How to Become a Data Analyst – 5 Career Tips

Data analytics jobs can be found in all kinds of industries, and there’s more than one way to land your first job in this high-demand field. Whether you are looking for freelance jobs or full time jobs, her are few tips to become a data analyst.

1. Get an Entry-Level Data Analyst Job.

Once you have gained some experience working with data and presenting findings, brush up her resume and apply for an entry-level data analyst job. Don’t be afraid to apply for jobs that you don’t feel 100% qualified for. Skills, portfolios, and enthusiasm for a role can often be more important than checking every bullet point on a list of qualifications. If you are still studying, contact your university’s Career Services for internship opportunities. Internships allow you to start gaining hands-on experience with your resume and apply what you learn to your job.

2. Establish a Clear Data Analysis Process

One of the fundamental parts of being a successful data analyst is establishing a clear process for your projects. This saves you the time and effort of ad hoc working on each project. Fully define the questions you are trying to answer and the goals of your data analysis project. Then, collaborate with data engineers and other data experts to gather relevant data for your project. The next step is to standardize collected data and remove inaccurate or irrelevant entries. Finally, apply data analysis techniques to understand data and find answers to questions. This step can take many forms depending on the question you are trying to answer. The nest step in this technical job is the final output should be ready in the form of data visualizations and resources that help others understand the insights you generate.

3. Communicate Your Findings

Once your analysis is complete, it is important to be able to effectively communicate your findings to others. An important part of this is to keep the reports simple and concise. While it may be tempting to show all of your findings, it is a good idea to condense your findings into one simple, easy-to-understand message.

For optimal communication, consider using carefully selected charts. These should be relevant to the core question and easy for your audience to understand. Summarize your findings to answer questions and draw conclusions that add value to your audience. This way you can avoid confusion and focus your message on the results of your analysis.

4. Peer Review of Data Analysis

Establishing an analytical peer review process is one of the best ways to ensure that your work is robust and accurate. Looking back at your analysis can help you spot potential mistakes and areas for improvement. When analysts review the analysis, they know the work is ready for presentation.

Peer review is especially important for less experienced data analysts. If you can get more experienced analysts to review your work, you can learn from their insights and comments. It also helps analysts in more technical roles working on projects that were previously largely the domain of data engineers.

5. Know When to Stop Analysis

The most important skill that is often overlooked is knowing when to stop analyzing. Specified endpoints are an important part of the data analysis process. Once this endpoint is reached, the analysis should be stopped and completed.

Without a clear end point, it’s easy to invent new questions and fall down rabbit holes that have nothing to do with the project. Further investigation may yield useful insights, but endless data analysis often fails to yield valuable results.

The last step towards being successful in a data analyst job is knowing when to stop. It is directly related to the first step in the data analysis process outlined above. It’s very difficult to know where to stop if you don’t know exactly what question you’re trying to answer. A well-defined question should give you a natural endpoint that doesn’t require further analysis.