Piyanka Jain, President and CEO, Aryng
Many people think analytics is about gathering data using software tools and creating dashboards and reports. However, analytics is much more. Analytics goes beyond data; its primary goal is to enable business decisions based on that data. This involves working with stakeholders to understand the gaps in the business and using this knowledge as a guide to manipulate data, derive useful insights, and make recommendations – all key actions to increase revenue and lower costs.
Wherever you sit in your organization, what’s most important is the bottom line. And so whether you lead business or IT units or are in the trenches, the analytics profession has likely crossed your mind. What does it entail? Who are true analysts? How does one become an analyst?
Those of you specifically in a data management, data warehousing or business intelligence role may wonder how to further develop your analytics career. On the surface, an “analytics career” can be quite broadly defined, and the transition to it can seem very confusing. However, the structured approach we describe in this article will make it easy to choose your path – and give managers and leaders an appreciation for the developmental steps to success.
My first question to someone looking at an analytics career is usually, “Why do you want to change careers?” Once you understand your motivation to change and how well this career will fit your personality, you can consider your next moves.
Step 1: Align Your Disposition to Your Career
What are the telltale signs of a good analyst? Ask yourself these questions to see if you have what it takes:
- Are you a problem solver?
- Do you like puzzles and other games involving logical thinking?
- Are you generally curious?
- Do you like working with people and helping them solve their problems?
- Are you driven toward making an impact through your work?
If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, you will likely enjoy being an analyst.
Step 2: Get Trained
Once you know you will enjoy this career, it is time to get trained. To do that, you’ll need to decide how you want to use analytics. Do you want to play in business analytics, driving decisions in the business world, or would you prefer the technical challenges of a data scientist doing advanced analytics?
To give you some perspective, McKinsey Global Institute’s report on big data predicts that by 2018, there will be a shortage of 1.5 million analysts/managers who can make data-driven decisions versus 140,000-190,000 positions open for data scientists.
There are several key differences between the two tracks.
Data scientists need advanced analytics skills and thus they need formal education in statistics, computational mathematics or predictive analytics. Data scientists spend more time on computer algorithms than they do working with people. If you love working on data, software and systems, this is a good fit. Your education options depend on your situation:
- For full-time or part-time courses in analytics with core topics in statistics, algorithms, quantitative methods, data mining and predictive analytics – along with tools training in SAS®, R, etc. – consider North Carolina State University and Northwestern University, two well-known schools that offer master’s degrees in analytics. Stanford and many other universities offer professional development courses through their statistics, data mining or other departments.
- Training on software tools is widely available through vendors such as SAS, SPSS and Angoss.
- Short, hands-on courses in advanced topics such as logistic regression, decision trees and data mining are offered by analytics consulting companies, including Aryng, Prediction Impact and Abbott Analytics.
A business analytics professional/manager will need a basic understanding of analytical techniques that most data professionals can learn quickly. Analysts/managers spend more time interfacing with people than computers and are often working with broader business questions that can be solved using simpler analytics techniques.
This track requires less time for transitioning, especially if you already have experience working with data. Data professionals already equipped with SQL skills to manipulate data will need training in data analysis and people skills to start tackling business analytics challenges. Although 80 percent of business problems can be solved via business analytics techniques and don’t require advanced data analysis, historically there has not been formal business analytics training offered, and most people have learned it on the job. Even today there isn’t much in the marketplace.
You may find books and occasionally courses at conferences. At Aryng, we recognized this gap and created business analytics training classes. Our five-step analytics framework course marries years of practical business operations experience with technical data analysis techniques to quickly enable business and data professionals in data-driven, decision-making processes.
Step 3: Find a Job
Analytics is a hot field with many jobs available. To land a great analytics job, consider networking via LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn Jobs as well as LinkedIn analytics groups and highlight your analytics skills using tags. Also consider key job portals, such as Craigslist, icrunchdata, Indeed, Dice and Monster.
Things to Avoid
Here are my recommendations for things to avoid.
- Don’t expect to learn analytics from blogs and social chatter. There is a lot of information published online. Do your own due diligence.
- Don’t view conferences as a solution for training. Be choosy; attend only the best vendor-neutral conferences to get the real scoop on analytics. I recommend Predictive Analytics World, Strata and TDWI. If you are using a specific tool, such as SAS or R, attending those annual conferences may be a good idea as well.
