What Skills Will Make You Grab A Job As Data Analyst?

The business strategy of modern companies, regardless of their scale of operations, has primarily become data-driven. It naturally creates an increasing demand for talented individuals who can offer insights into the ever-growing pile of collected information.

This consistently high demand also ensures an equally lucrative data analyst salary. The average annual base salary of a data analyst remains comfortably over USD 79,000.

Thus, if you have chosen to pursue data analysis as a career, you are absolutely on the right track. And, to help you prepare better for what lies in store, here’s a list of the top seven skills that will help you grab a job as a data analyst.

1. Data preparation and cleaning

A data analyst has to retrieve crucial data from multiple sources and prepare it such that it’s ready to be categorically and numerically analyzed. It also involves dealing with inconsistent and missing data that might affect the analysis.

The immense significance of data preparation and cleaning stems from the fact that it’s mainly a problem-solving initiative.

As a data scientist, a lot of the work that you do would be based on data preparation and cleaning. Thus, if you’re focused on making it big in this field, this is one of the foremost skills that you need to acquire.

2. Data exploration and deduction

Now, you might be thinking: “isn’t deduction mainly what a data analyst does?” Well, deducing is actually a specific skill that you need to master as a professional in this field.

The demand for big data analytics has crossed billions. Keeping that in perspective, many highly sought-after business strategists and growth marketers, believe deduction and exploration to be a necessary aspect of a data analyst certification.

The ultimate aim of modern businesses is to find exciting connections or trends through big data analysis, such that it can bring value to the business.

3. A strong foundation in statistics

Having a clear idea about probability and statistics will take you far as a data analyst. After all, this knowledge is what guides your exploration and deduction, thereby aiding you to understand the data at hand.

Furthermore, a keen understanding of statistics helps in validating the analysis while making you stay away from logical errors and common mistakes.

The precise level of statistical know-how that you need varies based on the demands of your specific job role and the data you deal with. For instance, anyone working in a company that depends on probabilistic deduction needs a higher than usual understanding of the said areas.

4. Creating visual representations of data

The visual memory of humans is one of the strongest ones that they have. You can give people a massive spreadsheet full of numbers, and most of them would feel entirely at a loss.

But, when you create charts and plots using that same spreadsheet, it becomes understandable to anyone and everyone. They will even remember the deductions and comparisons made on those charts and graphs.

Moreover, data visualization in this manner also brings to light such trends that were not quickly discernible by looking at the numbers. Therefore, there is hardly any job role as a data analyst with some data visualization elements.

5. Delivering clear and precise reports

Being a data analyst, it’s your job to empower the company’s decision-makers to utilize data for making critical decisions. You will remove technical barriers and give them access to crucial data by creating reports and dashboards.

Such reports can be as simple as tables and charts with date filters. It can even take the shape of a huge dashboard, having hundreds of interactive data points that are automatically updated.

Once more, your job role will decide your part in creating such reports or dashboards. But, if you are planning to go ahead with this career choice, you will be making reports or elaborate dashboards at some point or the other.

6. A clear sense of domain knowledge

Domain knowledge refers to understanding the things that are particular to a specific company and industry that you’re a part of. For instance, someone working for an e-commerce store needs to have some understanding of the nuances of such online businesses.

On the other hand, a data analyst dealing with mechanical systems’ data has to know about such systems’ working mechanism.

This is the form of knowledge that will keep on changing from one industry to the other. Thus, you need to have the ability and desire to research and learn fast. After all, you need to understand what you’re analyzing to make sure that you do the job effectively.

Lack of domain knowledge will also leave ambiguities about the kind of reports or data connections the company is looking for.

7. Communication and writing skills

Your ability to communicate effectively in multiple formats will be one of the main tools in your arsenal. Good communication skills in areas such as listening, speaking, writing, and explaining will be instrumental in your success.

Let’s explain this further with an example. Suppose you’re in a kickoff meeting with some major business stakeholders.

Your cautious listening skills will be needed to understand the kind of analyses they’re looking for. Afterward, during the project, you will have to explain complicated topics to the company’s non-technical teams. Furthermore, you will have to write the deduction and recommendations in clear terms before submitting the report.

Thus, the soft skill of effective communication will come to your aid at every step. At the end of the day, even the best analyst needs to have the ability to explain her findings and convince others to take steps based on those findings.

Conclusion

The focus here was to show the skills that most data analysts would need to fulfill their job roles. As mentioned before, the specifics of the skills vary from one job position to another. Thus, not all of the skills discussed here would be needed for every single job.

Think of these skills as the fundamental qualities you need for your career as a data analyst. You will acquire more specific skills as you learn and grow as a professional.