The job of a data analyst

Previously, we learned about what a data analyst does and why that work is so valuable. Now, let's look
at where data analysts actually do their work. You'll learn much more about the industries you could
work in as a data analyst. And how companies in these fields are already using data analytics to do some
really cool things. There are so many businesses out there that have a big need for the skills you're
learning right now. Across industries like technology, marketing, finance, health care, and so many
more. Real companies are already using data analytics to stay ahead of the curve. And the more they
use data in their business, the more they understand just how important data analyst like you are to
their success. Let's look at a real life example of a brand you'll probably recognize, Coca-Cola. Data is
changing the way Coca-Cola approaches its marketing strategies. Coca-Cola uses data gathered from
consumer feedback to create advertising that speaks directly to different audiences with different
interests. How does this work? You know those high tech Coca-Cola vending machines you see at movie
theater sometimes? It's always fun getting to make your own flavors. Well, those machines have built-in
artificial intelligence and data analysis tools. This helps Coca-Cola see all the different kinds of flavor
combinations people are coming up with, which they can then use as inspiration for new products. How
cool is that? Ever wonder how Google gives you the right answer to any question in just seconds? That's
powered by data too. We use all kinds of data to determine a website's reliability and accuracy to make
sure you get the most useful results for any search you make. But it isn't just big companies like Coca-
Cola and Google that use data. Small businesses everywhere are also starting to take advantage of data
driven insights to improve their operations and make better decisions. Small businesses can use data to
do all kinds of things. They might use data analytics to better understand their customers' buying habits,
create more effective social media messaging, or, in the case of one city zoo and aquarium, predict the
number of daily visitors based on local climate data. City zoo and aquarium realized that, on rainy days,
they were seeing huge drop offs in attendance, but they had no way to accurately predict when those
rainy days would hit. This made staffing a real challenge. Some days they found themselves overstaffed,
other days they were unprepared for the rush of visitors. To deal with this, data analyst took years of
weather records from the zoo and use that data to accurately predict future weather patterns. This
made it easy for the zoo to know how much staff they needed when. Because the zoo could predict and
manage their staffing needs more accurately, they were able to provide a better experience for visitors
and dedicate more resources to creating a better experience for the animals too. We see a similar thing
in the healthcare industry. Their data analysts look at clinic attendance data to help hospitals and
doctors offices predict when rush hours will hit so they can be ready for it. Your local city hospital is a
great example. Let's say they've been getting complaints about long wait times. Sometimes an hour or
more, which made it hard for some patients to get the care they needed. So data analyst use data about
the hospitals daily foot traffic to help them make more informed decisions about how many doctors
they need on staff at any given time. This helped reduce wait times, improve their patients experience,
and make better use of the health care worker's time too. Like I said, there are many ways that
companies in different industries put data to use, but they can only do that if they have data analyst
they can rely on. So you might be wondering, how you fit into the equation? Well, you've got plenty of
options, but you don't have to decide what industry you want to work in right away. There will be plenty
of time to think about that as you make your way through this program. By the time you finish this
program, you have the core skills that will make you valuable in any industry that makes data driven
decisions. Which, as it turns out, is most industries, even zoos. Coming up, we'll check out the business
task where data can be helpful. And, we'll explore even more how data analysts are empowering
businesses through data. I'll see you then.

Hi, I'm Joey and I work as an analytics program manager within REWS. Now REWS stands for real estate
and workplace services, and my job is to bring data and analytics into the decision-making here,
especially with regards to creating a safe and fun work environment. My journey into analytics was a bit
different in that I had no plan or really didn't see myself being where I am now. Now luckily, I started in a
rotational program called the HRA program within people operations, which afforded me the ability to
play three different roles essentially. I was in a generalist capacity in a specialist role and as an analyst,
and I really found a love and a passion in the analytical work. I started on the business intelligence team,
whose job was to provide SQL-based reporting back to the business. I realized the analytics is the right
career path for me when I found myself enjoying coming to work and getting my work done. And I think
I can connect that to two passions of mine. The first is problem-solving. I love taking a complex problem,
a mystery, a riddle and being able to find the answers and come up with the solution. And then the
second thing is being able to work with people and help people. In analytics I feel like the key to success
is being able to blend the personal side with the technical side. At the beginning of my career, I focused
a little more on the technical pieces, and I wanted to make sure I had the right technical knowledge to
be able to answer questions. But what I found is over time I needed to grow that other side just as
much. And I think that my career has allowed me those opportunities to kind of work each of those
muscles, the human interaction part and the technical part to make sure that they're both growing at
the end of the day.

