If you have an analytical mindset & love decoding data to tell a story, you may want lớn consider a career as a data analyst or data scientist. After all, data analysts & data scientists are two of the hottest jobs in tech (and pay pretty well, too). Harvard Business đánh giá even awarded “data scientist” the title of “sexiest job of the 21st century.”
Data science and analytics (DSA) jobs are in high demand. According to Forbes, “…by 2020, the number of data science và analytics job listings is projected to lớn grow by nearly 364,000 listings to approximately 2,720,000.” They aren’t the easiest positions to lớn fill, either. Forbes goes on khổng lồ say that DSA jobs “remain open an average of 45 days, five days longer than the market average.”
But what is the difference between data analytics vs. Data science, and how do the two job roles differ?
Even people who have some basic knowledge of data science have confused the data scientist & data analyst roles. So, what’s the difference between a data scientist and a data analyst? Both work with data, but the key difference is what they bởi with this data.
Data analysts sift through data and seek to identify trends. What stories bởi the numbers tell? What business decisions can be made based on these insights? They may also create visual representations, such as charts và graphs to better showcase what the data reveals.
Data scientists are pros at interpreting data, but also tend to have coding và mathematical modeling expertise. Most data scientists hold an advanced degree, và many actually went from data analyst khổng lồ data scientist. They can do the work of a data analyst, but are also hands-on in machine learning, skilled with advanced programming, & can create new processes for data modeling. They can work with algorithms, predictive models, và more.
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Related: Machine Learning Engineer vs. Data Scientist—Who Does What?
Now that we’ve identified the key differences between a data analyst và a data scientist, let’s dig a bit deeper. As we proceed, we’ll answer the questions:
Data analyst vs. Data scientist: what degree vì they need?Data analyst vs. Data scientist: what vì they actually do? Data analyst vs. Data scientist: what is the average salary?Data Scientist vs. Data Analyst: What They Do
What Does a Data Analyst Do?
Data analysts sift through data and provide reports and visualizations to lớn explain what insights the data is hiding. When somebody helps people from across the company understand specific queries with charts, they are filling the data analyst role. In some ways, you can think of them as junior data scientists, or the first step on the way lớn a data science job.
Related: Data Visualization Trends for Millennials
What Does a Data Scientist Do?
At its core, a data scientist’s job is lớn collect & analyze data, garner actionable insights, and share those insights with their company.
“Doing Data Science,” a book based on Columbia University’s Introduction lớn Data Science class, describes a data scientist as someone who “spends a lot of time in the process of collecting, cleaning, và munging data, because data is never clean.”
The book goes on to lớn explain that once the data is clean, “a crucial part is exploratory data analysis, which combines visualization & data sense. She’ll find patterns, build models, & algorithms—some with the intention of understanding sản phẩm usage and the overall health of the product, & others to serve as prototypes that ultimately get baked back into the product. She may design experiments, & she is a critical part of data-driven decision making. She’ll communicate with team members, engineers, và leadership.”
So, not only must a data scientist know how to collect and clean data, but they must also know how khổng lồ build algorithms, find patterns, thiết kế experiments, and share the results of the data with team members in an easily digestible format.
Data Scientist vs. Data Analyst: Role Requirements
What Are the Requirements for a Data Analyst?
A typical data analyst job description requires the applicant to lớn have an undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) degree. An advanced degree is a “nice khổng lồ have,” but is not required. However, the applicant must also have strong skills in math, science, programming, databases, modeling, & predictive analytics. Khổng lồ get an understanding of the role requirements for a data analyst, we looked at job postings on Glassdoor.
At their core, most required:
Degree in mathematics, statistics, or business, with an analytics focusExperience working with languages such as SQL/CQL, R, PythonA strong combination of analytical skills, intellectual curiosity, & reporting acumenFamiliarity with agile development methodologyExceptional facility with Excel and OfficeStrong written and verbal communication skillsRelated: How to Create a Potent Data Analyst Resume
What Are the Role Requirements for a Data Scientist?
(Glassdoor estimates the salary for this type of role to lớn be $168,000.)
A job posting for a thành phố new york City-based data scientist at IBM states the responsibilities as:
(Glassdoor estimates the salary for this role to lớn be $138,000.)
Data Scientist vs. Data Analyst: How Much vày They Earn?
How Much Does a Data Analyst Make?
A recent study by PWC estimated that there will be 2.7 million job postings for data analysts và data scientists by 2020. The study goes on lớn say that candidates must be “T-shaped,” which means they must not only have the analytical & technical skills, but also “soft skills such as communication, creativity, & teamwork.”
Finding someone who has the ideal blend of right-brain và left-brain skills is not an easy task, which is one reason why data analysts are paid well. According to lớn Glassdoor, the average salary for a data analyst is $84,000. Like all jobs, however, data analyst salaries vary by industry. Find out which industry pays the highest data analyst salary (and here’s information about freelance data analysis work).
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How Much Does a Data Scientist Make?We previously gave some examples of what a data scientist in Silicon Valley and thành phố new york City can make, và it’s not far from the average. According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a data scientist is $162,000.
Becoming a data scientist isn’t easy, yet the demand for data science skills continues khổng lồ grow. According lớn LinkedIn’s August 2018 Workforce Report, “data science skills shortages are present in almost every large U.S. City. Nationally, we have a shortage of 151,717 people with data science skills, with particularly acute shortages in
Final Thoughts
To summarize the questions we posed at the beginning:
Data analyst vs. Data scientist: bởi they require an advanced degree?A data scientist does, but a data analyst does not.Data analyst vs. Data scientist: what vì they actually do?A data scientist works in programming in addition to lớn analyzing numbers, while a data analyst is more likely to just analyze data.Data analyst vs. Data scientist: which has a higher average salary?A data scientist has a higher average salary.More work goes into becoming a data scientist than a data analyst, but the reward is a lot greater as well. If you excel in math, statistics, & programming and have an advanced degree in one of those fields, then it sounds like you’d be a perfect candidate for a career in data science.
However, if you are early in your career và are great with numbers but still need lớn hone your data modeling and coding skills, then you’d be better suited for a job as a data analyst. You can think of a data analyst as a stepping stone to becoming a data scientist, if that is your final goal.
Both data analytics and data science are growing and lucrative fields, và you can’t go wrong with either. Looking lớn prepare for data analytics roles? check out haberindunyasi.com’s Data Analytics Career Track. You’ll learn both the technical & business thinking skills lớn get hired—job guaranteed!
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