Assuming the Role of a Data Analyst

This involves much more than simply creating dashboards every day!!

A widespread misperception in analytics is that you'll spend all day playing with tools and putting together amazing projects:

• Writing code, creating dashboards, and so forth.
• While this is an important aspect of the work, it is not THE job.

To succeed as an analyst, you must think like one.

This entails a few steps:

• There was a lot of communication between teams.
• Understanding the data and where it came from.
• Using data to assist the business progress.

Let's go over each of these briefly.

1 | Interaction

This, in my opinion, is the most hardest component of the job. As a result, I intend to devote an entire future newsletter piece to this subject.

For the time being, let me state that communicating between teams is difficult.

Sometimes you'll be assigned projects that you can accomplish on your own, but most of the time you'll need to work with other teams to complete them. Particularly if you're creating a new reporting structure.

Your stakeholders may not always grasp how to interpret data, and your collaborating teams may not always understand the demands. Either that, or they may struggle to meet them.

This is when you come into play. You are the liaison between the two teams. You must be able to explain a technical issue in layman's terms to your stakeholders. You must also comprehend the data well enough to explain it to the right teams that you require assistance from.

This leads me to my second point...

2 | Understanding your data

When you're just starting off, it's easy to overlook the significance of this.

Understanding the data you're using and where it originates from, how it's built, and so on will assist you fulfill requests.

This necessitates at least two steps:

• Investing time in researching the data
• Having a lot of questions

Slow down when you have a project request and evaluate, audit, and get to know your data. When you have a question about something, ask it. Inquire with your engineers, fellow analysts, and stakeholders.

You'll be far more prepared to fulfill requests and become a trusted part of the team if you become an expert at knowing the corporate data.

But having the data is one thing; putting it to use is quite another.

3 | Making use of the data

An analyst's ultimate purpose is to use data to advance the business.

This is where data expertise meets technological competence, and knowing how to combine the two to produce a great end result.

What is the most appropriate tool for the job? What information would be beneficial to the organization? Would it help if we dug deeper into this KPI?

To continue adding value to your initiatives and the organization as a whole, be curious, proactive, and adventurous with data.

I hope this was useful.

Fabio Mar?olia