Long over are the days when those who handled big data worked solely as Data Scientists or Data Analysts. Staggering amounts of new data are being created every day, which has created a corresponding need for those with specialized training to find methods to make sense of it all so that patterns and insights can be found amid the numerical chaos.

In 2021, Glassdoor named data science as the second-most popular job in the U.S. The world of big data is rapidly evolving, and with this evolution comes a variety of new professions. These unique jobs find new ways to transform raw data into actionable insights for their business, team, or company.

If you are interested in working with big data but are thinking about pursuing a non-traditional job, the good news is that there are exciting options in nearly every sector. Here are ten of the most interesting non-traditional career opportunities in data analytics:

  • Cyber City Analyst: In order to ensure that urban areas are safe, Cyber City Analysts manage huge stores of urban data flows. Cities like Kansas City, MO, use pothole prediction technology to prevent the formation of potholes. Those working in this field make use of already-existing traffic cameras to gather data on traffic volume and pavement age, among other metrics. Anomalies such as weather, traffic accidents, and routine maintenance are also examined to predict when a portion of a given street may fail.
  • Roboticist: The field of robotics has been radically transformed by machine learning algorithms. It’s now possible for Roboticists to create algorithms that can be used to help robots acquire new patterns for behavior and even function semi-autonomously. Robots can then be used to fill in the gaps in manual labor supplies in fields like big agriculture, in which agrobots evaluate the ripeness of fruit to determine if it’s time to harvest.
  • Disease Mapper: This timely job focuses on making smart uses of available data on urban populations in order to forecast outbreak scenarios. Disease mappers focus on predicting diseases rather than responding to them. In order to do so, they create predictive epidemiological models that can anticipate the spread of infectious diseases. Chicago currently uses disease mapping with regard to food safety issues, such as foodborne illness.
  • Genetic Counselor: Many healthcare providers are looking to provide patients with customized treatments and medications. Genetic Counselors incorporate tools like Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) so that their patients can receive personalized care that’s tailored to their unique genomes.
  • Baseball Front Office Analyst: Those working in this field use a form of predictive analysis, to gather information on a variety of baseball-related topics, like pitch selection and player positioning. This form of advanced quantitative analysis involves applying a predictive model to help a team perform better. Each player is measured with regard to fielding, batting, and pitching abilities, which allows a team to make informed decisions about which players to scout for their team, based on their current team’s strengths and weaknesses. The Houston Astros worked with a Baseball Front Office Analyst in 2017 when they won the World Series.
  • Autonomous Transport Specialist: Computer-driven cars are becoming more prevalent on the roads. These vehicles have their own unique needs. Those working in this field focus largely on scenario-building to come up with proactive processes, which can ultimately be used to improve products, enhance customer safety, and increase overall efficiency.
  • Climatologist: This profession entails conducting research and offering predictions on the atmosphere pertaining to wind, temperature, and precipitation, as well as other naturally occurring climate events. Collecting information on these metrics helps Climatologists offer insights into the risks associated with events like floods and droughts, as well as how temperature may affect crops.
  • Clinical Data Manager: Those working in this field combine their knowledge of healthcare with a background in IT, and are tasked with collecting and disseminating data. Their daily work involves tasks like performing research and coordinating clinical trials. This leadership position is designed for those who wish to have a hand in the decision-making process of determining which methods are most appropriate for collecting data, and ultimately how to manage the project.
  • Psychometrician: This profession involves developing psychological instruments that can measure personality traits, intelligence, or specific skills. This process assigns values that represent the sorts and amounts of specific behaviors or attributes that describe a participant. Those who administer psychological tests are commonly referred to as Psychometricians.
  • Restaurant Data Analyst: Data analytics plays an important role in the food sector, especially for large restaurants that need simple ways to manage the large amounts of data they generate. Guests’ personal data, such as food allergies and preferences, can be collected using online tools such as reservations systems. In addition, restaurant performance analytics provide an overview of how a restaurant is performing and can be used for back-end decision-making. Competitive restaurants use data analytics for tasks such as sales forecasting, table turnover, customer profiling, and repeat customer trends, insights that are designed to increase revenue.

Whichever direction you ultimately select on your path toward a career in data analytics, the fact that data is everywhere means that there are many great options to choose from.

Hands-On Data Analytics Classes

An important first step toward learning more about data analytics is enrolling in one of Noble Desktop’s data analytics classes. These beginner-friendly courses are currently available in topics such as Excel, Python, and data science, among other skills necessary for analyzing data.

In addition, more than 130 live online data analytics classes are also available from top providers. Courses range from three hours to six months and cost from $219 to $27,500. Students can study from the comfort of their own home or office space and still receive industry-relevant data analytics training in topics like FinTech, Tableau, and Python Machine Learning.

Those who are committed to learning in an intensive educational environment may also consider enrolling in a data analytics or data science bootcamp. These rigorous courses are taught by industry experts and provide timely instruction on how to handle large sets of data. Over 90 bootcamp options are available for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students looking to master skills and topics like data analytics, data visualization, data science, and Python, among others.

For those searching for a data analytics class nearby, Noble’s Data Analytics Classes Near Me tool provides an easy way to locate and browse the 400 or so data analytics classes currently offered in the in-person and live online formats. Course lengths vary from three hours to 36 weeks and cost $119-$27,500.