Tony: Supporting careers in data analytics

Interactive Transcript - Enable basic transcript mode by pressing the escape key

You may navigate through the transcript using tab. To save a note for a section of text press CTRL + S. To
expand your selection you may use CTRL + arrow key. You may contract your selection using shift + CTRL
+ arrow key. For screen readers that are incompatible with using arrow keys for shortcuts, you can
replace them with the H J K L keys. Some screen readers may require using CTRL in conjunction with the
alt key

Play video starting at ::3 and follow transcript0:03

For any analyst, for any person that's honestly at the early stages of their career, understanding data,
respecting data and knowing how to work with data is incredibly important because, my vision is that
every role in some form or fashion will involve data and its use in learning how to extract insights from it
will be at the core of any critical role across any company organization. Generally in those first two
years, you are developing the core skill sets that make you a fantastic generalist, and then in the next 2-
5 years, you're learning about something very specific as as it relates to your job. Whether it's the area
that you're supporting or maybe a very technical component. Like, let's say you want to become a SQL
expert so that you can manipulate large data sets for financial analysis purposes. Similarly, even if you
come into finance as a data analyst, you can pop out of finance and go into what a lot of people like to
call the business, which is typically your Operations Functions and become a business analyst or a data
analysts. There's so many different paths that you can take from the starting point that you really can't
predict your end. I'm just deeply passionate about working with and supporting young people and really
giving them a jumpstart to their career. This stems from honestly my own personal experience, where in
the first two years of my career, I had essentially zero support from my manager and my direct
management chain. Having gone through that experience my first few years, I realize and I felt
experience how that can slow you down, and especially when you are somebody that has a lot of
potential and a lot of ability, you want to be in an environment that fosters that ability and really wants
to see you grow. I think it's incredibly important to have programs like these that take away all the
barriers that remove any of the constructs that prevent people from being able to find out what they
need to be in an industry like this, to be successful in a role like a data analyst, so that they themselves
can dream about where they can go in their career. My name is Tony. I'm a Finance program manager at
Google.

Learning Log: Reflect on the data analysis

process

Overview

By now, you have started getting familiar with the data analysis process. Now, you’ll complete an entry in
your learning log reflecting on your experience with the data analysis process and your progress in this
course. By the time you complete this activity, you will have a stronger understanding of how to use the
steps of this process to organize data analysis tasks and solve big problems with data. This framework will
continue to help guide you through your own work in this course--and as a junior data analyst!

The data analysis process so far

Take a moment to appreciate all the work you have done in this course. You identified a question to
answer, and systematically worked your way through the data analysis process to answer that question—
just like professional data analysts do every day!

In reviewing the data analysis process so far, you have already performed a lot of these steps. Here are
some examples to think about before you begin writing your learning log entry:
  You asked an interesting question and defined a problem to solve through data analysis to answer
that question.
 You thought deeply about what data you would need and how you would collect it in order to
prepare for analysis.
 You processed your data by organizing and structuring it in a table and then moving it to a
spreadsheet.
 You analyzed your data by inspecting and scanning it for patterns.
 You shared your first data visualization: a bar chart.
 Finally, after completing all the other steps, you acted: You reflected on your results, made
decisions, and gained insight into your problem--even if that insight was that you didn't have
enough data, or that there were no obvious patterns in your data.
As you progress through the rest of the program, you will continue using and revisiting these steps to help
guide you through your own analysis tasks. You will also learn more about different tools that can help you
along the way!

Access your learning log

To use the template for this course item, click the link below and select Use Template.

Link to learning log template: Reflect on the data analysis process

OR

If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the attachment below.

