If you’re reading this article, stop to think for a moment about all the time you’ve spent online in the last week: how many websites you’ve visited, how many pages you’ve bookmarked, how many stories you’ve posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; even how many videos you’ve liked and creators you’ve followed on TikTok. Chances are, especially with the events of the last couple years, you spend a significant amount of your time and money online on a day-to-day basis.
With the advent of the technological revolution, our culture was already shifting subtly towards doing more of our business online than ever. The pandemic took that slowly occurring change and accelerated it dramatically, with it no longer being safe for most to conduct business personally or even go outside, and there’s a good chance that when it finally passes by, the ways in which most live their lives will be more digitally oriented than ever. Finding a career that capitalizes on this coming reality will be a must for most, and one of the easiest, most lucrative fields to enter is data analysis. Fortunately, the widespread labor shortage means that there are a variety of opportunities for people looking to make the switch to these industries if they’re interested.
Want to hear more? Here’s everything you need to know about data analysis and how to become a certified professional quickly and easily.
Story Stages
Panning for Gold, AKA Data Mining
A good analogy for what data analysts do is prospecting—taking the materials given to them and digging through them, seeking the bits that will help answer questions given to them by their parent company. Data analysts are responsible for handling large datasets from various sources, seeing the patterns inherent in that data, and separating the information of interest from superfluous bits that don’t have a useful function. Once they divide the results of their search, they must then be able to communicate their findings clearly to their corporation’s marketing department, and their findings are used to tailor the company’s marketing strategy moving forward.
Unlike data scientists which do much more extensive work with data, creating models to test hypotheses of various kinds, data analysts can have a more reduced scope of responsibilities. However, it’s essential to be aware that some corporations aren’t aware of the distinction between data analysts and data scientists and may have roles available that incorporate aspects of both.
Will Pay a Living Wage, Help Desperately Needed
So why do corporations need data analysts? Well, to take advantage of the opportunities offered by our increasingly digital cultural landscape.
When you were asked to try and remember how much time you spent in digital spaces earlier, that wasn’t for giggles; it was because customers are generally spending more and more time online and freely volunteering information that can be extremely useful to corporations if appropriately translated. With customers’ website histories being tracked and recorded by ISPs, and customers posting about their interests and the products they use online, there’s a massive, accessible database of marketing-relevant information available to companies that equip themselves with people who know how to read it. Companies that don’t take advantage of that database will quickly find themselves left behind by businesses that do, and so there’s been a scramble in recent years (especially in industries like retail that are already disadvantaged) to catch up.
Therefore, data analysis is a profession that’s skyrocketing in both demand and value, with the average salary for most data analysis professionals being around sixty-thousand dollars and up.
Climbing Aboard the Treasure Train
If any of this has piqued your interest, you’re likely wondering where the best place is for you to start. Few relish the idea of starting over, even if they are hopping to a stable, viable career. Fortunately, you don’t have to go back to college and spend thousands of dollars on becoming a certified data analyst. A less expensive, more viable option might be signing up for a data analytics bootcamp. These bootcamps offer flexible programs that get you all the training you need to earn your certification in a matter of months for the price of a single semester at most universities. While these programs tend to be intense and aren’t for everyone, they are designed to get people through the required training and into a job as soon as possible, and the wide range of options on the market guarantees that there’s a program for every schedule.
The Career of the Future
Unlike gold mining, there’s no reason why this career will ever dry up, as it’s doubtful that customers’ internet usage will decrease anytime soon. In fact, as the world becomes more and more digitally oriented, this career choice will likely only appreciate in value. If any of this sounds appealing to you, now is the time to enter the field. Get the training you need to get certified today, and you may find yourself making more money than you ever expected in a matter of months.
