What you should know before becoming a data analyst / data scientist / data engineer
Data Analyst
So, you’re the person who finds all the good stuff in the data. You gather, organize, and analyze data using fancy tools to come up with real insights. People who use your insights then make important business decisions.
Here’s the good news: you don’t need to be an expert to be a data analyst. You can get started with a bachelor’s degree in math, statistics, economics or any other field related to math.
Also, you’re the person who can fit in anywhere! You can work in different teams or roles to help make data-driven decisions. You’re like the Swiss Army knife of data.
Data Engineer
Big data engineering is all the rage these days! You’re the person who prepares and manages big data that is then analyzed by data analysts and scientists. You’re responsible for designing, building, integrating, and maintaining data from several sources.
You’re not the person who analyzes the data you receive and store. Instead, you make sure that the data is available to the data analysts and scientists. If a company wants to use data to better their business, you’re the first person to come up with the plan. You’re also the person who regularly improves these plans to make sure the data stored for analysis is accurate and accessible.
You need advanced software development skills, which are not as essential for data analysts and data scientists. But you’re the person who brings it all together!
Data Scientist
You’re the person who makes sense of all the crazy data out there. You analyze and interpret raw data into business solutions using machine learning and algorithms. That’s some serious skills!
You do the same thing that a data analyst does, but you possess more advanced algorithms and statistics expertise. You know how to build, train, and use machine learning and deep learning models to understand data — skills that data analysts don’t possess.
These skills make you immensely valuable in interpreting answers from open-ended questions and also identifying hidden insights. You’re the person who can make sense of all the data that’s out there!
You can be an engineer who has strong business acumen and communication skills. However, you’re not usually in charge of developing or maintaining data architecture. Most data scientist jobs ask for a master’s degree in data science or a related field.
