So you want to become a data analyst? If yes, then currently, data analytics is a booming industry with a relatively high demand for data analysts. Still, entering a new field is intimidating, especially after the pandemic. Fortunately, this data analyst career is at its peak and considered as significant as ever. Also, it is predicted that by 2025 the market value worth will be $229.4 billion. In reality, the data market is rapidly growing, so the demand for a data analyst is growing.
Therefore, to stand apart from the line and want to discover the new opportunities in your data analyst career then this article is entirely a roadmap for you. In this article, we are not only highlighting the steps to become a data analyst but also a good overview of the data analyst.
Who is Data Analyst?
A data analyst is the person who manipulates, evaluates the data, and further discusses it with the organization to find opportunities and improvements. The data analyst is responsible for gathering, cleansing, transforming, and modeling the information into valuable forms. This data is further used in the decision-making process. Each piece of information is useful, and data analysts make the best out of it because it enables the organization to make impactful investment decisions, assess risk, decide capital allocations, and many more.
Steps to Become Data Analyst in 2022
To excel in the data analyst career, you need to possess specific skills to perform the task in the organization. Also, you can find the data analytics role in each sector, so there is more than one path to securing a job in this high–demand field.
If you are a beginner in the professional world or pivoting new career, here are some steps toward becoming a successful analyst:
- Acquire Foundational Education
If you are new in the data analytics world, obtaining data analytics certifications and developing foundational knowledge in this field is advisable. Getting in-depth knowledge of data analytics will help you decide whether to pursue a career or not and is it a good career choice for equipping with job skills.
Immerse yourself in data analytics and learn about the best tools and contexts. Grasp all the theories behind data analytics and learn how to apply them in real-life situations. The candidate required a bachelor’s degree to get an entry-level job this field. The certificates help you obtain the knowledge and enhance your resume with a degree in math, computer science, and other related fields.
- Work on Projects to Develop Data Analytics Skills
It is crucial to grasp command over data analyst tools to hold expertise in a data analyst career. Because the more versatile your skillset, the more you can work on challenging and transforming projects. Hence to work in a fast-paced data analyst world, you must update your knowledge with the latest tool associated with data analysis, including:
- Visualization tools like Tableau, Plotly, Matplotlib, and Bokeh.
- Spreadsheets and querying languages like SQL and XML.
- Programming languages that are commonly used like Python, Hadoop, and R.
- Built Visualization and Practice Presenting Them
Practice creating your visualization and look for the perfect approach that helps the data speak for itself. However, Microsoft Excel comes into the role-play at a very early stage, and it has remained useful for more than three decades and is inevitable in the data science field. But creating this visualization is just the starting.
The data analyst uses this visualization to show their findings, and for that, they require solid presentation skills. It is crucial to develop these skills, and if you don’t naturally have then improve with practice.
- Create a Portfolio Of Work
Building your portfolio is one of the most critical steps while making plans to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. While studying, you are working on many data sets or completing assignments, so save the best work for your portfolio. A strong portfolio creates a good impression in front of hiring managers and helps you get a good job.
While starting to curate work for your portfolio, pick the projects that present your ability to:
- Clean and normalize raw data
- Take actionable insight from data
- Scrape data from multiple sources
- Visualize the search from graphs, charts, maps, and other visualizations.
- Start Applying For Data Analyst Job
In data analysis, a vast selection of jobs is available, like data administrator, statistician, logistics, business analyst, and many more. According to McKinsey and Co., the demand for data analyst roles may exceed the estimated data supply by 50 to 60%, which means it is tough to fill these job positions. After you apply for the job, get ready to start giving an interview. Every company has its own interviewing process, so prepares with a unique answering style.
Conclusion
Data analysis is a highly lucrative and well-paid career. If you are interested in becoming a data analyst, you will need to learn advanced skills by earning the best data science certifications and working on data analysis projects. Your data analyst resume will stand out with some project experience and global certification that can help you land your dream job.
