How can you choose the best data visualization role for your career?

3 Data engineer

A data engineer is someone who designs, builds, and maintains the data infrastructure and pipelines that enable data analysis and science. A data engineer needs to have strong technical skills in programming, databases, cloud computing, and distributed systems. A data engineer also needs to be familiar with data quality, security, and governance issues. A data engineer may not be directly involved in creating data visualizations, but they need to ensure that the data is accessible, reliable, and scalable for the data analysts and scientists. Some of the common tools that data engineers use are SQL, Python, Java, Scala, Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, and AWS.

4 Data journalist

A data journalist is someone who uses data as a source and a tool for storytelling. A data journalist needs to have a keen sense of curiosity, creativity, and ethics, as well as a good grasp of journalism principles and practices. A data journalist also needs to be skilled in finding, verifying, analyzing, and visualizing data to create engaging and informative stories for different audiences and platforms. Some of the common tools that data journalists use are Excel, SQL, Python, R, Tableau, Google Data Studio, Flourish, and Datawrapper.

5 Data artist

A data artist is someone who uses data as a medium and a inspiration for creating artistic expressions and experiences. A data artist needs to have a unique vision, imagination, and aesthetic sense, as well as a good knowledge of art history and theory. A data artist also needs to be adept at using data visualization tools and frameworks to transform data into visual, auditory, or interactive forms. Some of the common tools that data artists use are Processing, P5.js, D3.js, Three.js, Unity, and Arduino.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?