Sharpen these top 9 soft skills to be an outstanding Data Analyst! The data career landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, and everyone wants to stand out. As the ever-growing number of data analysts has made it one of the most popular jobs, what qualifications make an outstanding data analyst?
Today, Sertis invites everyone to learn about the 9 soft skills that will give you an edge in becoming an outstanding and in-demand data analyst in the market. Let's delve into the details.
Let's go through the list to determine which skills you already possess and which require further development. Develop these skills to ensure a brighter future in becoming a data analyst.
1. Be data-savvy
Data is your best ally in the journey toward becoming an exceptional data analyst. The ability to use data effectively and wisely is indispensable for achieving excellence in this field. Being data-savvy allows you to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies in the data, as well as to work proficiently with large amounts of data from diverse sources. It also enables you to view scattered data as a coherent picture to notice the significant patterns and changes and interpret your findings in a business context.
2. Be detail-oriented
An exceptional data analyst always pays close attention to every detail to identify anomalies in the data without overlooking any small details, which may lead to uncovering hidden insights and in order to reduce errors as much as possible.
3. Have business acumen
Having business acumen is crucial to excelling as a data analyst. The more you understand business operations and have good business sense, the more potential you have to stand out in this field. This includes an understanding of the market landscape, customer needs, operational processes, and team goals. Having this knowledge allows a data analyst to ask data the right questions and come up with answers that are truly useful for problem-solving and business development.
4. Insight VS Actionable insight
A skilled data analyst can distinguish between insights and actionable insights. While insights provide a deep and accurate understanding of our business, actionable insights are what we are really after. These are insights that allow us to identify the problems or areas for business development and provide solutions that can be acted upon. This kind of insight is derived from selecting the right data and asking the data the right questions.
5. Tell a simple but interesting story through data
Another thing that will make you an outstanding data analyst in the market is the ability to tell a story interestingly while keeping it concise and easy to understand.
Mastering storytelling can be a significant edge as a data analyst, as most people tend to be attracted to a narrative rather than a boring presentation of raw data. Moreover, data contains details that can be confusing, causing the audience to overlook the significant points in the data. Effective storytelling comes in to help capture and emphasize these insights.
But at the same time, it is equally important to maintain a concise and straightforward storytelling approach. Overcomplicating a narrative can obscure its core message. As such, we should focus on conveying our message in a quick, digestible way as possible to ensure all key points are captured. A good data analyst must be able to pick up technical data, statistics, and analytical findings and communicate them effectively to business stakeholders, who are not familiar with the subject matter, in a precise, clear, and easily understandable way, enabling people to make informed decisions upon that.
6. Good at communication and collaboration
The role of a data analyst involves collaborating with multiple departments within the organization, including a technical team, a business team, or for some organizations, external customers. Possessing excellent communication, management, and collaboration skills, along with a friendly and approachable character, can give data analysts a competitive edge to be exceptional. It enables data analysts to better understand the team's requirements and business problems, allowing them to come up with optimal data-driven solutions.
7. Keep learning new skills and tools
Endless learning is the key to success for many people, and the same holds true for data analysts. A competent data analyst must always be willing to learn. For example, they should be open to adopting new tools instead of relying solely on familiar ones and be open to innovative techniques such as new approaches to presenting data or cutting-edge data visualization tools. This is because the field of data, particularly in today's rapidly changing world, is constantly evolving. Therefore, becoming an outstanding data analyst requires a consistent commitment to lifelong learning.
8. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and learn from it
Fear of making mistakes impedes our ability to think creatively, which is the core of being an exceptional data analyst. This kind of data analyst is not afraid to try new things, think differently, or experiment with new tools, even if it means making mistakes along the way. Moreover, they learn from those mistakes and use them as opportunities to grow. By doing so, we can move closer towards becoming outstanding data analysts.
9. Know when to stop
When analyzing data for each project, a proficient data analyst knows when to stop. For instance, if during a project, we already found solutions for over 80 percent of the problems but are still struggling with the remaining 20 percent. Spending time and effort on the remaining 20 percent wastes over 50 percent of your time that should be allocated to the next task. A proficient data analyst knows when to stop and move on to the more important and value-added tasks.
At Sertis, we value learning-by-doing approach with teammates who are willing to help and develop together. We offer plenty of room for data analysts to learn and grow with us. Our clients come from a wide range of industries, which allows our data analysts to develop all the technical skills that are vital in different businesses, as well as teamwork and communication skills. Sertis is the ideal place to develop these 9 soft skills and grow exponentially in the field of data.
Join us and become a part of the Sertis team. Check out our available positions at: https://www.careers.sertiscorp. com/jobs