Landing Your First Job As A Frontline Data Analyst
The next step in your career path is to land your first job. As a newly qualified analyst, you can expect to start in a very hands-on roleas a junior analyst or, quite simply, a data analyst. Youll be responsible for extracting data, cleaning it, performing all the analyses, and sharing your findings. Youll work closely with business stakeholders and use your insights to guide them in their decisions.
So what determines whether you start out as a junior analyst or go straight in for the data analyst job title? It all depends on your previous experience and the company hiring you.
Generally speaking, you can expect to start off with a junior role if you dont have any prior experience using analytical skills. If youve got some transferable experience from your previous career or studies, youll likely be considered for a data analyst position. Theres no hard-and-fast rule on this one, though it varies greatly across industries and organizations.
The great thing about data analytics is that it relies on a broad range of skills which are often transferable from other professionssuch as good communication and an aptitude for problem solving. Even if youve never worked as a data analyst, youll likely see some of your existing skills and qualities reflected in data analyst job descriptions.
Whichever job title you end up with, your first role should give you plenty of hands-on experience with all aspects of the data analysis process.
Many Business Analyst Career Paths Involve Hybrid Or Specialized Roles
One thing I want to note is that many business analysts are in hybrid roles, which means that they are doing business analysis + another role, like testing or project management. Its also incredibly common to see business analyst roles requiring specialized skill sets, such as anarea of expertise in an industry domainlike insurance or finance, business application like Salesforce or ServiceNow, or specific methodology like agile business analysis.
While the core business analysis skills are always foundational to your success, these different varieties of business analyst roles also require specialized or additional skill sets.
There are many career paths into, within, and beyond business analysis. One common mistake I see business analysts make is to get stuck looking at external circumstances and chasing the latest trends without understanding what they actually want out of their careers.
What Should Your Business Analyst Career Path Be
The challenging part about building a business analyst career path is that there is no one path up for business analysts. Todays analysts are often blazing career development trails that future business analysts might choose to follow.
If there is no clear path, which way do you head?
- First things first, focus on the core business analyst skillsrequired for new and intermediate business analysts and solidify yourself as a solid contributor in the role. We can help you with this in The Business Analyst Blueprint® certification program, where you can earn your Applied Certification in Business Analysis .
- Then determine where you are on The Business Analyst Success Path, and decide if the next stage on the success path defines where you want to go in your career.
- Get clear on what you want out of your career. Whats important to you in terms of your salary, role, types of projects, work setting, etc? Go deep and explore all the opportunities available to you, in particular the many senior-level business analyst roles.
- Take action. Do one thing that moves your career forward today and sets you up for more success tomorrow. With that one action, youll learn a lot and be even better prepared for more actions in the future.
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What Are The Major Industries In Houston
Houston is one of the places globally that provides several chances for professionals to realize their full potential. Aerospace and aviation, health care, biomedical research, energy, digital technology, petrochemical, and tourism are the city’s principal industries. By completing the PG Program in Business Analytics in Houston, one can increase one’s advancement prospects.
Who Are Business Analyst
Business analysts are people who study a companys operating procedures, processes and large data sets to find means to enhance operational efficiency while achieving better performance within the organization. Although business analysts are sometimes also known as management analysts, please do well not to confuse them with data analyst.
Business analysts majorly work with management to reduce costs, reduce or eliminate inefficiencies, and boost the companys competitiveness in the ever-changing modern business world.
They use their analytical skills to first analyze, secondly, understand and finally apply data-focused strategies best suited to increase the organizations bottom line.
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Reasons To Become A Business Analyst
Topping the list is the fact that Business Analysts are in high demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that demand for some fields of business analysis is set to explode. The demand for Management Analysts, for example, is projected to grow 11 percent over the next decade, adding about 93,000 jobs in the U.S. alone what it qualifies as much faster than average growth. For Market Research Analysts, who study market conditions to determine potential sales of a new product or service, things look even sunnier, with a projected 130,000 new jobs an 18 percent growth rate on the horizon.
