What does a data analytics consultant do?

Data analytics are primarily involved in offering expert advice to data management professionals. Through their expertise they assist the teams to enhance their data analysis processes and help managers select appropriate data analysis programs and software for them. In case you are interested in building a career as a data analytics consultant, seeking more knowledge about it can be highly advantageous. You can do this by learning more about top data analytics certifications. In this article, for your convenience, we have brought to you an overview on who are data analytics consultants, their roles and responsibilities, and the skills required to become a data analytics consultant.

Who are data analytics consultants?

Data analytics consultants are the ones who are primarily involved in offering guidance and right direction to professionals willing to enhance their data analytics processes. Data analytics consultants are often seen working independently and are self employed, however, at times they can be seen working in the corporate sector or being involved with consulting firms. They make use of software for assessing the efficacy and accuracy of data analytics processes and help business leaders to design strategies accordingly. These days most of the data analytics consultants are found to have worked for about ten years as data analysts or data specialists before starting their career as data analytics consultants.

Key Roles and Responsibilities of Data Analytics Consultants

Some of the primary roles and responsibilities taken care of data analytics consultants are:

  • Offering proper guidance on managing data and governance
  • Designing, developing, and managing databases along with data flows
  • Developing different data models for process enhancements
  • Addressing loopholes in data processing across different business units
  • Evaluating data and processes for assessing the present situation and evaluating future problems and opportunities.
  • Getting engaged in data management, data integration, data warehousing and data migration.
  • Sharing opinions and recommendations on various areas of business to enhance data usage.
  • Mentoring and training employees on different areas such as entering data, analyzing data and using data in various ways.
  • Following set protocols for processing confidential data
  • Developing and designing reports, dashboards and data visualizations utilizing a wide range of systems.
  • Offering technical expertise on data cleaning and storing.

How One Can Become Data Analytics Consultant

For becoming a data analytics consultant, the career path chosen by you will depend entirely upon your career objectives, educational background and professional experience. Given below are the steps you can follow to become a data analytics consultant:

Find out if it’s an appropriate career for you

The first and foremost step towards becoming a data analytics consultant is to find out if it’s the right career choice for you. Being a data analytics consultant, you will be required to spend a long span of time at their desks using computers to accomplish their tasks. In case you enjoy playing with numbers, solving problems, working with technology, choosing the career option as a data analytics consultant might be the right choice for you.

Explore Relevant Education Options

Most of the employers need the data analytics consultants to have a bachelor’s degree in relevant fields such as Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics or Data Science. Furthermore, employers expect potential candidates to have a bachelor’s degree in data analytics or a related field, or have a certificate in data analytics. Having a data analytics certification will help you gain the attention of employers and help them to understand your knowledge and skills related to data analytics and whether you are fit for the role.

Gain Related Work Experience

Gaining related experience of working with data can be highly beneficial for you to enhance your technical skills. While studying, try to gain maximum experience in data analytics by volunteering for projects where you can get access to live data and learn in detail about data management and analytics. Also, you can look for entry level positions that can give you the chance to explore data, analyze it and maintain databases and dataflows.

Consider Becoming Self Employed or Apply for Consultant Job Role

After gaining sufficient knowledge and skills, you can either consider becoming self employed or work in a consulting firm. For becoming self employed, you can design and develop a website and portfolio stating your data analysis and consulting services. And to work in a consulting firm, you can start working on your resume and write a cover letter that explains in detail about your skills, experience and candidature.