Want to know the secrets to landing a job as an analytics professional? I went straight to the source – the expert speakers of Analytics 2013 to find out.
Here’s some of their advice…
What advice would you give students considering a job in analytics and those already in the workforce to put themselves in a position to pursue these jobs?
Focus on delivering impact to the business you are interested in. For example, if you are a finance major, focus on analytics that will result in eliminating waste in operational expenses impacting the bottom line. Or, analytics that will optimize the pricing structures that drive revenue to the top line. There must be as much emphasis on business acumen as technical skill. Both are necessary to succeed in an analytics career. - Rex Pruitt, Capgemini
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Analytics is the art of use science. - Carlos Andre Reis Pinheiro, KU Leuven, Belgium
Enroll in Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business Data Mining Program under Dr. Chakraborty. I’ve hired eight students from there and will hire more! They have a great online program as well. - Dmitriy Khots, West Corp.
Data, or more precisely how to get the data you want, is the key. In school, students are in general dealing with clean and much smaller size of data. They should learn how to use ETL process to get much larger enterprise data scatter in many different systems. - Jack Chen, Dell
What skills or training would you consider core to any big data job?
A good combination of technical software skills (programming), statistics, mathematics, strategic thought, business competency, accounting, data management, data modeling, presentation, and communication. - Rex Pruitt, Capgemini
High Performance Analytics, MapReduce, Hadoop, Grid Computing. - Carlos Andre Reis Pinheiro, KU Leuven, Belgium
Statistics and tools (SAS, SPSS, R, etc), SQL and other programming languages, data visualization skills (Tableau, JMP, etc) and most importantly common sense! - Dmitriy Khots, West Corp.
SQL, programming for data manipulations, such as SAS Data steps, and statistical modeling. - Jack Chen, Dell
The Analytics 2013 conference on Oct. 21-22 in Orlando, FL is a great way to network with hundreds of professionals. Here’s a list of all the special events and networking opportunities available at the conference.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
