What skills are required get a job in data analytics?

I think I look at this a little different than most. At the very minimum, you need mid-level Excel skills, curiosity, critical thinking and that ability to learn quickly. From there, you want to know how databases work and how to code SQL so you can dig deeper into the data sets that you have.

It is also important to have the ability to visualize results into an easy-to-read manner. My rule of thumb is that it should take no longer than three minutes to look at a visual and understand what it’s trying to say.

What will make you stick out, though, is if you also have some knowledge on data cleansing, ETL (extract transform & load) processes, knowing how to code Python, ability to use APIs to extract data and even more recently a statistical programming language called R is being used to apply more statistical analysis to your data sets.

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Written by David Cullum

David Cullum is the Director of Information Systems at TBI, a national telecom services distributor. David has almost eight years of experience as a technology analyst, project manager in data analytics, business intelligence manager and now his current role. He manages all sales and financials related source data across TBI, ensuring high levels of data availability. Currently, he is responsible for all corporate data, system assessment and review, system design & implementation, system integrations, vendor relationships, contract negotiations and more.

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