Data analytics is utilized by professionals within data science, business, finance, and marketing. Data analytics is used to make financial decisions, inform marketing campaigns, and optimize businesses.
Big data has become a major driver of employment and our economy. Data analytics is the most in-demand skill with the least amount of skilled workers in the U.S. and it’s projected to continue growing over the next decade.
When people think of using data analysis in a career they usually think of data science. Data Analysts, who process data to find useful insights, can be found in any industry that produces or makes use of data. This position focuses on gathering, processing, analyzing, and visualizing data for businesses, nonprofits, governments, or financial institutions.
Business Analysts, Marketing Analysts, and Digital Analysts are all specialized data analytics positions that harness data to reveal powerful insights into trends, customer choices, customer satisfaction, and marketing information. Business Analysts rely mostly on Excel while Marketing and Digital Analysts use Google Analytics, Excel, and Tableau in combination.
Financial Analysts and Investment Analysts analyze data to inform big decisions. They work with financial data, stock market predictions, and financial modeling. Analysts in the finance sector use Excel every single day. Some also use Tableau, R, Python, and SQL, but these skills are usually only required for jobs that are located in financial hubs or tech venture capital firms.
Research Analysts are found in the highest concentration within the finance sector, but they can also work in marketing and any other industry that utilizes market research and data analysis to make their decisions. They also use Excel but might learn more advanced technical skills, depending on the industry they choose to specialize in.
Learning more about data analytics is used in each of these positions can inform which career path you’d like to embark on. Learning data analytics techniques and software will open doors to a data analytics career. You’ll also need to learn more about data, data science, and the industry best practices for your particular focus to determine which skills and technologies you should learn.
Data Analytics Career Options
Here are a few career paths for which you’ll likely need Data Analytics skills in order to succeed. We also include additional info about their average salaries, their day-to-day responsibilities, and a link to learn more about each career.
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Digital Analyst
Indeed.com Avg. Salary
$88K / year
Glassdoor Avg. Salary
$75K / year
Digital analysts work with a marketing team to analyze the effectiveness and reach of digital marketing campaigns. They use Google analytics and site tagging tools to harvest user data. This data is analyzed and interpreted to provide insights into how to improve the user experience and the effectiveness of the digital marketing campaign.
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Data Analyst
Indeed.com Avg. Salary
$82K / year
Glassdoor Avg. Salary
$86K / year
Data analysts review large amounts of data to summarize, analyze, and visualize it and provide insights. Working from data from multiple, relevant sources, they create and maintain databases, and use statistical techniques to analyze the collected data. Data analysts must be able to communicate with others about what the data shows and to be able to provide realistic recommendations based on their analysis. Many industries such as healthcare, advertising, and retail rely on the work of data analysts to inform their business decisions and strategy.
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Business Analyst
Indeed.com Avg. Salary
$85K / year
Glassdoor Avg. Salary
$94K / year
Business analysts use business, technology, and project management skills to analyze business problems and propose data-driven solutions. Grounded in technical expertise, business analysts perform risk analyses, manage project plans, and translate technical information such as diagrams and blueprints. Experienced business analysts can become business or project managers, which puts their professional expertise to work with the management of project deliverables and other people. Business analysts can put their skills to work across a variety of industries, companies, and job functions.