Learning Log Template_ Reflect on the data analysis process

DOCX File

Reflection

In your learning log, write 2-3 sentences (40-60 words) reflecting on the data analysis process and your
experiences so far by answering each of the questions below:

 Which part(s) of the data analysis process did you enjoy the most? What did you enjoy about it?
 What were some of the key ideas you learned in this course?
 Are there concepts or portions of the content that you would like to learn more about? If so, what
are they? Which upcoming course do you think would teach you the most about this area?
 Now that you’ve gained experience doing data analysis, how do you feel about becoming a data
analyst? Have your feelings changed since you began this course? If so, how?
When you’ve finished your entry in the learning log template, make sure to save the document so your
response is somewhere accessible. This will help you continue applying data analysis to your everyday life.
You will also be able to track your progress and growth as a data analyst.

The power of data in business

Interactive Transcript - Enable basic transcript mode by pressing the escape key

You may navigate through the transcript using tab. To save a note for a section of text press CTRL + S. To
expand your selection you may use CTRL + arrow key. You may contract your selection using shift + CTRL
+ arrow key. For screen readers that are incompatible with using arrow keys for shortcuts, you can
replace them with the H J K L keys. Some screen readers may require using CTRL in conjunction with the
alt key

Play video starting at :: and follow transcript0:00

As a data analyst, you'll be tackling business tasks that help companies use data. Coming up, we'll talk
more about what a business task actually is, and some examples of what they might look like in real data
analyst jobs. Let's take a second and think back on the real examples of businesses using data analytics
and their operation we've seen before. You might have noticed a common theme across every example.
They all have issues to explore, questions to answer, or problems to solve. It's easy for these things to
get mixed up. Here's a way to keep them straight when we talk about them in data analytics. An issue is
a topic or subject to investigate. A question is designed to discover information and a problem is an
obstacle or complication that needs to be worked out. Coca-Cola had a question about new products.
Data analysis gave them insights into new flavors customers already like. The City Zoo and Aquarium had
a problem with staffing. Data, helped them figure out the best staffing strategy. These questions and
problems become the foundation for all kinds of business tasks, that you'll help solve as a data analyst. A
business task is the question or problem data analysis answers for business. This is where you focus a lot
of your efforts in the work you'll do for future employers. Let's stick with our zoo example and see if we
can imagine what a business task for a zoo might look like. We know the problem, unpredictable
weather was making it hard for the zoo to anticipate staffing needs. Maybe the business task could be
something like, analyze weather data from the last decade to identify predictable patterns. The data
analysts could then plan out the best way to gather, analyze, and present the data needed to solve this
task and meet the zoos goals. Then, using data, the zoo would be able to make informed decisions about
their daily staffing. We talked a little about data-driven decision making in previous videos. But just in
case you need a refresher, here it is. Data-driven decision-making is when facts that have been
discovered through data analysis are used to guide business strategy. The simplest way to think about
decision-making is that it's a choice between consequences, good, bad, or a combination of both. In our
zoo example, the zoo had the data they needed to make an informed decision that solved their problem.
But what if they had made this decision without data? Let's say they just relied on observation and
memory to track the weather and make staffing schedules. Well, we already know that wouldn't have
solve their problem long-term. Data analytics gave them the information they needed to find the best
possible solution to their problem. That's the power of data. Observation and intuition are powerful
tools in decision-making, but they can only take us so far when we make decisions based on just
observation and gut feelings, we're only seeing part of the picture. Data helps us see the whole thing.
With data, we have a complete picture of the problem and its causes, which lets us find new and
surprising solutions we never would've been able to see before. Data analytics helps businesses make
better decisions. It all starts with a business task and the question it's trying to answer. With the skills
you'll learn throughout this program, you'll be able to ask the right questions, plan out the best way to
gather and analyze data, and then present it visually to arm your team so they can make an informed,
data-driven decision. That makes you critical to the success of any business you work for. Data is a
powerful tool. With great power comes, well, you know the rest. And you're doing a super job taking in
all of this information. Up next, we'll talk about your responsibility as a data analyst to make sure you're
gathering, analyzing, and presenting data in a way that's fair to the people being represented by that
data.

