Essential skills to know in Data Analytics to get a Job

In the world of Data, there are so many fields like Data science, Data analytics, Data engineering, Big data analytics, Business Intelligence. Each field has their own requirements you must have, But also There are endless things you can learn in these fields. Wait!!, Do you actually need to learn all of this?

Simply, The answer is no. Not in every field, but in the case of Data Analytics, there might be some big, or small companies which have different kind of requirements where you don't need to use all of your skills. 

Instead, you can get a job based on just 1 or 2 skills. So, What are the key skills you must need to have in order to get a job faster? The more skills you have, the more valuable you will become, but it is not necessary to have all of them at once. you can start a job with 1 or 2 skills, and then you can learn others later.

Here, I am writing down skills by priority from the highest to the lowest:

1. Excel

2. Tableau or Power BI

3. Presentation 

4. Python and other libraries

5.Statistics 

6. SQL

7. SaaS

8. R Language

9. Data Warehousing

1. Excel

Excel is the base of Data Analytics. It doesn't matter how big your company is, but Excel is used everywhere so you just need to master it. Excel is so important that you can get a job if have excellent knowledge of it alone.

Ask me why?. Because, you can make a lot of calculations in Excel, you can visualize data in Excel, you can apply mathematical operations in Excel, etc. So, you can pretty much do everything the company needs with just Excel.

However, some big companies require python, and database skills along with Excel, but in small companies where data is stored in Excel or CSV files, there is no need for python and that stuff. So, you can get a job faster in a company like that. That's why excel is the first priority in data analytics, because if you know only Excel still your chances of getting a job are higher.

What should you learn in Excel?. You need to learn basic Data cleaning, Data transformation, Different types of functions like Vlookup, Match, etc. Also, you need to learn pivot chart, Making interactive Dashboards. 

2. Tableau or Power BI

Tableau, and power BI both are data visualization tools. Once you are ready with your filtered, clean, and ready to use data, you can visualize them using these tools. These tools lets you connect with any database, Excel, CSV, etc., then you can make an interactive Dashboard which lets you visualize and represent your data very effectively.

3. Presentation

Presentation is a key thing, and valuable skill to your soft skill portfolio. Companies decide performance based on data, and if you can not present that well enough then you might be in trouble. So, presentation skill is very important in this field. 

You should present with story telling, which is easy to understand and interesting. Here your confidence, and communication skill, these two things are also very important. If you know to Excel well, and your presentation skill is excellent then you can get a job in a small company very easily, based on just these 2 skills.

4. Python, and other libraries

Python is literally dominating right now in the IT industry. It is so useful, easy to use, and very effective. That's why python became must have skill in the industry. 

Python has a numerous libraries for different types of needs. You can get useful information by writing just 1, or 2 lines of code in Python. That's why it is necessary in data analytics, because you do a lot of queries, data manipulation, data filtering etc. things.

What should you learn in Python? You need to learn basics of Python, data structures, OOP concepts. After that, you need to learn pandas, matplotlib and numpy libraries.

 

5. Statistics

Statistics is used in data analytics to summarize data, and to get conclusion from data. This additional skill will make your value so much higher in your field. Because you can give very accurate, and very useful information by applying statistics to your data. You can solve problems using statistics.

6. SQL

SQL is a query language you must need to own as an analyst, because in order to work with database, SQL is must have skill to know. You need to know insert, deletion, join etc. operations.

7. SaaS

Data analytics tools that you need to know if your company is using them for their work. Like, if your company is doing stuff based on web then you should know web analytics tools like Carzy Egg, Google Analytics, Bitly etc. , and analytics reporting tools like Klipfolio, Adaptive insight etc. These are not the must have things, but if you know them, then it will be good for you.

8. R Language

R is a programming language used for statistics, computing, mining, or to develop statistics software. It is mainly used for statistics.

Knowledge of statistics with the knowledge of R programming will be a great combination to have.

9. Data Warehousing 

Data warehousing is one of the least needed skills, but very important if you are working in a big company. You need to know how data is stored, which data is important, how data is managed, ETL ,etc.

So, These are the skills required in order to become a Data Analyst. You can start your career with Excel, and some presentation skill. Later you can learn other skills as well. That depends on companies, but maybe in smaller companies, you can get job with as little as 1, or 2 skills, and then you can learn others later.

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