That high demand translates into relatively secure employment and extremely competitive salaries. The aforementioned position of Management Analyst, for example, drew a median salary of $94,000 in 2019, according to the BLS. Even Business Analysts in less technically demanding positions routinely earn an average salary that sits comfortably in the high five-figure range, and often into six figures for Business Analysts in senior positions. In fact, the top 10 percent of Business Analysts earn $150,000 a year or more, according to some sources. High demand also means there are more opportunities for Business Analysts to relocate to new cities, even new countries, or to work remotely.
Recognised Experience And Certifications
Interested in becoming a business analyst? There are a few different learning pathways you can pursue.
Contrary to popular opinion, you dont have to have a technical background to become a BA. Of course, in certain cases it would be advantageous to be technical. And if you wish to progress to expert level in accordance with the IIBAs Business Analysis Competency Model, you must have whats termed systems thinking capability. But there are thousands of extremely successful non-technical BAs.
Typically what you will need from the outset is a Bachelor degree or equivalent in a related field and, more often than not, an employer will expect you to have relevant certifications and accreditations.
When starting your career as a BA professional, the Business Analysis Fundamentals will provide you with proven tools, techniques and processes to help deliver solutions that satisfy stakeholder requirements and deliver expected benefits to the organisation.
For those with some experience, the Business Analysis in Practice offers an in-depth opportunity to develop and evaluate solution requirements that encompass organisational and environment factors such as business processes, systems and organisational culture. Additionally, a course in Facilitation Foundation can help you understand the types of situations where people come together to tackle issues, resolve organisational problems and develop effective solutions.
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What Are The Best Business Analyst Career Paths
Before you get going on your business analyst career path, you need to accomplish the preparation work. You need either a strong knowledge of information technology or good business background.
The journey on your favoured business analyst career path will be smoother if you have the accompanying skills and qualities:
These are the six most in-demand business analyst career paths:
How Is The Career Progression For A Ba
Once a junior level BA progresses as a senior BA, a multitude of options are laid in from of them. The frequent trend followed by business analysts as they mature in the position are:
Enroll for BA online training today, if this career tickles your fancy, at www.h2kinfosys.com.
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Future Career Path For Business Analytics Across India And Global Marketplace
- Data analytics will play a vital role in security systems and avoid dangerous malware programs too.
- IoT is the future of the IT industry that will grow exponentially by the year 2020. The big data analytics process has the capability to work with the voluminous amount of data either structured or unstructured collected through IoT continue to gain higher importance in future.
- Companies would be able to monitor their own data wisely for financial gains and monetary benefits.
- Interestingly, business analytics would also be able to work with tax systems to avoid unwanted crisis in the future.
- Soon, data scientists role would come in trend for qualitative analysis not for quantitative analysis. Data scientists are responsible to boost qualitative data analysis in visual ways.
- The accuracy of data will be the primary requirement for all organizations irrespective of its size. Big data analytics play a vital role here in maintaining data accuracy, and transforming valuable data insights.
Learn Business Analyst in the Easiest Way
- Learn from the videos
Scope For Business Analytics Across India And Global Marketplace
The scope for the business analyst profile is ever-expanding in India and worldwide. Today, it has become vital for most of the organizations hiring big data expert for valuable data insights. Exploring business analytics involves several things like Right business objectives, Right technologies, Right resources, Right business culture, and Right top management commitment.
Top companies like Infosys, IBM, and many others use business analytics tools to compile intelligent business solutions that are quite profitable at the end. To become a successful business analyst, you should be sure about job responsibilities and areas of improvement first. If you want accelerated growth in your career then you should learn about big analytics tools and techniques that are used by top Companies across the world.
Read: What Are The Requirements To Become A Business Analyst?
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Tips For Charting A Career As A Business Analyst
If you think becoming a BA is the right choice for you, youâd do well to get an M.S. in data analytics, business administration, finance, or accounting. Since business analysts tend to work in technical roles, it would also be wise to obtain experience with computer programming. After you get your undergraduate degree, get some work experience. If youâre able to work as an intern during college, that will give you a leg up, but there are plenty of entry-level business analyst roles out there.