Hi, my name is Rachel, and I'm the Business systems and analytics lead at Verily. There are a lot of
different types of problems that a data analyst can solve. I've been lucky enough over my career to have
seen a lot of them and to take in a lot of very different types of data and help turn that into meaningful
answers. I think one of the most important things to remember about data analytics is that data is data.
I'm a finance data analyst and so my role at Verily is to take all of our financial information, all of the
information of the money we're spending and the money we're making, and turn that into reports and
insights so that our business leads can understand what we're doing. One of the most important things
I've done at Verily recently was help create what's called a profit and loss statement for each of our
business units. That means that in real time, our teams can see what their budget is and how they're
spending against that budget. What that does is that helps our teams keep to that budget by either
increasing their revenue streams so that they have more money to play with or pulling back their
spending so that they can keep themselves within that budget. All of that really helps keep us on track
as a company in making sure that we're hitting our goals. I found that data acts like a living and
breathing thing. When you have a ton of data points, it can be overwhelming when you first sit down to
make sense of it. You have tons of columns, tons of records, tons of different types of data, and finding a
way to make sense of that is really hard and that's where the expertise of a data analyst comes in. It has
been some of the most frustrating moments of my career, but also some of the most rewarding work
I've ever done when it finally comes together. The best advice I have for any data analyst starting out is
keep at it. If the angle you're taking doesn't work, try to find another one. Try to come at it in a different
way, try to ask a different question, and eventually the data will yield and you'll get the insights you're
looking for.

So far, we've covered the different roles data analysts play in business environments and the kinds of
tasks that come with those roles. But data analysts have another important responsibility: making sure
that their analyses are fair. Now, I know what you're probably thinking, data is based on collected facts,
how can it be unfair? Well, that's a good question. Let's learn what fairness means when we talk about
data analysis and why it's important for you as an analyst to keep in mind. Fairness means ensuring that
your analysis doesn't create or reinforce bias. In other words, as a data analyst, you want to help create
systems that are fair and inclusive to everyone. Sounds simple enough? Well, here's the tough part
about fairness in data analytics. There isn't one standard definition of it, but hopefully the way we've
just described it can give you one way to think about fairness for right now, but it's about to get a bit
trickier. Sometimes conclusions based on data can be true and unfair. What can you do then? Well, let's
find out with an example. Let's say we have a company that's kind of notorious for being a boys club.
There isn't much representation of other genders. This company wants to see which employees are
doing well, so they start gathering data on employee performance and their own company culture. The
data shows that men are the only people succeeding at this company. Their conclusion? That they
should hire more men. After all, they're doing really well here, right? But that's not a fair conclusion for
a couple of reasons. First, it doesn't even consider all of the available data on company culture, so it
paints an incomplete picture. Second, it doesn't think about the other surrounding factors that impact
the data, or in other words, the conclusion doesn't consider the difficulties that people of different
gender identities have trying to navigate a toxic work environment. If the company only looks at this
conclusion, they won't acknowledge and address how harmful their culture is and they won't
understand why certain people are set up to fail within it. That's why it's important to keep fairness in
mind when analyzing data. The conclusion that only men are succeeding at this company is true, but it
ignores other systematic factors that are contributing to this problem. But don't worry, there's a way to
make a fair conclusion here. An ethical data analyst can look at the data gathered and conclude that the
company culture is preventing some employees from succeeding, and the company needs to address
those problems to boost performance. See how this conclusion paints a much more complete and fair
picture. It recognizes the fact that some people aren't doing as well in this company and factors in why
that could be instead of discriminating against a huge number of applicants in the future. As a data
analyst it's your responsibility to make sure your analysis is fair and factors in the complicated social
context that could create bias in your conclusions. It's important to think about fairness from the
moment you start collecting data for a business task to the time you present your conclusions to your
stakeholders. We'll learn more about bias in the data analysis process later on in another course. For
now, let's check out an example of a data analysis that does a good job of considering fairness in its
conclusion. A team of Harvard data scientists were developing a mobile platform to track patients at risk
of cardiovascular disease in an area of the United States called the Stroke Belt. It's important to call out
that there were a variety of reasons people living in this area might be more at risk. With that in mind,
these data scientists recognized that fairness needed to be a priority for this project, so they built
fairness into their models. The team took several fairness measures to make sure they were being as fair
as possible when examining sensitive and potentially biased data. First, they teamed analysts with social
scientists who could provide insights on human bias and the social context that created them. They also
collected self reported data in a separate system to avoid the potential for racial bias, which might skew
the results of their study and unfairly represent patients. To make sure this sample population was
representative, they oversampled non-dominant groups to ensure the model was including them. It's
clear that the team made fairness a top priority every step of the way. This helped them collect data and
create conclusions that didn't negatively impact the communities they were studying. Hopefully these
examples have given you a better idea of what fairness means in data analysis. But we're going to keep
building on our understanding of fairness throughout this program and you'll get to practice with some
activities.

