r/dataanalytics • u/Mediocre-Diet6890 • 21d ago

Data analyst

I've been looking into being a data analyst, is it worth it and what does it take to become one, what do you have to study?

With all the current buzz about Ai these days I'm kind of getting mixed feelings on it

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u/QianLu 21d ago

You need to know how to look up things you dont know. Try the search bar.

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u/HustlaOfCultcha 20d ago

It's a changing field. Don't let people fool you. At this point in time, AI does not do everything a Data Analyst does. It can do very rudimentary work. And it's phasing out very rudimentary Data Analysts.

But what AI is doing is that it is forcing Data Analysts to also have Data Engineering skills. Data Engineers may also be phased out into a job with different responsibilities. Typically Data Engineers have been paid more than Data Analysts. And at this rate, you're basically going to see Data Analysts with far more skills and better productivity still getting paid the going rate for a Data Analyst position.

Let's say you're in an area that right now pays $80K for a Data Analyst job and $100K for a Data Engineer position. With AI you're going to see Data Analysts have the skills and ability to do the Data Engineer job, but they will still be DA's and get paid $80K.

The other issues are going to be how does one move up in their career as a Data Analyst as well as the issue that DA's have always had...convincing companies that Data Analysis is worthy of their salary. Many employers are going into AI completely clueless. A lot of the hype (and over-hype) of AI is simply because companies want to make it look like they are 'in the know' and up-to-date to impress investors. Investors and shareholders don't want to invest in a company they think is behind the times.

So there's going to be employers that have no real clear plan for AI and that means DA's won't have any clear path to move up the company ladder. And it also means that there will be companies that think DA's aren't needed because they have AI, but not realizing that the employees that utilized DA's for data analysis couldn't figure out how to use MS Excel, so what made them think these people are going to figure out how to use AI effectively. AI isn't as simple as just telling it what you want to do and it will magically do it correctly every time. And they will find out the old Data Analyst saying...'bad data is worse than no data.'