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How to Become a Data Analyst from Scratch
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The ultimate learning path guide detailing all the skills, knowledge and training you need to become a business intelligence analyst
The businessdata has undergone a digital transformation.
First came computers, along with increased automation. Then the internet. And now we are living in the ‘smart’ era, characterized by increased interconnectivity, cloud storage and the Internet of Things (IoT).
One of the results of this seismic shift has been the increased production of data. We’re talking massive amounts of data produced every minute of every hour of every day, by businesses all over the world.
Our ‘big data’ society has created considerable benefits for managers and business owners, with the potential to discover business insights that were simply not possible before.
All this data has lead to a demand for people qualified and skilled enough to interpret it, analyze it and present insights to improve business performance.
That’s where data analysts (sometimes referred to as business analysts) come in.
What do Data Analysts do?
To put it simply, data analysts are responsible for analyzing and drawing insights from the data and resources that a business or organization uses. This can include internal, competitor or other third party data.
In general, data analysts engage in 4 main types of analysis:
- Business modelling — identifying market conditions, business direction and defining policies to suit
- Strategic planning — highlighting challenges, industry trends and the shifting needs of a company
- Process and workflow design — optimizing business workflows and standardizing them across the company
- Systems analysis — interpreting data to highlight areas where IT and tech systems can be improved.
There is a high demand for data analysts at the moment, and it’s growing twice as fast as other in-demand jobs in the USA. The picture is similar across the world.
Another good reason to consider a career as a data analyst is the impressive salary. Indeed and Google research show the average salary to be $92,467 in the USA. Also worth considering is the fact that the more value you can add to a business in terms of skills and knowledge, the more you can earn. Which makes sense when you realize that data insights have the power to considerably boost productivity and profits.
So, how do you become a data analyst and take advantage of the favorable employment opportunities? This complete guide will walk you through the steps you need to take.
Steps to Becoming a Data Analyst
1. Get Qualified
Most Data Analyst (Business Intelligence Analysts) positions require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a business-related field such as administration, accounting or finance. Degree courses in information's systems or STEM subjects are also accepted by many employers.
However, a bachelor’s degree may not be enough to land a job on its own. You’ll also need to demonstrate some specialist skills to stand out amongst the other candidates. This could be in the form of a master’s degree in a relevant subject - Master of Science in Business Analytics for instance.
An alternative way to gain qualifications and demonstrate skills is to enroll on specialist e-learning courses. More and more employers are recognizing and valuing these qualifications, as they realize that the level of highly-focused knowledge and skills obtained through e-learning can be beneficial to their business.
2. Develop Skills and Knowledge
As previously mentioned, to further your skills and knowledge you can enroll on a master’s degree course that will teach you most of the general things you need for the role. An increasingly popular route is to study online or e-learning courses to gain more focused skills.
Most employers specify the following skills for data analyst positions:
- Computing skills - Proficiency with MS Office software, especially Excel. May include programming languages and frameworks such as SQL, c#, Java, Oracle, etc.
- Analytical skills - The ability to interpret and analyze data to highlight problems or areas for improvement in the operations or processes of a company.
- Research skills - Critically evaluate reports and documents to inform analysis. Observe operations, and interview employees and stakeholders within a business to gain valuable insights.
- Organizational skills - Able to collate and keep track of large amounts of data and information. They must also organize their time well and prioritize tasks effectively.
- Problem-solving skills - Identify the problems within a company, then work on devising potential solutions drawn from research and data.
- Communication skills - Data analysts must demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills. They will be expected to write reports, action plans and present insights in a clear way, as well as attend meetings and give presentations.
- Negotiation skills - Data analysts will often find themselves in disagreements over the necessity of taking certain business actions or making pivotal decisions. The priority of actions may also be a contentious issue within a company. The dataDa analyst is expected to negotiate, and possibly mediate, with various parties, and present their findings in a clear way to resolve disagreements smoothly.
3. Gain Work Experience
Work experience is a crucial part of becoming a data analyst, and landing that first job.
If possible, it’s a good idea to try and get some work experience alongside your studies. This means finding part-time paid or intern work within a company, or volunteering to help non-profit and charity organizations.
Alternatively, another way to gain experience is to enroll in courses that include workshops in which you work on real-life projects. This will allow you to focus on developing specific skills. SuperDataScience offers a range of practical workshops that will boost your skills and work experience level.
Here are some examples of the types of activities that qualify as good work experience for a data analyst:
- Analyze business data to identify cost saving opportunities - A major role of a data analyst is to find ways to reduce costs or highlight new opportunities.
