03 Aug 2022

Which Are The Most Common Data Analysts Career Paths | Ekeeda

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Which Are The Most Common Data Analysts Career Paths

Data Analyst collects, cleans, and interprets data sets to derive answers to questions or solve a particular problem. They work in many industries such as business, finance, logistics & shipping, healthcare, banking, and even government bodies. It’s one of the most in-demand career fields. And Data Analyst job can throw open exciting career paths for you such as data science, management, consultation, and other fields. Join as a data analyst in any firm will be the first step toward a big data career. You will come in touch with industry experts, and professionals, understand organizations' data needs, and how to present valuable insights on potential data. So what happens once you get a data analyst job? Don’t worry, our blog intends to give you closer look at the most common data analyst career path that will help you dig deeper into the field and achieve new feats in life.

What Is Data Analysis?

Data Analysis is basically the process of deriving insights from data to make better data-driven decisions. The process of data analysis typically works around five iterative that include: identifying the data you wish to analyze, collecting the data, cleaning the data for analysis, analyze the data, and lastly, interpreting the result of data analysis to the team, and stakeholders & clients. While doing data analysis, you will often use a variety of tools that will make your work efficient and bring accuracy to it. Some of the most common industry tools for data analytics include: Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, SQL, Tableau, R, Java or Python, SAS, Microsoft Power BI, and Jupyter Notebooks.

Entry Level Data Analyst Jobs: How To Begin

If you’re new to the field, then it’s your first analytics job wherein the company will hire you for an entry-level role as a junior data analyst. In case, you have some previous experience that can be used in your job, then you’ll be offered a position as a mid-level data analyst. Before you apply for a data analyst job, you should achieve some core data analyst skills such as SQL, programming languages like Java, C++, R, or Python, data pre-processing, data visualization, structure and algorithms, data management, etc. Today, there are several online platforms that offer data science online training programs wherein the course structure is aligned to meet your data analyst goals. Find the one that meets your skills demands and start learning today!  So let’s see how to become a data analyst even when you don’t have prior experience or high degree in hand.

Some Common Data Analyst Career Paths

As you gain experience, you will come across several career opportunities in different verticals that will help you shape your future. Based on your career goals, and interests you can take a step ahead into fields such as data science, management consultation, or more. Amogst them, data science is the hottest field in the market. Experts predict there will be 11.6 million openings in the data science field by 2026 and this surely throws open a wide gateway for millions of data science aspirants to secure the best job roles in the market. Curious to learn Data Science? Read our blog: Data Science Skills, Education And Best Job Roles For Beginners and take a headstart on your career today!

So, now let’s discuss in a bit detail the four most common data science career paths you might opt for in the world of data:

Data Scientist

Heading at the top of the table is Data Scientists. And why not, today lot of data scientists take off as data analysts at the start of their careers. It typically involves roles such as: Advance your programming skills, gaining intense statistical and mathematical knowledge, and developing a better understanding of Machine Learning, Deep learning, Python essential for ML, data structures and algorithms, etc. Most data scientists will have a degree in data science, computer, or IT engineering. Although, a degree is not a necessity, having one means more job avenues and higher positions in the organizations.

Enroll in the Ekeeda Data Science Program and achieve the most in-demand skills now!

Data Management

Another common and exciting career path for data analysts is to get into the management section. You can start as a data analyst and later on advance in areas like senior level data analyst, data analytics manager, director role, and also as a CDO – Chief Data Officer. If this data analyst career path fascinates you, you will have to develop leadership skills, team player, communication skills, and presentation skills. In some organizations, a master’s degree in data analysis or MBA with a niche in data analytics will be required to achieve such higher-level positions.

Data Specialist

As a data analyst, you will work in various types of industries and different kinds of processes. Sometimes, you may get deeper into some verticals of data analysis, and also the industry that requires specialized knowledge on it such as financial analyst, health analyst, and system analysts. Here are a few specializations in data analyst work:

  • Being a business data analyst you will use the data to bring efficiency & effectiveness to the company’s IT process, company structures, or team development.
  • Similarly, financial data analysts will use data to help investors guide into opportunities, identify profit opportunities, mitigate financial risks, etc. 
  • If it's operational data analysts you will have to optimize the company’s performance by identifying & solving technical, structural, and procedural issues.
  • As a market analyst, you will analyze the recent market trends to help design product and service offerings, pricing, target audience, demographics, strategies, and more.
  • As a systems analyst, you will use cost savings analysis that will match the technological solutions for the company's requirements.
  • Health care analysts will use data from records, cost reports, and patient surveys to help health providers to improve their quality of care for customers.

Data Analyst Consultation

Once you’ve gained sufficient experience and are tired of years of brainstorming & data analysis under strict company policies, deadlines, last-minute meetings, and sacrificing all your social life, you can consider working as a data analytics consultant. Yes! Instead of being a labour in the company directly, you can start your own freelance data analyst work at a consulting company, and do analysis for various clients. Isn’t it exciting? So start learning today!  As a consultant, you will have more variety in the type of analysis you will perform, and get better flexibility, and time to enjoy life.

Data Analyst Salary: What's The Take Home

While entry-level data analyst jobs are also well paid in India, prospects look better and better as you gradually gain some experience and advanced job titles. The average salary for a Data Analyst is ₹4.5-₹5LPA. It varies from fresher to experience in a range of ₹3 Lakhs to ₹12 Lakhs based on the roles, experience, and skills you achieve in the long run.

Start your Career In Data Analytics

Data is everywhere; there are trillions of data floating around in the world. Skilled professional data analysts and data scientists are the need of the hours and the industry is calling you. Take the first step toward a career in data analytics with the Ekeeda Data Science Program. Learn from data practitioners from fortune 500+ companies. Clear doubts and attain knowledge through 1:1 classes and make the best career move. Get 100% placement assistance in top tech and start-ups like Brainvire, Ugam, Cabot, Cloudera, Datascope, Mu Sigma, IBM, December Labs, Accenture Analytics, BCG Gamma, Quantum Black, etc.

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