Hi, I'm Alex. I'm a research scientist at Google. My team is called the ethical AI team, we're a group of
folks that really are concerned not only about how AI the technology operates, but how it interacts with
society and how it might help or harm marginalized communities. When we talk about data ethics, we
think about what is the good and right way of using data? What are going to be ways that uses of data
are going to be beneficial to people? When it comes to data ethics, it's not just about minimizing harm
but it's actually this concept of beneficence. How do we actually improve the lives of people by using
data? When we think about data ethics we're thinking about, who's collecting the data? Why are they
collecting it? How are they collecting it and for what purpose? Because of the way that organizations
have imperatives to make money or to report to somebody or provide some analysis, we also have to
keep strongly in mind how this is actually going to benefit people at the end of the day. Are the people
represented in this data going to be benefited by this? I think that's the thing you never want to lose
sight of as a data scientist or a data analyst. I think aspiring data analysts need to keep in mind that a lot
of the data that you're going to encounter is data that comes from people so at the end of the day, data
are people. You want to have a responsibility to those people that are represented in those data.
Second, is thinking about how to keep aspects of their data protected and private. We don't want to go
through our practice thinking about data instances as something we can just throw on the web. No,
there needs to be considerations about how to keep that information, and likenesses like their images,
or their voices, or their text. How do we keep that private? We also need to think about how we can
have mechanisms of giving users and giving consumers more control over their data. It's not going to be
sufficient just to say, we collect all this data and trust us with all these data. But we need to ensure that
there's actionable ways in which people can consent to giving those data, and ways that they can ask for
it to be revoked or removed. Data's growing and at the same time, we need to empower people to have
control over their own data. The future is that data is always growing, we haven't seen any evidence
that data is actually shrinking. With the knowledge that data's growing, these issues become more and
more piqued, and more and more important to think about.