In summary, know your strengths, get the right training, go get the job – and don’t forget to have tons of fun!
24 Comments
Hi Piyanka… Thanks for sharing us your valuable thoughts about data analytic career. It enlightened me on what I’m doing now in my job. Well, as you mentioned that many people think that analytic is merely on gathering data, however it actually goes beyond data; I totally agree with it:).
As to trainings that are available for business analytic professional, is there any certified trainings?
thanks,
santi.
Hi Santi,
I am glad you liked the article. I don’t know of any certified training in business analytics but we at Aryng are looking at creating certification and also Informs is looking at certification. Those are a 12-18 months away though.
-Piyanka
Hey Piyanka…
Thnx 4 d valuable info.
I’ve jus started off in market research (FMCG) and am facing a dilemma similar to wat u hav described above.
As n analyst, I dont use SAS/R (eventhough I’m trained on SAS Base, SAS Advanced and SAS Predictive Modelling ), but my job involves some really challenging analysis work .
Can u suggest any programs (full-time masters) in India pertaining to predictive modelling/analytics.
Hi Pavan,
I don’t know of a Masters program in India. I have heard from Dhiraj, CEO of Mu-Sigma, about an internal Mu-Sigma university for training individuals on Predictive Analytics. They may have an external one too, so you can possibly look them up.
All the best!
Hi Priyanka,
Thanks for sharing the thoughts, those were quite valuable!
I am facing the same dilemna as you have mentioned above.
I have around 9 yrs exp in IT in c/c++ and got some exposure to ETL technologies like informatica (only 6 mnths). This aroused my interest in the field of data warehousing and after doing some reading on internet i have come to know that business analytics is the next upcoming thing after data warehousing.
Since i m already a veteran in IT, and I dont wish to become a ETL developer or do maintainence work in these kind of projects, I would rather work along with people and work in business analytics.
Does your institute also provide training in India? Do you people provide placement assistance?
Hi Sonal,
Your background in data and programming would be an added advantage as you get into analytics. We don’t have any public workshop scheduled in India as of now, but it’s in the making. I recommend signing up for our newsletter so you would be the first to find out as and when we get to public workshop in India and also when we launch our online training.
Sign up here: http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0011U1HeqLfIDoWAp6KZD2UlA%3D%3D
Hi Priyanka ! Very interesting article. I’m a PHP/MySQL web developer with 10 years of experience in IT industry. I’m very interested in doing a SAS programming course and change my line of career. Do you think I’ll have to start as a fresher or will my previous experience count ?
Hi Sunny,
If you are applying for SAS programmer job, your previous experience combined with SAS programming course would be a good combo. If however you are interested in Analyst/Senior analyst job, just tool training like SAS will not be sufficient and your previous experience would carry some weight but not as much as for the sas programmer’s job.
Hope this helps!
Hi Priyanka,
Your artical is extremely insightful. I have done my MBA in Finance and have 1.5 years of experience in business intelligence and market research domain. As a part of my market research experience I have developed models for forecasting revenues and market growth for products in pharma market. I want to shift my career in analytics by doing masters in the same. Will my previous experience and qualification be a a good match? Also do you know of any certificate courses in US which could help me enter the business analytics professional domain (as referred in your article) while also providing me with the training permit (OPT) in US.
Hi Priyanka,
I have done MBA in finance and worked for a gramin public sector bank for 2 years I am trained in basic excel and want to shift my career towards analytics as i found it as more suitable . I want to join SAS training institute which can offer sound knowledge and practice in bangalore but there are lot many and not sure of the quality of training. which training institute should i join because i want sound knowledge and placement after the training
Liked your article. Especially your piece on how to assess if one is a good fit. After 10 years in e-learning, I decided to move to being an analyst because, I loved solving puzzles. I am getting trained as a Master’s student in Operation Research. So, step 1 and step 2 are done. Now, to work on Step 3.
Hi Priyanka,
Thanks very much for this short but really informative article.
Would like to have some advice in same regard. I have almost 8 yrs of experince in Market Research and would like to switch my career in business analytics with SAS. I have learned BA- SAS tool as well from SAS accrediated center. It would be a great help if you could advice how should I go ahead in Analytics with my 8 yrs of experience in Market Research.
