Every time you open an app or click an ad, you generate data. With this enormous data volume created every second, companies often get confused about how to process, manage, or leverage this chunk of information. In such a situation of unreliability, data analysts come to their rescue.
Data analysts help in reviewing large volumes of data to identify usage patterns. They help businesses transform themselves in the competitive market space with accurate insights facilitating the decision-making processes.
Harvard Business Review had termed the job role of data analysts as one of the exciting and flourishing jobs of the 21st century (Source: Harvard Business Review). Given the extreme demand for data analysts across all organisations, ranging from healthcare to financial firms, building a career as a data analyst might open several promising opportunities for you.
Are you a fresher starting into Data Analytics or switching your career and want to know more about building a successful career as a Data Analyst? If yes, then you have arrived at the right place. This blog will give you some foundational insights on the courses, skillset, responsibilities, and university programs for building a career as a Data Analyst in India and abroad!
What Are the Responsibilities of a Data Analyst?
A typical day-to-day responsibility of a data analyst includes crunching numerical data from various sources, identifying trends and patterns using a definite set of algorithms and techniques, and taking critical decisions while keeping in mind the customer demands and present market scenario.
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These decisions help organisations with the right investment choices, understand customers’ behaviour, and plan their future capital allocation. It also helps to mitigate and foresee any potential risks to the company.
Thus, if you love playing with numbers and carving a meaningful story with them, being a data analyst might be the best for you!
What Are the Skills Required to be a Data Analyst?
A successful data analyst needs to have an umbrella of skills – good with numerical techniques to a good communicator! Here we have carefully curated some of the top skills required to be a good Data Analyst.
1. Technical Skills
- Data Visualization Tools – It is necessary to use data visualisation tools to convey identified data patterns interactively. With graphical charts and graphs, you can present your complex insights intuitively. Excel may only help you up to a known limit, but tools like Tableau, PoweBI, Plotly, etc., can help you develop highly classified dashboards without investing much technical knowledge.
- Programming – To run complex statistical functions or to manipulate data, you need programming skills to achieve so. Basic SQL knowledge may be required to query and identify data relationships. A more general-purpose language, such as R or Python expertise, may be needed for more complex operations.
- Machine Learning – Working with structured and unstructured data might require extra technical skills to extract the insights. Machine learning may help gather intelligent solutions in a rapid environment aiding you to produce reports and respond faster with various techniques such as Regression, Decision Trees, PCA, Genetic Algorithms, etc.
2. Soft Skills
- Attention to Detail – The job of a data analyst involves cleaning, managing, and transforming data. A rookie mistake may produce an opposite result as intended initially. Therefore, analysts should focus and pay attention to detail in every step.
- Critical Thinking – One of the essential soft skills of a successful data analyst is Critical Thinking. It is not an innate quality, but one can polish this skill with experience and clarity on how you perceive a business problem.
- Communication – Exemplary communication skills, both written and oral, are crucial for a data analyst to share his valuable insights in an engaging tone with the stakeholders. Collaborate effectively with your developers and clients, provoking them to ask the right question at the right time!
How to Become a Data Analyst?
Now that you have a brief overview of what the job of a data analyst looks like and the necessary skill set needed, you may consider taking a few courses or rather a degree program to kickstart your career as a successful Data Analyst.
We have curated a few popular Data Science Courses and UG Degree Programs for aspiring students in this field. Data Analytics certifications are highly coveted these days and can land you a job in a short period!
Courses & Certifications
You may watch free online videos on YouTube to overview what data analytics is. Still, to boost your career and highlight your resume, you must complete a certification in data analytics.
Below are some of the top recommended courses and certifications in the field of Data Analytics in 2022
- Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)
- Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate
- EMC Proven Professional Data Scientist Associate (EMCDSA)
- Cloudera’s Data Platform Generalist Certification
- IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
- Google Data Analyst Professional Certificate
- Springboard Data Analyst Career Track
- BrainStation Data Analytics Certificate
- The Data Science Course 2022: Complete Data Science Bootcamp (Udemy)
Degree
To better understand the concept, students can pursue data analytics as a minor along with their UG programs such as B.Tech or B.E. They can also pursue Data Analytics as an MSc specialisation.
1. Data Analyst UG Programs
- Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
Course: B.Stat Hons., B.Math Hons.
- UPES, Dehradun
Course: B.Tech in Computer Science – Business Analytics and Optimization
Recommended Read: Data Science UG Programs: Know About the Universities
- IIT Bombay
Course: 5-year M.Sc. program in Mathematics
- Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai
Course: B.Tech (Specialisation in Data Science)
2. Data Analyst PG Programs
- Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
Course: Certificate in Business Analytics (CBA)
- IIM Calcutta
Course: Executive Program in Business Analytics
- IIT Kharagpur
Course: Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA)
- Praxis Business School
Course: Post Graduate Program in Data Science
- Cardiff University, UK
Course: MSc Data Science and Analytics
- University of Leeds, UK
Course: MSc Data Science and Analytics
Begin Your Data Analyst Journey Today!
The role of a data analyst is highly demanding and well paying. Knowing the major milestones in the journey to being a data analyst, you need to strengthen your basics and build some relevant projects first. Having a degree or a certification might boost your chances and help you land your dream job. To help you step up the career ladder in Data Science, join Mindler’s Career Counselling platform today!
Are you still confused regarding your decision to plan a career in this field; then you should join our ‘Virtual Internship Programs’ in ‘Data Science’ and get yourself upskilled and certified by Mindler and resolve all your doubts.
