The process of cleaning, inspecting, modelling and transforming the data into useful conclusions and clusters of information is known as data analysis. It has different approaches and methodologies. Data analyst is a professional who makes the raw data into accurate data. In simpler terms we can say that he transforms the original data to a form that is accessible by anyone. He solves all the problems associated with the data, their relationship with data elements and types of it within IT or Business Systems.
Roles and Responsibilities
Role of data analyst vary with the need or demand. It has various roles. Here are some of the very common roles that are played by him among many others.
He has to maintain and execute the statistical analysis of the data.
He has to trace and map the data so that it will solve the problems of business or business systems.
He has to authenticating the structure and type of business data to make it into effective use.
He makes the data reports accurately so that his reports will help business administrators to make the effective and well-structured decisions.
He mines the data to find out the relations between them and with their different elements.
Data analyst is very well educated and a professionally trained individual. He collects, organizes and analyses the data from different resources. One important part of his professional job is to have technically sound knowledge of reporting systems and data collection. He must be able to manage the system security and troubleshooting. While doing the collection of data and its resources, a data analyst must be completely aware of all the standards and regulations of that particular industry, area or market.
Data analyst can get engaged in making plans related to the future demands grounded on market or research positions. Often they get involve in researches of designing and reforming the data according to their theories and investigations.
Data analyst needs to have very strong technical background. As his main job is to make a proper design of the data, he collects raw data from different resources and by using his technical skills and abilities he can convert that raw data into useful and accurate information which can be used by business administrator in their final decisions.
Data analyst must have strong skills in mathematics and algorithms. They divide data into various parts. Some important parts of data analysis are data mining, initial analysis, main data analysis, and lastly the final data analysis. After applying all these processes into data analysis, accurate data is obtained for final use. They also make charts and graphs to stimulate the business. These professionals are mathematical prophets. They assist the business administrators on utilizing the data analysis reports for the future benefits of an organization. We can say that job of data analysis is highly technical and hence tough.
Qualification and Skills Required
Abilities and credential required
There are different skills and credentials that are mandatory to become a data analyst. He should have technological background. He must know how to analyse the market and market conditions. Graduation in any field of statistics also helps him in realizing his dream of being a good data analyst. He must be a master of statistics related software like SAS, EXCEL, Swindon and SPSS.
To be a good data analyst he must have expertise in mathematical and statistical problems. As we know his main job is to extract the unvalued data from the data that has been collected from various resources and to make it a valued one. So it is very important skill that he must have to remove the unvalued information from the data and give in return effective and usable information.
He should be able to make reports, audits and their validation. He should have an ability to clean, mine, warehousing and map the data. Finding out the trends and tracking the possibilities of the market is the main job of data analyst. He makes sure that whatever he finds should match the present and future demands of the market.
One more skill that is very necessary for data analyst is that he should have good written and verbal skills. A good presentation and interpretation skills make his career grow at a very fast pace.
Professional growth of data analyst
The growth of any professional depends on his ability and skills. His hard work and dedication towards his career and job are always rewarded suitably.
Professional growth of data analyst is on the faster side. Individual can start his career as a junior data analyst. In this profile he has to provide the accurate data to put it to use. He has to make flowcharts and diagrams in his first job.
After acquiring some knowledge and experience he can shift to higher level of senior data analyst. There he has to communicate with different customers or clients to give them appropriate and accurate reports that he and his subordinates have made.
After few years of experience he can move to senior positions and become data analyst project manager. In this profile his responsibilities increase greatly and so do the salaries and benefits.
So we can say that data analyst has a great future with an abundance of opportunities.
