analysis.
– Business analyst: Analyzes business-specific data.
– Management reporting: Reports data analytics to management on business functions.
– Corporate strategy analyst: Analyzes company-wide data and advises management on strategic direction.
This role may also be focused on mergers and acquisitions.
– Compensation and benefits analyst: Usually part of a human resources department that analyzes employee compensation and benefits data.
– Budget analyst: Focuses on the analysis and reporting of a specified budget.
– Insurance underwriting analyst: Analyzes individual, company, and industry data for decisions on insurance plans.
– Actuary: Analyzes mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates to create probability tables, risk forecasting, and liability planning for insurance companies.
– Sales analytics: Focuses on sales data that helps to support, improve, or optimize the sales process.
– Web analytics: Analyzes a dashboard of analytics around a specific page, topic focus, or website comprehensively.
– Fraud analytics: Monitors and analyzes fraud data.
– Credit analytics: The credit market offers a vast need for analytics and information science in credit reporting,
credit monitoring, lending risk, lending approvals, and lending analysis.
– Business product analyst: Analyzes the attributes and characteristics of a product as well as responsibile for advising management on the optimal pricing of a product based on market factors.
– Social media data analyst: Social media and growing tech companies rely on data to build, monitor, and advance the technology and offerings that social media platforms rely on.
– Machine learning analyst: May work on various aspects, including data preparation, data feeds, analysis of results, and more.
Data Analytics Career Outlook
Jobs in the data analytics sector are plentiful, salaries are high, and the career paths you can take are abundant.Data analytics offers a wide variety of opportunities across industries and corporate levels.
Some of the top jobs in data analysis can reach nearly $100,000 right out of college.Experienced professionals can earn much more.
Here are a few of the types of analysts, their latest pay information, and the job outlook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Financial Analyst
– Average hourly wage: $45.95, ranging from $28.34 to $81.70
– Average annual salary: $95,570.
– Highest paid location: New York, with an average hourly wage of $67.73.
– Growth: The BLS expects this class of workers to grow at a faster-than-average rate of 9% through 2031.
Market Research Analyst
– Average hourly wage: $30.73, ranging from $18.40 to $63.39
– Average annual salary: $78,880
– Highest paid location: New York
– Growth: The BLS expects this class of workers to grow at a faster-than-average rate of 19% through 2031.
Management Analyst
– Average hourly wage: $50.32
– Average annual salary: $104,660
– Highest paid location: New York
– Growth: The BLS expects this class of workers to grow at a faster-than-average-rate of 11% through 2031.
Is Data Analysis Easy or Hard?
This depends on many factors, such as your aptitudes, interests, education, and experience.Some people might naturally have the ability to analyze data, while others might struggle.
What Qualifications Do I Need To Be a Data Analyst?
In general, you’ll need to be good at math and science and have a degree that complements the field you want to specialize in.
Can I Be a Data Analyst Without a Degree?
It’s possible to be a data analyst without a degree if you can convince an employer you can do what they need.However, in a competitive environment like the job market, education, extra certifications, or experience can give you an edge above other applicants.
The Bottom Line
Data analysts work in a broad spectrum of industries, and it is likely to continue growing.
More and more companies rely on data to make decisions—data gathered by programs and technology.Artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to collect, sort, and present data.
However, technology has not yet evolved to the point where human involvement is unnecessary—all it can do is manipulate data as it has been programmed to do.Humans are still needed to interpret results and bring perspectives to information that machines cannot, so demand for data analysts will likely remain steady..