It is possible to get a BA certificate instead of attending college, but do your due diligence when investigating these programs. Make sure theyâre reputable and have a track record of helping students get great jobs upon graduation. Also, if you would like to pursue senior BA roles out of college, it would be wise to get a masters degree in business analytics or similar roles. A MS degree will help you be immediately competitive in the job market.
Business analysts are valuable members of an organization who possess remarkable critical thinking skills and add tremendous business value. If you like a good challenge and enjoy problem solving on a large scale, this may just be the career path youâve always dreamed of.
Get the buy-in you need and align cross-functional teams with a business analysis communication plan. Learn how to get started today.
Is Data Analytics A Good Career
Yes, data analytics is an excellent career for people with critical thinking skills who want to progress in their profession over time.
Entry-level positions pay well above $50,000, while experts can earn up to $100,000, depending on where they work and the position they hold.
In keeping with the modern worlds inclination towards information-based strategies and decisions, it is not wrong to say that data analytics is one of the most in-demand career fields.
Data analysts are sought-after professionals who serve in high positions in renowned tech, eCommerce, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing industries.
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Work Across Teams And Projects When Possible
In cross-functional teamwork, you feel more connected to the organization and your peers. It also tends to make you better at problem-solving, which is the essence of data analytics.
Moreover, it helps you build connections and expand your network. You can get feedback from your seniors to improve your work going forward.
Can You Become A Data Analyst With No Experience
Yes, you can be a data analyst without any experience. Since there is a comprehensive range of job titles in data analytics, you can get into the field even with no experience.
However, if you want to progress to advanced data analytics careers, you need to have a minimum of five to 10 years of experience.
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Quality Assurance & Control
Having a strong knowledge of product as well as processes, moving into a Quality Assurance/Control would be an easy transition for a Business Analyst.
As mentioned earlier, sky is the limit to advance your career in any direction. The above career paths are just for your reference. I hope this article was able to help you broaden your horizon.
Wishing you all the best for a bright career!
A Step By Step Guide On Pursuing A Business Analyst Career Path
Lets break down the steps with bullet points.
- Earn your degree
- Gain an entry-level job as a developer, industry expert, or quality assurance engineer. Any of these would be considered a junior business analyst position. Securing this job will most likely involve interviewing for a business analyst position, so you may want to brush up on interview questions
- Become a subject matter expert within a few years of employment
- Accumulate several years of hands-on work experience in the previously mentioned positions
- Improve your skillset by pursuing certifications in business analyst-related courses
- Move up into a more senior position, such as IT Business Analyst, Senior/Lead Business Analyst, or Product Manager. Note that most organizations looking for senior-level candidates want to see an MBA or other relevant business degrees
After ten years or so, aim for Chief Technology Officer , or an independent consultant!
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Essential Attributes For The Role
Business analysts have a good mix of hard and soft skills, and with those skills they are able to offer guidance and advice on what requirements and solutions will best fit a business needs, now and into the future.
Many of the essential skills of a business analyst can be learnt on the job. However, to get your foot in the door you may have to display some core competencies, such as being detail oriented, an analytical thinker and problem-solver, and having excellent communication and interpersonal skills after all, its your job to work with stakeholders, define their business needs, extract their requirements for what must be delivered, and ensure these are understood by all.
Other specific attributes that will serve you well as you climb the business analyst career path include:
- Active listening skills.
- Robust understanding of business structure.
- Ability to build relationships with stakeholders.
Itil Operations Process Specific Roles:
These are roles as defined in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. The BA can transition into any of the following process roles responsible for managing respective functions:
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Data Analyst Career Paths And Salaries
As you can see, there are many different routes to explore within the field of data analytics. By now, you might be wondering what kind of salary you can expect with each of the different pathways mentioned. To give you an idea, we researched the average salary for a variety of data analytics job titles in the United States.
These figures are based on data from Indeed.com and salary comparison site Payscale:
- $58,090
You can learn more about data analyst salaries and how they vary around the world in this guide.
