10 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Becoming a Data Analyst in 2022 (2024)

Data analyst job might sometimes become a tedious one, look before you leap!

Currently, entering into a data science and analytics career is one of the primal choices for tech aspirants. Data analytics has turned into one of the most important parts of modern business enterprises in understanding the market trends and delivering the best results to its customers. Data professionals have to analyze tons of data collected from data analytics software and tools. This explosion of data is driving the industry to look for more skilled and talented data analyst professionals because as data collection grows in sophistication and scope, it is inevitable that businesses will want completely make use of that data. But even after the industry’s growth and demand, several tech professionals are wishing they hadn’t chosen this career path. Several data professionals have defined data analytics as a stressful career. So, if you are someone planning on taking up data analytics and science as a career, it is high time that you rethink and make an informed decision. In this article, we have listed the top reasons why you should avoid choosing a data analyst career so that you can effectively make strategic career choices.

The concept of learning throughout your career

Data analytics can be an extremely broad term. Data means different for different companies, hence, professionals will need to learn specific skillsets, every time they join a new company. Some companies desire machine learning knowledge, whereas, others may focus more on programming languages. And since data analytics is a multidisciplinary job, you will be expected to possess a broad variety of skills including business understanding and technical skills, which might not always be possible.

Your degree is not enough

Acquiring a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in the required field might not be enough to get you a headstart in your career. You need to understand the intimidation that comes from command-line interfaces, working with big databases, and such other tasks. Only then you will be able to effectively counter the type of problems that data professionals face on a daily basis, in real-time.

The task of constantly negotiating, communicating and educating business stakeholders

Not only should you possess the knowledge of handling data in a way that business profits, but you should also be able to negotiate efficiently. You have to sell your ideas for new data analyst initiatives to business stakeholders, and also push them for additional resources, like new technologies, more labor, more storage, and so on.

You have to constantly be resourceful

When it comes to the data science and analytics industry, it is not quite popular for handing out favors. At the end of the day, it is the job of the data professionals to get the job done, be resourceful and find the answers to their problems, themselves. Data professionals are responsible for scheduling meetings with relevant stakeholders and learning more about the business problems, the desired outcomes, and forming strategies accordingly.

Executing the most difficult tasks on your own

Working on tasks like building machine learning models might seem fun, but data analytics is not just that! A massive portion of your time will be spent on understanding the idea, understanding where the data is coming from, and ensuring it is authentic. And if the data is not satisfactory, you will have to build a data pipeline to extract the desired data.

The requirement of possessing meaningful industry connections

Data analytics is not a domain where advanced skills can get your career to new highs. If you are someone looking for ways to build a career in this industry, you need to constantly keep in touch with industry professionals. Attend hackathons and meetings, establish your LinkedIn and Twitter connections, and do not limit yourself to your current company. The more valuable connections you have, the more established your profile will be in front of your employers.

You have to be crazy enough to get unexpected results all the time

Crazy ideas are the only best ideas. And as a data analyst or a scientist, you need to have plenty of those. You will be responsible for yielding unexpected and crazy solutions, and this requires being on an extraordinary level, always. You have to keep the spark of awesomeness, always enlightened.

Your employer will be business-centric

Your employers might not always be tech-savvy professionals, and might not possess much knowledge about data analysis and big data science. And this might become a problem since your team might be given a task that requires months of work, but from a business point of view, this might not be a favorable choice. But, this is where you can show off your people skills and explain why it would be ideal to take up space while working on that particular issue.

Textbook knowledge won’t work

As mentioned above, data analytics might not be the career that you can successfully accomplish with the help of degrees and textbook knowledge. You have to get your hands dirty and learn about the practical skills that can actually get you your dream job or position. Even for beginners, it would be excellent if they could work on volunteer projects or several internships and enhance their knowledge regarding industry-based knowledge.

Are you really interested in business?

Before entering into your data analytics career, you have to question yourself repeatedly if you are really interested in understanding business propaganda and strategies because as a data analyst or a scientist, it would be your duty to understand the business and yield results accordingly. And if you are unable to do it, data might not be the right choice for you.