Top Data Analyst Skills You Need to Get a Job

Data analysts are one of the top jobs in demand, with a continuous increase in salary rates as companies continue to hunt for data analysis talents.

Not only are they in demand with competitive salaries, but they enjoy perks like remote work, and paid vacation trips.

According to the U. S National Bureau of Statistics, there is a high demand for data analysts and that demand is increasing every year. Data analysts might even make around $59000 to $167,000 a year.  When they get promoted, they make an average of $95000 a year. 

What is a data analyst?

A data analyst retrieves data and uses the details for a particular task. Just like a web developer or a software engineer, a data analyst is another career in tech.

A data analyst collects, cleans, manipulates and analyzes data collected.

Simply put, a data analyst is someone who works with data, either by producing or reproducing the data.

What sort of data is collected by a data analyst?

Some examples might include:

• How many homes do not have access to electricity in a community?
• How many children have dropped out of school in a particular state?

Why?  One reason might be improving a product. 

For example, Facebook might want to find out the why and how to improve Facebook and improve it for people.

So a Facebook data analyst would collect data of young people who use other social media apps but do not use Facebook, analyze the data and present it to the Facebook team for improvement.

What do you need to do if you want to become a data analyst? 

There are two types of skills you need, namely, technical skills and soft skills. 

Technical skills are the abilities, knowledge or expertise you need to perform specific, job-related tasks. Without them, you can’t do the work.

Soft skills are the abilities you have to build a good relationship with the people in your workplace. These are the skills that will help you keep your job and even get promoted as 

A popular saying goes “soft skills get little respect but will make or break your career”.

Top technical skills new data analysts need

• SQL (Structured Query Language):- is a language used to collect data from databases. It is like an advanced version of Excel. 

It can query and compile large data that other spreadsheets cannot compile. Because of the high efficiency of SQL, it is one of the key requirements in job posts.

Data analysts with a knowledge of SQL have a higher chance of getting a job than others. Check out our SQL course if you want to start learning it.

• Data Visualization:- As a good data analyst, it is important to represent your data using graphs and other illustrations.

Humans are visual creatures. If you wish to make it easier for business decision-makers and colleagues on a team to understand your findings, you need to use graphical illustrations like charts. 

Data analysts use data visualization tools like Matplotlib to create charts and graphs to explain data findings.

• Python:- Python is a programming language used by data analysts to analyze large, complex data sets. 

Python is a key to getting hired. This skill is an industry standard that is required in most job postings. 

The language has useful libraries that could be useful in predicting accurate analysis. Python is easier to learn than other coding languages. That’s why it’s usually the first language learned by students looking to jump into data analysis. 

For absolute beginners, we have Python For Beginners course that will give you the basic knowledge of fundamentals in python, and you can build fun python projects with it.

For intermediate level, we offer Python Core course that covers important in-depth topics in python and strengthens your python skills.

For the advanced level, we offer Python For Data Science. With this course, you will learn statistics, data manipulation, data visualization and build fun data projects.

• R: This is another important programming language used by data analysts. Unlike Python, R was designed for statistical programming and used to compute and analyse data.

R has data commands pre-built in it by default, and it also has useful libraries that make it easier to use in cleaning and manipulating large data sets. 

To learn R today, check our R learning course.

• Machine learning With Data:- This is a branch of artificial intelligence used in training models.

AI is used for making accurate predictions and analyzes.

Pretty much every big organization uses machine learning tools to deal with data. Since it’s so useful, as the technology continues to advance, it’ll be used more and more.

While machine learning is not compulsory (yet) to add to your data analyst skills, it might be what gets you your dream job.

To get started in machine learning, you can check our machine learning in data science course.

What are the top soft skills you need? 

• Critical thinking:  This makes you innovative, improves your creativity and gives you different options/ways to apply logic in solving a problem. Being able to make sense of contending thoughts, having to decide which idea is the best in that scenario.

As a data analyst, you should need critical thinking when collecting and interpreting data. 

• Communication:

If you can’t effectively share your findings, it won’t matter if you are the most technically skilled data analyst in the room.

A good data analyst should be able to communicate accurate findings and analyzes to their team, so they can understand and implement them.

• Team Player:

A data analyst should be able to have a good relationship with their team members. Collaboration, appreciating of each input by a member and effective communication will promote productivity in the team. Making them successful in their tasks.

This skill will ensure that the data analyst keeps their job, and they stand a chance of getting promoted as well.

Think you might want to become a data analyst?

We offer certified courses in languages that you need to become a data analyst, which would help you stand out in the job market. We have a community where you can connect with other data analysts and build your career.