How to Start a Career in Data Analytics

Learn the skills, tools and practical roadmap needed to start a career in data analytics.

What does a Data Analyst do?

A data analyst collects, cleans, analyzes and presents data to help organizations make informed decisions.

A typical data analyst may work with spreadsheets, databases, dashboards and reporting tools. They transform raw information into useful insights that people can understand and act upon.

What skills do you need?

You don't need to learn everything at once. Start with the fundamentals and gradually build your technical skills.

✦Microsoft Excel — formulas, functions, sorting, filtering, PivotTables and charts.

✦SQL — retrieving, filtering, joining and analyzing data stored in databases.

✦Power BI — transforming data and creating interactive dashboards and reports.

✦Data Cleaning — identifying missing values, duplicates, errors and inconsistent data.

A simple learning roadmap

✦01 — Learn Excel fundamentals

✦02 — Practice data cleaning

✦03 — Learn SQL fundamentals

✦04 — Learn Power BI

✦05 — Build practical projects

✦06 — Create a portfolio

✦07 — Start applying for jobs

Build projects, not just certificates

One of the best ways to demonstrate your ability is to build projects using real-world datasets.

For example, you could analyze sales data, customer behavior, employee information, e-commerce transactions or financial performance.

✦Sales Dashboard

✦Customer Analysis

✦Employee Analytics

Do you need a degree?

A degree can be useful, but employers also look at practical skills, projects, problem-solving ability and your understanding of data.

Focus on becoming capable of taking a messy dataset and turning it into a clear, useful analysis.

Continue Learning

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