Becoming a Data Analyst in 2023: Requirements, Essential Skills, and Projected Salary

Studies by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics suggest that jobs in data analytics are expected to jump 25% by 2030. With increasing amounts of online data, the requirement for data analysts is also growing fast. Almost every industry is adopting data strategies to make better business decisions.

The high demand for data analysts has made it an attractive career option for many undergraduates and graduates. However, it becomes challenging to understand how you can enter the field, especially when you are from a different educational background.

You must understand the eligibility criteria and other requirements before you make a final decision. Even if you fit the eligibility requirements, you must ensure that you are interested in learning quantitative subjects, such as mathematics and programming.

A data analytics certification can help you kickstart your data analyst career. However, before enrolling, you must know about data analytics and how to kickstart your career.

What is Data Analytics?

Data Analytics is the process of driving meaningful insights from raw data by inspecting it. The analytics process includes various tools and technologies used for trend discovery, projection, and anomaly detection. The nature of this data can be structured, unstructured, or semi-structured. After the analysis, the data can be represented as graphs, charts, or pictorials using data visualisation tools.

Skilled professionals who analyse the data to derive useful information are data analysts. They collect, clean, and analyse data to improve business and policy decisions. Data analysts use their mathematical and programming skills to perform analysis of the collected data. After the analysis, they must be able to communicate their findings to the ones who make important business decisions.

Requirements to Become a Data Analyst

To become a data analyst, you must have a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. A degree in mathematics, statistics, programming, or other quantitative fields is preferred but is not a strict requirement. If you aspire to build a career in data analytics, you should be interested in learning these subjects.

Skills You Need to Learn

The following are some necessary skills to learn to become a data analyst:

• Fundamentals of Data Analytics: You should know what the data analytics field is all about and how it works for businesses. You must know the methods, processes, and tools used for data analytics.
• Mathematics & Statistics: Data analysts use several mathematical and statistical methods to analyse large datasets. You don’t need to be a mathematics expert, but you must learn key concepts like linear algebra, calculus, probability, statistics, etc.
• Programming Skills: A bit of technical knowledge is also required to analyse large data sets properly. You need to learn and be proficient in a few programming languages, including Python, R, and SQL.
• Familiarity with Data Analytics Tools: Data analysts use several analytical tools, such as Google Analytics, MS Excel, MS Power BI, Tableau, etc. You must be familiar with the data analytics tools which help you collect, manipulate, and analyse data better.
• Soft Skills: Data Analysts also need to have some additional soft skills, such as communication, problem-solving, presentation, analytical thinking, etc. You can develop these skills on your own by regular practice.

Future of Data Analytics

The number of internet users increased to 41% from 20% in the past few years and counting daily. With the users, the amount of data available online is also increasing every day, supporting the growth of the data analytics industry. Studies suggest that the demand for data analysts will continue to grow faster than other occupations in the medium term.

Businesses have experienced a great impact because of data analytics as it helps them make better decisions instead of working solely on assumptions. This is the main reason behind the constantly increasing demand for data analysts in every industry. All businesses, enterprises, governments, and regulatory bodies can benefit from learning from their data. Thus, almost every organisation requires data analysts.

Data analytics is changing the way businesses work. As per some research, 75% of companies will replace pilot experiments with big data strategies by 2024. The huge quantity of data is evidence that the future of data analytics is stable, and the field will continue to grow in the upcoming years.

Also Read: What Is Data Analytics & How It Can Help Your Career?

How to Become a Data Analyst?

A data analytics course gives you the right approach to becoming a data analyst. You can start by understanding the prerequisites to enter the field. Generally, there are no strict requirements. You just need to have a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. If you fulfil the eligibility criteria, you should try to understand the basics of data analytics, such as how the entire data analysis process works. Before moving forward to learn the skills, make sure that you are interested in the field.

As mentioned above, you need to learn a few skills to become a data analyst. These skills include mathematics, statistics, programming, knowledge of data analytics tools, etc. Without proper guidance, it becomes difficult to understand what topics you should learn and what not. This is where a well-structured data analytics course can help you.

Edvancer is one of the leading platforms for career-oriented learning in India. You can find the following data analytics courses at Edvancer:

• IIT Kanpur Advanced Data Analytics Certification (Ranked among the top 4 data analytics courses in India)
• Certified Data Analytics Specialist

Both these courses give you a comprehensive understanding of the data analytics field. These certifications cover Data Analytics in R, Data Analysis in SQL, Data Visualization in Tableau, and Python for Data Analytics. Along with the theoretical coverage, you get to develop practical skills by working on real industry projects.

The best thing about these courses is that you can choose to learn at your convenience. Edvancer gives you two learning options, including live online classes & self-paced learning, and you can choose any one of them.

Data Analyst Salaries in India

There is no doubt that data analysts are among the highest-paid professionals today. However, several factors impact the salaries of data analysts, such as the industry they are working for, their location, their job profile, and their total experience in the field.

Experience is one of the most important factors that influence the salary of data analysts. As a fresher in the data analytics field, you can earn up to Rs 4-6 lakhs per annum. However, with relevant experience, data analysts can easily make up to Rs 12 lakhs per annum or more based on their industry.

FAQs

The qualifications required to become a data analyst include:

• A bachelor’s degree
• Basic Domain Knowledge
• Essential skills, including mathematics, statistics, basic programming, and knowledge of data analytics tools & technologies.

Yes, data analysts must have basic programming knowledge. An in-depth understanding of R, Python, SQL, and data visualisation tools like Tableau may be required to become a data analyst.

Yes, learning Python is a must to become a data analyst. You don’t need to have a background in programming. But you must learn enough programming to support your analytics needs. You can do so even after your bachelor’s degree in any other discipline.

You should learn Python before R, as R can be challenging for beginners. But Python is easier to understand and requires less coding time.