What skills are important to become a data analyst?

[343GS]

Hello everybody! I hope this is the right session.
I was thinking, apart from an excellent knowledge of the tools, what you think are the skills that a good data analyst should develop? I mean like interpersonal skills for example. The more specific you are the better, i am thinking about this career path.

Thank you ?!

 

[bsquad]

It can kind of depend on what area of work you are in; but I think in general a good skill to have is being able to translate technical information well to all parties - meaning, not only to have a thorough understanding of requirements and details of the project or task but being able to explain them at a 6th grade level up to a highly skilled dev teams. I found this a common occurrence when I've had to deal with directors managing a project as a whole, that barely could navigate through a spreadsheet with also having to deal with the developers on the project.
Some Data Analysts are almost like BA's as well (Business Analysts - which I have had this title as well) where you are like a liaison between a client, internal dev team, internal project team, internal project directors and have to be able to regurgitate all the technical requirements and technical details in a manner that everyone on the team, including the client is able to understand.
-a data analyst may not even work with these people - thats why I had mentioned it really depends on your area of work and your team.

I went from a BA to a Data Analyst to now a Programmer (SQL and VBA)

Hope this helps!

 

[343GS]

It can kind of depend on what area of work you are in; but I think in general a good skill to have is being able to translate technical information well to all parties - meaning, not only to have a thorough understanding of requirements and details of the project or task but being able to explain them at a 6th grade level up to a highly skilled dev teams. I found this a common occurrence when I've had to deal with directors managing a project as a whole, that barely could navigate through a spreadsheet with also having to deal with the developers on the project.
Some Data Analysts are almost like BA's as well (Business Analysts - which I have had this title as well) where you are like a liaison between a client, internal dev team, internal project team, internal project directors and have to be able to regurgitate all the technical requirements and technical details in a manner that everyone on the team, including the client is able to understand.
-a data analyst may not even work with these people - thats why I had mentioned it really depends on your area of work and your team.

I went from a BA to a Data Analyst to now a Programmer (SQL and VBA)

Hope this helps!

Thank you, I think this is really helpful! I work for an IT company and I would like to become a data analyst one day, so I am trying to learn R mostly, and trying to get better in excel. But i also think interpersonal skills like the ones you describe are really useful for this type of role!

 

[bsquad]

I know you didn't ask for advice on this topic; but when you mention 'trying to get better in excel' one of the most effective ways I had done this (and still doing) is checking in with this forum when I had a question. This forum has accelerated my knowledge on Excel - there are some extremely talented individuals on here that are always more then willing to assist.

 

[343GS]

Thank you for the advice! I will follow it for sure!