By now, we know that there are all kinds of jobs in different industries available for data analysts. But
now it's time to think about something just as important, how can you tell if a job is a good fit for you
and your career goals? Tough one. Don't worry, that's exactly what we'll cover in this video. There's a lot
of important factors to think about when searching for your dream job. Let's talk about some of the
most common factors first, industry, tools, location, travel, and culture. Data is already being used by
countless industries in all kinds of different ways, tech, marketing, finance, health care, the list goes on.
But one thing that's important to keep in mind, every industry has specific data needs that have to be
addressed differently by their data analysts. The same revenue data can be used in three different ways
by data analysts in three different industries, financial services, Telecom, and tech. For example, a
finance analyst at a bank post public revenue data of Telecom company X to create a forecast that
predicts where revenues will be in the future to recommend the stock price. The business analyst at
Telecom company X uses that same data to advise the sales team. Then a data analyst at the company
who created a customer management tool for Telecom company X will use that revenue data to
determine how efficiently the software is performing. Finance, telecom, and tech, all use data
differently, so they need analysts who have different skills. It all comes down to what the needs of the
industry are. Those needs will determine what task you'll be given, the questions you'll be answering
and even how you'll approach job searching. If you're just starting out, a great way to guide your search
is to think first about what you're interested in. Does helping people get healthier sound meaningful to
you? Maybe you want to focus on using data to improve hospital admissions. What about helping
people save for a happy retirement? You might want a job that uses data to determine risk factors in
financial investments. Or maybe you're interested in helping journalism grow in your city. A job using
data to help find your local news website find more subscribers could be the perfect role for you. The
key is to think about your interests early in your job search. That'll lead you in the right direction, and it
will help you in interviews too. Potential employers will want to know why you're interested in their
company, and how you can address their needs, so if you can speak about your motivation to work in
data analytics during interviews, you'll make yourself stand out in a great way. You'll have options when
it comes to where you work and who you work for. But remember, you want to enjoy what you do, so
it's a good idea to think about how you want to use your skills. Then search for jobs that allow you to do
that. Next on the list of things to think about, location and travel. When you start your job search, you
need to make some decisions about where you want to live, so it helps to ask yourself some questions,
does your preferred industry have opportunities in your area? Are you trying to stay local or would you
be happy relocating? How long are you willing to commute to work every day? Will you drive to work,
walk, take public transport? Is that possible year-round? How do you feel about working remotely? Does
working from home excite you or bore you? Of course, you'll want to consider cost of living, and
whether or not you want the convenience of city living or a quiet suburban home, and it's not just about
where you'll be based, some jobs may ask you to travel, which could be an exciting chance to see the
world or a deal-breaker. It's all about what you want out of this job, so start asking yourself some of
these questions. Figuring out the answers can help you narrow down your search even further, so you're
only looking at jobs you'd actually accept. Once you've answered enough questions, you'll be able to
identify some specific companies that fit your needs. At this point, it's a good time to think about your
values and what company culture is a good fit for you. Ready, here comes some more questions, do you
work best in a team or by yourself? Do you like to have a set routine or do you enjoy taking a new
project and trying new things? Do your values match the company's values? You'll want to pay attention
to these things during your job search and interview process, so you can be sure you fully invested in the
company you work for. That's the best way to start building an exciting and fulfilling career. This
program will help you learn the core skills for data analytics in any setting, it's up to you where you want
to take them, whether that means starting in a completely new industry, or moving into an analyst
position in an industry you already have experience in. Hopefully what we've covered here has helped
you get on track for your future job search. After this, you have a few activities to do, and then you'll be
able to move on to the next part of this course. We learned a lot so far, like what opportunities are out
there for data analysts in different industries. How data analysts help businesses make better decisions.
The importance of fairness and data analytics, and the potential questions you can start asking yourself
before your future job search, and you can always look back at these lessons if you want to review. In an
upcoming course, we'll look at the skills all successful data analysts have and you'll learn how you can
start practicing them too. But before that, you'll have an assessment. Good luck, and I'll see you later.

Data analyst roles and job descriptions

As technology continues to advance, being able to collect and analyze the data from that new technology
has become a huge competitive advantage for a lot of businesses. Everything from websites to social
media feeds are filled with fascinating data that, when analyzed and used correctly, can help inform
business decisions. A company’s ability to thrive now often depends on how well it can leverage data,
apply analytics, and implement new technologies.

This is why skilled data analysts are some of the most sought-after professionals in the world. A study
conducted by IBM estimates that there are over 380,000 job openings in the Data Analytics field in the
United States*. Because the demand is so strong, you’ll be able to find job opportunities in virtually any
industry. Do a quick search on any major job site and you’ll notice that every type of business from zoos, to
health clinics, to banks are seeking talented data professionals. Even if the job title doesn’t use the exact
term “data analyst,” the job description for most roles involving data analysis will likely include a lot of the
skills and qualifications you’ll gain by the end of this program. In this reading, we’ll explore some of the
data analyst-related roles you might find in different companies and industries.

* Burning Glass data, Feb 1, 2021 - Jan 31, 2022, US

Decoding the job description

The data analyst role is one of many job titles that contain the word “analyst.”

To name a few others that sound similar but may not be the same role:

 Business analyst — analyzes data to help businesses improve processes, products, or services
 Data analytics consultant — analyzes the systems and models for using data
 Data engineer — prepares and integrates data from different sources for analytical use
 Data scientist — uses expert skills in technology and social science to find trends through data
analysis
 Data specialist — organizes or converts data for use in databases or software systems
 Operations analyst — analyzes data to assess the performance of business operations and
workflows
Data analysts, data scientists, and data specialists sound very similar but focus on different tasks. As you
start to browse job listings online, you might notice that companies’ job descriptions seem to combine
these roles or look for candidates who may have overlapping skills. The fact that companies often blur the
lines between them means that you should take special care when reading the job descriptions and the
skills required.

