How to Become a Data Analyst in 2024
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Becoming a Data Analyst in 2024 is more difficult than it was a couple of years ago. The competition has grown but so has the demand for Data Analysts!
There are 5 areas you need to excel at to land a career in data. (so punny...)
1. Skills
2. Experience
3. Networking
4. Job Search
5. Education
Let's dive into the first and most important area, skills.
Skills
Every data analytics job will require a different set of skills for their job description. To cover the majority of entry-level positions, you should focus on the core 3 (or 4 if you have time).
- Excel
- SQL
- Tableau or Power BI
- Python or R(optional)
No need to learn any more than this to get started. Start learning other skills AFTER you land your first job and see what data analytics path you really enjoy.
You might fall into a path that doesn't require Python at all and if you took 3 months to learn it, you wasted 3 months. Your goal should be to get your foot in the door.
Experience
So how do you show that you have experience if you have never worked as a Data Analyst professionally?
It's actually easier than you think!
There are a few ways you can gain experience. volunteer, freelance, or any analytics work at your current job.
First ask your friends, family, or even Reddit if anyone needs help with their data.
Second, you can join Upwork or Fiverr to land some freelance gigs to gain great experience and some extra money.
Thirdly, even if your title isn't "Data Analyst", you might analyze data anyway. Use this as experience!
Networking
I love this section the most. It has been proven by everyone I have mentored that this is one of the most important areas to learn.
Start talking to other Data Analysts, start connecting with the RIGHT people, start posting on LinkedIn, start following people in the field, and start commenting on posts.
All of this, over time, will continue to get "eyes" on your profile. This will lead to more calls, interviews, and like the people I teach, job offers.
Consistency is important here.
Job Search
I believe this is not a skill and is more like a "numbers game". And the ones who excel here, are the ones who are consistent.
I'm not saying you need to apply all day every day but you should spend SOME time applying every day.
This is important because you don't know when exactly a company will be posting their job posting. You also want to be one of the first people to apply so that means you need to check the job boards in multiple small chunks rather than spend all of your time applying in a single chunk of time.
The best way to do this is to open up all of the filters and select the most recent and posted within the last 3 days.
Education
If you have a degree or are currently on your way to getting one, this section doesn't really apply to you since you have a leg up on a lot more job opportunities.
So how else does someone show they are educated enough to become a Data Analyst?
You need to prove it by taking relevant courses in relation to the industry you want to enter. After the course, the actual certificate does not hold much weight unless it's an accredited certificate like a Tableau Professional Certificate.
To counter this, you need to use your project descriptions to explain how you used data to solve a business problem and explain it professionally.
There are so many other areas you could work on but focussing on these to start will definitely get you going in the right direction.
Take time to put these actions to work. Pivot when something isn't working and adapt.
It will take time but these actions will reduce the time it takes you to become a Data Analyst in 2024
That's all for this week
Talk to you soon.