- Evaluate IT systems and highlight improvements - Most businesses understand the need to stay up-to-date with technological change and rely on data analysts to find areas for optimization.
- Evaluate current business systems and devise strategic plans - By analyzing business data and industry trends, then drawing conclusions, the data analyst can help direct companies to the most profitable opportunities.
Make sure you don’t pass up any opportunities to develop your experience level and build a strong portfolio of successful projects, regardless of how big or small.
SuperDataScience workshops provide the ideal way to practice skills, develop work experience and record it all in a professional portfolio. Click here to find out more about our courses and how they can help you develop a successful career.
Specialist Data Analyst E-learning Courses
The skills required to become a successful data analyst are highly specialist and constantly evolving. If you embark on a career in business intelligence, you’ll need to continually update and renew your skills and knowledge.
Fortunately, SuperDataScience offers focussed courses that help you to start your career in the right way and stay fully up-to-date throughout the following years.
It doesn’t matter what level you’re currently at, we have courses to suit your needs.
Our stated aim is to make complex subjects simple to learn.
Ultimate Learning Path
Our unique Ultimate Learning Path will guide you every step of the way to becoming a fully qualified data analyst. You’ll learn all the knowledge and skills you need, and practice those skills in a wide-range of workshop activities.
It’s a convenient and focussed way gain similar experience to a master’s course in a fraction of the time.
You will become a specialized data analyst with certificates and a professional portfolio to prove it.
Let’s take a look at some of our most popular data analyst courses and how they can help you in your career.
Data visualization is a key aspect of business analysis.
This course will allow you to use Tableau to identify patterns in data such as sales trends, customer buying behavior and production bottlenecks, amongst others.
By the time you’ve completed this course you’ll be able to:
- Take raw data and import it into Tableau
- Analyze, blend and join data within Tableau
- Create revealing, interesting and even beautiful data visualizations
- Present your findings to key decision makers in a clear and effective way
No data analyst can afford to be without Tableau skills these days, as it is one of the most powerful ways to interpret and analyze all forms of business data.
Microsoft Excel is more than just a simple spreadsheet tool.
In the hands of an experienced data analyst, Excel is a powerful resource that can be used to extract valuable business insights by visualizing raw datasets.
This course goes in-depth into the types of graphs and charts you can create, when to use them and how to generate them. You’ll soon be creating dynamic and exciting data visualizations such as:
- Bar and column charts, Histograms & Pareto charts
- Line charts & trend lines, Area charts, Pies & Donuts
- Scatter plots & Bubble charts
- Box & Whisker charts
- Tree Maps & Sunbursts, Waterfall & Funnel charts
- Radar & Stock charts
- Heat maps, 3-D Surface & contour charts
- Choropleths & Geospatial maps
- Custom combo charts & graphs
- Sparklines, Plus, much, much more…
You’ll complete more than 12 workshops that will give you hands-on experience of working with real-life data and how to present it in ways that will maximize business performance.
Microsoft Power BI is an important tool for data analysts as it is geared up to provide data visualizations and insights for businesses. On this course you’ll master:
- How to connect datasets to Power BI
- Data calculations, trend analysis and forecasting
- Presenting data visualizations such as histograms and brick charts
- Data aggregation to provide incisive summaries
- Using granularity to ensure accuracy
By the end of the course you’ll be able to use Power BI to answer complex questions, visualize data clearly and provide decision-makers with exactly the level of information they need to make accurate decisions.
If you want to take your Tableau skills to the next level - this is the course for you.
You’ll discover how to create data visualizations that will both impress and inform key decision makers. The skills you’ll learn will make you a big asset to any company that is looking to harness the power of data to improve business performance.
By the end of the course you’ll be able to:
- Use groups, sets and table calculations to boost your work efficiency 10x
- Data mine and perform in-depth analysis in Tableau
- Create impressive and informative animations
- Plus much, much more…
The skills you learn in this course will position you as a data expert, with data science and analysis skills to turbocharge business performance.
Tableau 10 is the number one business intelligence tool that will make your data visualizations stand out from the crowd. But, without the correct tuition, it can be complex to learn.
Fortunately, this course takes you through every step to mastering this software and using it to your advantage when creating business insights. You’ll learn expert skills such as:
- Using Domain Padding and Data Desensification
- Creating Viola and Hexbin Charts
- Performing advanced table calculations
- Creating Sankey Diagrams
- Plus much, much more...
If you want to get to the highest levels of business analysis, then mastering Tableau 10 data visualizations is a must. This course will get you there in the quickest time possible.
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