The table below illustrates some of the overlap and distinctions between them:

Title: Decoding the job description data analysts: -problem solving: Use existing tools and methods
to solve problems with existing types of data -analysis: Analyze collected data to help stakeholders
make better decisions -other relevant skills: database queries, data visualization, dashboards,
reports and spreadsheets data scientists: -problem solving: Invent new tools and models, ask open-
ended questions, and collect new types of data -analysis: Analyze and interpret complex data to
make business predictions -other relevant skills: advanced statistics, machine learning, deep
learning, data optimization, and programming data specialists: -problem solving: Use in-depth
knowledge of databases as a tool to solve problems and manage data -analysis: Organize large
volumes of data for use in data analytics or business operations -other relevant skills: data
manipulation, information security, data models, scalability of data, and disaster recovery

We used the role of data specialist as one example of many specializations within data analytics, but you
don’t have to become a data specialist! Specializations can take a number of different turns. For example,
you could specialize in developing data visualizations and likewise go very deep into that area.

Job specializations by industry

We learned that the data specialist role concentrates on in-depth knowledge of databases. In similar
fashion, other specialist roles for data analysts can focus on in-depth knowledge of specific industries. For
example, in a job as a business analyst you might wear some different hats than in a more general position
as a data analyst. As a business analyst, you would likely collaborate with managers, share your data
findings, and maybe explain how a small change in the company’s project management system could save
the company 3% each quarter. Although you would still be working with data all the time, you would focus
on using the data to improve business operations, efficiencies, or the bottom line.

Other industry-specific specialist positions that you might come across in your data analyst job search
include:

 Marketing analyst — analyzes market conditions to assess the potential sales of products and
services
 HR/payroll analyst — analyzes payroll data for inefficiencies and errors
 Financial analyst — analyzes financial status by collecting, monitoring, and reviewing data
 Risk analyst — analyzes financial documents, economic conditions, and client data to help
companies determine the level of risk involved in making a particular business decision
 Healthcare analyst — analyzes medical data to improve the business aspect of hospitals and
medical facilities

Key takeaway

Explore data analyst job descriptions and industry-specific analyst roles. You will start to get a better sense
of the different data analyst jobs out there and which types of roles you’re most interested to go after.

My name is Samah Moid, and I'm a recruiter here at Google for the large customer sales team. Basically,
I hire talent for the sales team here. Even within the sales recruiting space, I recruit specifically for the
analytical lead roles here at Google. I want the candidate to be as comfortable as possible. As a recruiter
I'm also their advocate. If they're a good fit for the team, I'd like to present them in the best light. As a
recruiter some advice I would give for a data analyst that's starting to look for a job. Think about a time
where you've used data to solve a problem, whether it's in your professional or personal projects.
Another tip, I would say for a data analyst that's looking for a new job is to increase your professional
network. There are many ways to increase your professional network. One of them is to increase your
online footprint, reach out to other analysts on LinkedIn, join local meet-ups with other data scientists.
Sometimes when we're looking for a unique skill set, recruiters are going on websites like LinkedIn, and
GitHub, and trying to find that talent themselves. It's really important to have your LinkedIn updated
along with websites like GitHub, where you can showcase a lot of the data analysts projects you've
done. Another tip I would say for an in-person interview is to prepare questions for the interviewer.
Make sure they're not broad questions. They should be questions that will help you understand the
team and the job better. If you're given a case study in an interview, you should expect to be given a
business problem along with the sample data set. Then you'd be asked to take that sample data set,
analyze it, and come up with a solution. One of the things you can do to help prepare yourself for this is
to ensure you are analyzing the data and coming up with a solution that relates back to that data.
Sometimes there is no right answer, and a lot of times interviewers are looking to see your thought
process and the way you get to your solution. I highly encourage that if you find a role that you're
interested in, not only apply to it, but go the next step. Look for the recruiter. Look for the hiring
manager online. See if you can reach out to them and set up a coffee chat or send them your resume
directly. Online applications could be a really big black hole where you never hear back from the
recruiter or the team. When you reach out directly to a hiring manager or recruiter, it really shows your
eagerness for the role and your interests for the role. Even if sometimes you don't get a response from
reaching out, you never know, you try multiple different times. That one time you get a response back
from a recruiter or hiring manager, could be the time you get the job that you really wanted.