Boost Your Career with Analytics

Big data is a field that has been garnering worldwide attention in recent times. This is one of the most sought after and lucrative careers in the world of information technology today. Businesses gather and process data from various sources in order to better understand trends and better plan strategies to drive further growth. All this collected data will only be of use if it is analyzed systematically and professionally.

While a career in big data could be said to involve the collection, storage, and organization of data for business purposes, the process of analytics adds a further dimension to it that increases its usefulness in many different ways. Analytics involves performing in-depth analysis on the data that has been collected in order to generate comprehensive insights that will help to make better decisions across multiple departments in an organization. The analysis is done by using a number of tools such as R and Excel, SAS, etc.

This kind of analysis always has a huge impact on the way businesses are run, strategies are formed, and revenues are generated. This is true for businesses, government organizations, educational institutions, non-government organizations, etc. That is why a career in data can be significantly boosted with an additional qualification and experience in data analytics. Additional training or certification in analytics can boost the career of data professionals in the fields of business intelligence, data warehousing, or data management. Since data professionals already have some of the skill sets and interests required from analytics professionals, it would be easy to make the transition.

Some of the traits of a good data analyst are the following:

• An enthusiastic problem solver
• A curious bent of mind
• A natural talent for logical and critical thinking
• Likes to help people solve problems
• Wants to do work that has a direct and positive impact on the organization they work for

When looking to boost your career in analytics, it is important to consider how you would like to use the data that you analyze. If you are interested in being instrumental in driving business decisions, then it would be a good idea to get into business analytics. However, if you are more interested in doing advanced analytics and research that makes an impact in the long run, then it would be wise to look into becoming a data scientist.

The number of openings and opportunities for analysts and data scientists are increasing exponentially with a lot of gap between the number of opportunities and the number of people who can fill in those openings. So there is no doubt that adding the feather of data analytics into your cap of big data will only be a positive boost to your career. This is one career that will not see any slumps in demand in this century at least so you can be sure that you will be in a career that is good for the long haul.

There are both short-term and full-term, part-time and full-time courses in data analytics. So whatever be your work commitments, time schedules, or budgetary limits, you are sure to find a course that will suit all your requirements. The core topics that are covered in any analytics course will be data mining, predictive analytics, algorithms, statistics, quantitative methods, etc. There are advanced courses also available for those who are already qualified or knowledgeable about the field. These courses would cover topics such as decision trees, logistics regression, etc. There are also courses that offer training in specific analytics tools that help in this field, such as Angoss, SAS, and SPSS.

The difference between a business data analyst and a data scientist is that a business analyst will interface a lot more with people while a data scientist spends more time on computer operations such as algorithms and in-depth analysis than with people. So it would be prudent to take into account your own personality and talents before deciding which to branch out into.

Business analysts will solve business-related questions using less complex analytical tools and strategies. This is a track that is much shorter and easier to get into if you are already into data management. A data professional would need a good knowledge of SQL and additional data analysis training to get into business analytics. Attending conferences and seminars also help in furthering your knowledge of data analytics.

To summarize, data analytics is a very fulfilling job for people who are passionate about helping businesses and organizations solve problems using data.