What makes a data analyst excellent?

Before we dissect the nature of analytical excellence, let’s start with a quick summary of three common misconceptions about analytics from Part 1:

1. Analytics is statistics. (No.)
2. Analytics is data journalism / marketing / storytelling. (No.)
3. Analytics is decision-making. (No!)

Misconception #1: Analytics versus statistics

While the tools and equations they use are similar, analysts and statisticians are trained to do very different jobs:

• Analytics helps you form hypotheses, improving the quality of your questions.
• Statistics helps you test hypotheses, improving the quality of your answers.

If you’d like to learn more about these professions, check out my article “Can analysts and statisticians get along?”

Misconception #2: Analytics versus journalism/marketing

Analytics is not marketing. The difference is that analytics is about expanding the decision-maker’s perspective while marketing is about narrowing it.

Similarly, data journalism is about capturing the interest of many people in a small way, while analytics is about serving the needs of a few people in a big way. The analyst serves their decision-maker(s) first and foremost.

Misconception #3: Analytics versus decision-making

If I’m your analyst, I’m not here to choose for you (even though I might have more domain expertise than you). You’d have to promote me to decision-maker for that to be an ethical thing to do.

If you want someone to work as an analyst-decision-maker hybrid, understand that you’re asking for two roles rolled into one and assign that responsibility explicitly.

#data-science #artificial-intelligence #data #analytics #technology #data analysis

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Data Validation in Excel

Data Validation in Excel

In this tutorial, let’s discuss what data validation is and how it can be implemented in MS-Excel. Let’s start!!!

What Is Data Validation in Excel?

Data Validation is one of the features in MS-Excel which helps in maintaining the consistency of the data in the spreadsheet. It controls the type of data that can enter in the data validated cells.

Data Validation in MS Excel

Now, let’s have a look at how data validation works and how to implement it in the worksheet:

To apply data validation for the cells, then follow the steps.

1: Choose to which all cells the validation of data should work.

2: Click on the DATA tab.

3: Go to the Data Validation option.

4: Choose the drop down option in it and click on the Data Validation.

Once you click on the data validation menu from the ribbon, a box appears with the list of data validation criteria, Input message and error message.

Let’s first understand, what is an input message and error message?

Once, the user clicks the cell, the input message appears in a small box near the cell.

If the user violates the condition of that particular cell, then the error message pops up in a box in the spreadsheet.

The advantage of both the messages is that the input and as well as the error message guide the user about how to fill the cells. Both the messages are customizable also.

Let us have a look at how to set it up and how it works with a sample

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Your Data Architecture: Simple Best Practices for Your Data Strategy

If you accumulate data on which you base your decision-making as an organization, you should probably think about your data architecture and possible best practices.

If you accumulate data on which you base your decision-making as an organization, you most probably need to think about your data architecture and consider possible best practices. Gaining a competitive edge, remaining customer-centric to the greatest extent possible, and streamlining processes to get on-the-button outcomes can all be traced back to an organization’s capacity to build a future-ready data architecture.

In what follows, we offer a short overview of the overarching capabilities of data architecture. These include user-centricity, elasticity, robustness, and the capacity to ensure the seamless flow of data at all times. Added to these are automation enablement, plus security and data governance considerations. These points from our checklist for what we perceive to be an anticipatory analytics ecosystem.

#big data #data science #big data analytics #data analysis #data architecture #data transformation #data platform #data strategy #cloud data platform #data acquisition

Getting Started With Data Lakes

Frameworks for Efficient Enterprise Analytics

The opportunities big data offers also come with very real challenges that many organizations are facing today. Often, it’s finding the most cost-effective, scalable way to store and process boundless volumes of data in multiple formats that come from a growing number of sources. Then organizations need the analytical capabilities and flexibility to turn this data into insights that can meet their specific business objectives.

This Refcard dives into how a data lake helps tackle these challenges at both ends — from its enhanced architecture that’s designed for efficient data ingestion, storage, and management to its advanced analytics functionality and performance flexibility. You’ll also explore key benefits and common use cases.

Introduction

As technology continues to evolve with new data sources, such as IoT sensors and social media churning out large volumes of data, there has never been a better time to discuss the possibilities and challenges of managing such data for varying analytical insights. In this Refcard, we dig deep into how data lakes solve the problem of storing and processing enormous amounts of data. While doing so, we also explore the benefits of data lakes, their use cases, and how they differ from data warehouses (DWHs).

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This is a preview of the Getting Started With Data Lakes Refcard. To read the entire Refcard, please download the PDF from the link above.

#big data #data analytics #data analysis #business analytics #data warehouse #data storage #data lake #data lake architecture #data lake governance #data lake management

Data Analyst vs. Data Scientist

Stylised as the sexiest job of the 21st century, data science has emerged as one of the most in-demand professions of recent years — taking hold with a hype that normally only surrounds celebrities. Companies worldwide put lucrative salaries, prestige and the privilege of wielding influence up for grabs to attract analytical talent. Behind all the hype is a growing importance of digital data that’s currently transforming the way we live and work.
It’s no wonder that more and more enthusiasts want to break into this new field. But before venturing into data science and analytics with one’s eyes closed, aspirants are well advised to inform themselves about available routes first. Interested candidates are encouraged to begin their journey by identifying entry points and requirements, by finding out more about how the various data subfields differ from one another, and how their CV needs refinement prior to submitting job applications.

#data-analyst-jobs #data-scientist #data-analyst #data-scientist-skills #data-science

4 Tips To Become A Successful Entry-Level Data Analyst

Companies across every industry rely on big data to make strategic decisions about their business, which is why data analyst roles are constantly in demand. Even as we transition to more automated data collection systems, data analysts remain a crucial piece in the data puzzle. Not only do they build the systems that extract and organize data, but they also make sense of it –– identifying patterns, trends, and formulating actionable insights.

If you think that an entry-level data analyst role might be right for you, you might be wondering what to focus on in the first 90 days on the job. What skills should you have going in and what should you focus on developing in order to advance in this career path?

Let’s take a look at the most important things you need to know.

#data #data-analytics #data-science #data-analysis #big-data-analytics #data-privacy #data-structures #good-company