Signs a Career as a Data Analyst is for You

A Data Analyst is responsible for gathering, cleaning, and studying data sets to help solve problems across business intelligence, data assurance, data quality, finance, higher education, marketing and sales sectors. Data analysts provide insight and analysis through clear graphical, written and verbal communication. Here are the signs you’d make a good data analyst:

You have…

• excellent numerical and analytical skills
• knowledge of data analysis tools – particularly Excel at entry-level
• knowledge of data modelling, data cleansing, and data enrichment techniques
• Hadoop open-source data analytics
• the ability to develop procedures and workflows
• the ability to carry out data quality control, validation and linkage
• an understanding of data protection 
• experience with statistical methodologies
• the ability to produce clear graphical representations.

You want to…

• develop records management processes
• identify areas to increase efficiency and automation of processes
• create and maintain automated data processes
• identify, evaluate and implement external services and tools to support data validation and cleansing
• produce and track key performance indicators
• develop and support reporting processes
• monitor and audit data quality
• liaise with internal and external clients to fully understand data content
• gather detailed business requirements
• design and carry out surveys and analyse survey data
• manipulate, analyse and interpret complex data sets
• prepare reports for internal and external audiences
• create data dashboards, graphs and visualisations
• provide sector and competitor benchmarking
• mine and analyse large datasets, draw valid inferences and present them successfully to management.

You don’t mind…

• occasional working outside of office hours on short-term projects
• mostly office-based work

Getting started

A degree, in one of the following subjects, is often looked for by employers:

• Business information systems
• Computer sciences
• Economics
• Information management
• Mathematics
• Statistics.

It may be beneficial to complete a postgraduate qualification in data science but short courses are also available.

Large companies often offer graduate schemes.

Search all data analyst jobs on our vacancies page.

Article source: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/data-analyst