Business Analyst Job

Tech #BigData
JAN 5, 2015 @ 06:38 PM 206,437 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
5 Steps To Transition Your Career To Analytics:

Step 1 - Identify Your Ideal Job
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Piyanka Jain , CONTRIBUTOR Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
These lessons are part of Aryng’s Analytics career transition path series for individuals.
If you devour all things analytics, even to the point of setting up Google GOOGL +1.69% alerts to help you begin or progress in
your analytics career, then you’ll find this five-lesson blog series helpful.
These lessons are part of Aryng’s Analytics series for individuals looking to transition to a career in analytics or who are new to
an analytics role. I hope to answer all the questions I have received from readers of my blog. Before we go further,
understand your fit to an analytics role by assessing your own analytics aptitude. If you don’t have high analytics aptitude,
you won’t have fun being an analyst.
Lesson 1 - Understand the analytics landscape and identify your ideal analytics job
So, what constitutes an analytics job? Is it the same as big data job?
The analytics landscape is fraught with over-hyped and over-used terms, so before we go further, let me briefly clarify some of
the terminology. (This subject is discussed in-depth in my book, “Behind Every Good Decision”, so feel free to start there as
well. You can also download Chapter 7 of the book FREE here, which discusses analytics talent requirements in detail as part of
the leadership toolkit.)
Believe it or not, “analytics” is not synonymous with “Big Data” even though these days it is often mentioned in the same
breath. Let’s discuss that in a moment.
First let’s define “analytics” vs. “business intelligence” (BI). Business intelligence and analytics are actually two distinct
processes that involve different tools and serve different purposes.
When a user interacts with a system (such as when you checkout groceries from your local supermarket), data is produced,
collected, cleaned and stored using data solutions including Teradata TDC +0.37%, Hadoop and Oracle ORCL +1.14% . Data is
then accessed via reports and, increasingly, via graphical dashboards. BI includes all components of the operation, from
when data is collected to when it is accessed.
Analytics, on the other hand, is the process performed on data that has been delivered by BI for the purpose of
generating insights to drive decisions, actions and, eventually, revenue or other impacts.Data is converted to insights
using analytics tools such as SAS , R and Excel.
Now let’s talk about Big Data. Big Data’s ever-increasing volumes, variety and velocity (known as the Three Vs) create issues
of storage and visualization that make traditional business intelligence systems unstable. Big Data is thus a business
intelligence issue, not an analytics issue. Our focus for this lesson, then, must exclude Big Data
What analytics jobs interest you?
Once you know you are interested in analytics, the question is, “What kind of analytics job is right for you?" Get an idea about
the analytics jobs out there by typing “Analyst”, “Analytics” or “data scientist” in job forums such as
LinkedIn, Icrunchdata.com or Monster. Below are some of the key job titles you will find, mapped to three major job
categories. I will discuss differences in these job categories a little later. Note: If the title includes “Analyst” but the job doesn’t
require analyzing data, then it is not an analytics job. For example, a “Business Process Analyst” does not have an analytics job
and we will not be talking about those careers here.
From the chart above, take for example, Marketing Analyst. Most jobs with that title fall in the Business Analytics Professional
job category. Some of these positions need advanced analytics skills and thus fall under the Predictive Analytics Professional
category. Data Scientist, on the other hand, is used very broadly and vaguely with jobs falling under all three
categories. Some data scientist job descriptions seem to seek applicants strong in all three areas, which is not a very likely
combination. I would recommend ignoring those jobs for now as it could take a lifetime of learning to become that
“superhuman” data scientist.s
Now, let’s talk about the job categories – Data Analyst, Business Analytics Professional and Predictive Analytics
Professional. Each needs different analytics skillsets, per the table below. For example, a business analytics professional
needs strong business analytics skills along with the ability to access data through a GUI-based BI tool and analyze it in a basic
analytics tool such as MS Excel. An understanding of basic statistics and, perhaps, testing skills may also be required. Note
that, as with any job, these positions need additional skills specific to the industry served and job function.
So which jobs should you aim for? Most professionals with a BI/Data or Engineering background, i.e. those with experience in
data structure, Information Management, data architecture, other engineering, etc., can transition most easily into a Data
Analyst job. If you have a business background—Product Managers, Project Managers, MBAs—consider a Business Analytics
job. And if your experience has focused on statistics, operations research, Computer Science or algorithms, a Predictive
Analytics professional job may suit you.
As you browse through available jobs, look through the requirements of the position. What skills and tools are listed (expert
knowledge of SQL, ability to drive decisions based on analysis, etc.)? Use that information and the table above to identify the
appropriate job category. Now, given your background, your own interest and your industry experience, short list your dream
analytics job title from within the job categories appropriate for you. For example, if you have 5 years’ experience working as a
Data Architect within the retail industry, your ideal analytics job category would be within the same industry as a Data Analyst
and you can short list the titles from within that category.
Congratulations!
You are now one step closer to finding and landing that dream job. My next blog will help you identify your analytics skills gap
and job requirements vis a vis your own background.
Meanwhile, check out Aryng's Analytics Career Transition Tracks which includes an assessment, complete hands-on Business
Analytics and Testing training, experience with a real-time project, mentoring sessions and optional career coaching to find
and land your analytics dream job. You can also learn more about our fundamental approaches to analytics or about our “Data
to Decisions” framework by downloading one of Aryng’s analytics whitepapers here.
My Book on Amazon| Follow @AnalyticsQueen | Sign up for our Newsletter | http://www.aryng.com | Contact Aryng | Call

Piyanka @408.412.7279

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Tech #BigData

JAN 5, 2015 @ 06:38 PM 206,437 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets

5 Steps To Transition Your Career To Analytics:

What analytics jobs interest you?

My Book on Amazon| Follow @AnalyticsQueen | Sign up for our Newsletter | http://www.aryng.com | Contact Aryng | Call

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