Data Analyst: Reality vs Expectations

The first rule of data science is: don’t ask how to define data science - Josh Bloom (Azam 2014)

If you are anything like me (I hope not), then you must like to spend your free time looking at job postings on LinkedIn to see what companies in your industry are looking for in a Data Analyst role. Whether for a new job or trying to keep your skills up to date, you'll notice that not all Data Analyst roles are the same. Having worked at 3 different companies ranging from mid-size ad agency, adtech startup and a big fintech I'm going to break 3 expectations of a Data Analyst and explain the reality to each one of them.

1. You need to know how to code
   Starting off with this I'll say right now that the short answer is drum rolls it depends. In my experience, it is not always necessary and depends on what exactly you'll be working on. In my first role out of college as an analyst, I did not write nor used any line of code to do my job. I primarily used Excel and Tableau to work on my assigned tasks. It wasn't until my second and third job, that I got to start using SQL to pull data to build out some projects. My advice would be to defiantly learn SQL, it is a must if you want to be a Data Analyst or even take a step into the world of Data Science. Moving forward, I would recommend learning to code depending where you see yourself going in the long term of your career.

2. Providing insights and predictions to the company
   Now for this, you will be providing insights for your company but not all roles will have you performing predictions. Especially in an entry level role, you will be to focus more on how clients and teams should interpret current data based on the business questions they want answer. It's not until you reach a senior analyst role or transition into a data scientist that developing predictive models becomes part your job or not. Which leads to my final point.

3. Data Science is the same everywhere
   Initially, I thought this to be true when I was in college studying for my degree. I would read and listen to all these books related to Data Science then expect that once I got the role I would be doing those exact things. It wasn't until I started moving around from different companies to realize that each company has their definition to what is considered Data Science, Data Analyst, Data Engineer, and the list goes on. Which is why all jobs in this realm will never be the same. Different companies mean different jobs.

What were some of your expectations that you thought were true when becoming a Data Analyst or working in Data Science in general?