Learn Data Analysis Skills

If you go into any small business that is growing, you’ll likely find that while the company is growing, they are going to be looking for help getting a grasp around all of the information and data that they are generating. Every business has lots of information available to them, whether they recognize it or not.

A big problem that companies struggle with is using the data that exists in their company to help drive their future growth. It’s a complicated problem, and it generally requires someone dedicated to focusing on it. While a company may not be hiring for data analytic positions, there are still opportunities.

The Data Scientist role is one of the fastest growing roles, and it’s well paid according to Western Governors University. While you probably won’t be hired for one of those high level positions right out of the gates, you can easily work your way up to such a position with a few years of experience, and the starting salary could be potentially higher than what you currently make.

If you’ve got any interest in data, but don’t currently have a background in the area, then it’s very possible that it could be worth your time to learn more about data analytics, and how to use some of the basic tools that are available in the field. Coursera and Udemy both offer beginning courses on data analytics. This is a good place to start learning about the field.

While you may find that you don’t want to pursue the field any further, you may also learn some valuable new skills that you can put to use at your current company. Being able to understand the very basics of how data can relate between two datasets and how to actually bring them together (even if it’s just Excel) can potentially give you a head start at your current company.

If you do feel like you’d like to pursue data analytics further, the next steps are going to be to continue to refine your skills - learn SQL if you don’t already know it, and start writing some queries to extract data from databases. At the same time, you should start looking for entry level opportunities for data analytics.

If there’s an opportunity at your current job to gather data and show how it can be used to make a decision that will benefit the company, don’t be afraid to take that chance. If you’re gathering data on your own, you may need to check with your boss first. Using data to make decisions is the best way for a company to grow, and having the ability to analyze that data will put you in a position to be an important part of your company.

Learning new skills is always a great way to improve yourself, and to improve your chances at a better job. Data analytics is one area that every company needs, and having the ability to understand data can make you a valuable employee.