Regards,
Anaya
hi Priyanka…
I am a new comer to this blog.. I did my engg. in I.T and i have grip over the programming in C, C++ and I have experience working in JAVA, .NET both, though i got out of touch of programming while working in MNC (my employer). I worked for 2 yrs over there in a totally different and age old plaform, bleakly related to programming. But i am sure if I go bak to brush up the concepts of programming, i will grip everything in no time…
Now, I am pursuing my MBA degree (currently 1st year) and i am extremely confused as to what should i opt as a specialization majors and minors in my 2nd yr. Should i go fo Finance OR Operations (Manufacturing OR I.T).
So, i started to search over the net the scope of Analytics that i feel i my area of interest.
1. Does my programming background / Engg in IT (from one of the esteemed institutes) an ad-on to Analytics career ??
2. What all I need to do to get well-equipped with the know-how of Analytics field. I don’ know where to start from.
3. In my MBA- 1st year, i worked on SPSS software (developed by IBM) that i used to test hypothesis, apply z-test, t test, ANOVA, Correaltion, Linear / multiple Regressions etc tests..\I found it interesting.
I am also studying Operations Research as a subject.
So, i need your sincere guidance as to where i should put focus / which tools i need to learn/ what skill set i need to develop a career in Analytics…
Thanks a lot for reading the lengthy content that i posted above…. desperately waiting for your guidance and response….
I also signed up to Aryng newsletter.
thanks
Manu Kapoor.
Hi Priyanka,
This article is indeed wonderful and makes people aware about real depth of analysis. Since 4 years I am working as SAS Programmer in clinical domain (+ around 2 years in VB and FoxPro) and I always keen to make career in data analytics. Can you please suggest the short term programs to jump in data analytics like data forecasting, predictive modeling….etc?
Priya, Thanks for the article. I am presently working as a production support manager with 11 years of IT exp. I would like to move into Analytics side and continue my career in Analytics. Can you please guide me where and how I can start my career in Analytics like which trainings should allow me to step into Analytics Career Path. Thanks in advance.
hi mam, it was nice reading your information on sas and business analyst jobs.
could you please guide me through with my career. I m fresher graduate. and I don’t possess any work experience currently. I completed my graduation in IT and I am intrested in getting trained in SAS technologies and SAS programming. can you please help me out here with my decision on whether or not I should go ahead with it. would it be helpful for building up my career in business and data analysts and related jobs? what are the option I should take up with.? show helpful is it or is it helpful at all rather, if not what I should be possibly doing to see myslelf growing in above mentioned fields and their jobs.
thankyou mam.
Hi,
I would like to know what are the job opportunities available for B.com grad with no experience in SAS but certified in SAS.
Hi priyanka,
Your article on analytics has provided me with a framework to look at it from a new angle. I was little bit confused about it before i hooked on your article. Thanks a lot
I have been working as as Business Analyst since last 2 years. Would you pls recommend me a few institutes that provides training on analytics? what aspect do i need to know to make my career in the field of analytics?
hi
i am currently working in an MNC as a software developer and i would like to change my role into analytic. As my role i have been actively engaged in database work through oracle technologies.
please guide me a way to change my career. I desperately need to change my role and need ur help for the same.please reply
A very informative post. Thanks.
Great list and thanks for the mention. Big Data, Analytics and Technology jobs!
Hi,
First of all let me give a brief background of myself. I am working as Software engineer in a reputed organization for around 3 years. I have worked in software testing and have 3+ years of experience in testing mainly manual. Currently I dont have much interest in remaining in the testing field. I have a desire to change my career path as I want to explore a new career option which is more promising and has good demand in market. I feel that Business Intelligence (particularly SAS) is an emerging platform which has a good demand and good prospects in market. I want to start a career in SAS, please suggest how can I transform myself from a tester to a business analyst? please help.
Hi priyanka,
I am going to pursue msc buisness analytics and risk assessment ..
Can u tell me about the job oppurtunites in indianand abroad…m planning to do it either from manchester b school or cass b school
Hi Priyanka,
The article is very informative and also very interesting.
I have 8 years of testing experience. I have no statistical background or either role where I am working with data e.g. Data warehousing, Data Mining etc. However I have interest in learning new things which requires technical expertise.
Given this Do you think I can be a suitable candidate for career in analytics ?
Looking forward for your reply.
Regards,
Samir