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I started as a data analyst and I have 20 years of experience. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it this way.
Every 2.5 years, if I didn’t get a promotion, I would start interviewing with the plan to be gone in 6 months. FYI - NEVER accept your employer’s counteroffer.
If you stay in a company too long, you’re only exposed to their chosen set tools. That means you’ll stop developing the right skills and fall behind the market.
Also your pay will be overtaken by new employees that may not even have your level of experience. Internal raises don’t even close to keep up with just taking a higher job someplace else.
Also, you’ll need to getting those title changes to show progression. Early in my career, I kept that analyst title too long, even after assuming managerial responsibilities. As someone who’s now been on the other side of the hiring table for a while, it wasn’t the worst mistake but also not a good look.
You should target having a “Manager” in your title within 6 years.
At present, learn PowerBI and Python. That’s a good start and still a differentiator for analysts. Everybody knows Excel, Sheets, and basic SQL.
If you can gain experience with cloud technologies like Snowflake and DBT, that would be good.
Set up a Jupyter Notebook or Anaconda, download the pandas and sci-kit learn packages for python, and just start playing around. 80% of machine learning is in there and it’s not nearly as scary/complicated as data scientists like to make it sound. Admittedly, I do have some concerns that no-code/low-code solutions are going to clear a lot of those guys off the board in a few years.
Also, you might want to pick a function of the business and specialize: Marketing, Sales, Finance, Procurement, etc. While you’re still at the analyst tier, it gives you the future option for a smooth transition into two business paths. Either you can stick with data or transition into a Marketing guy (who’s data savvy). A lot of those higher level analytics roles are going to want you to have a functional area specialty.
A great question. I wish I could answer from a standpoint of understanding. I am in the process of transitioning into a department that promotes a data driven way of thinking. What company are you currently with? If not able to disclose, what is the industry? I hope someone is able to give you an experiential answer!
I’m currently at a small startup company Education/Tech
I would say, for as long as you still find fulfillment in your job and its financial viable for you.
Yes from a financial standpoint, no; I have a Bachelors in Information Technology & Certification in Data Analytics
How do you standout from other candidates as a Entry level Data Analyst?
Omg thanks so much, I’ve been thinking about the marketing..
If I were starting over, Marketing is DEFINITELY the function I’d pick right now.
Funny enough, it’s the one I turned my nose up to back in the day.
Good luck!