Technological innovations are the order of the day, and many careers branch off from this very large tree, each contributing to advancement in various interlinked fields.
For example, advancements in software development would not be possible without innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The latter two fields are some of the main innovative applications of data analytics.
Today, data analytics is a well-established career path, with professionals among some of the highest earners in tech.
What industries is data analytics in demand?
Here are some of the industries where data analytics is essential:
Retail
The primary target in the retail business is to provide the right products to the appropriate consumers.
Predictive data analysis is used by retail to offer product recommendations to the right consumers and personalize online customer experience.
Agriculture
Data analytics is revolutionizing the way farmers cultivate and provide food. In the agro-centric economies, analytics helps to optimize pricing, with special algorithms to identify abrupt price drops and offer more incentivizing pricing to give sales a needed boost.
Banking
Predictive analysis has a place in the banking industry. Like retail, banks are adapting external and internal customer data to create predictive profiles for clients and consumers.
Financial institutions then use these insights to provide customers with value-geared financial products, instead of mass-marketing services that assume all consumers have the same needs.
Public sector
Government and public sector organizations across the world use data analytics, machine learning, image and speech recognition, and natural language processing to solve various problems in crime.
What does it take to become a data analytics professional?
To become a professional capable of occupying various roles in the industry, you need to acquire a specific skill set:
A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Statistics or another relevant discipline.
Computer programming in languages like Python, JavaScript, etc.
Knowledge of data analysis tools like Excel, MATLAB, and SPSS
Knowledge of statistics and machine learning algorithms.
Skilled with data visualization tools like Tableau.
What roles can data analytics specialists carry out?
Here are some of the most popular job descriptions for data analytics specialists:
Data Analyst
These professionals are responsible for munging, visualizing and processing big data. They also perform database queries and modify algorithms to cull information from large databases.
Data engineer
Data engineers build and test big data ecosystems that are designed to scale. They also update existing systems with new technologies to improve database efficiency.
Machine Learning Engineer
Machine learning specialists are some of the most highly demanded data analytics specialists in the world today.
Using technologies in REST APIs, SQL, etc, they build data pipelines, carry out A/B testing and integrate ML algorithms like clustering and classification.
What do data analytics professionals earn?
The professionals in this discipline have a lot of studying and learning to do, often taking years of dedicated hard work to master.
As they're in such high demand, it's no wonder that they earn a lot. Per reports from Glassdoor, data analysts in the USA earn about $72,000 per annum in average base pay.
If you’re ready to dive into the world of data analysis, reach out to Element X today.