*None of the below companies are sponsors or in any way affiliated with PathMatch. All information in this article is based on the individual opinions of and research conducted by our writer(s).*
By Lexie Brada
Before we get into any of the skills you need for these jobs, we need to talk about a pair of terms that you’ll hear very often in this article and in the hiring world, and if you don’t already know, make it a goal to add them to your vocabulary:
Hard Skills and Soft Skills.
A ‘hard skill’ vs a ‘soft skill’ is not talking about the theoretical difficulties of mastering these skills. Some hard skills can be very easy to learn and some soft skills can be incredibly difficult to master.
Rather, when one talks about ‘hard skills’ and ‘soft skills’, they’re comparing the way you learn these skills, or how you get the knowledge.
Still confused? No worries, let’s break it down.
Hard Skills
Hard skills are the qualifications on your resume that get your foot in the door. You can’t be born with a hard skill. Instead, hard skills are learned, either through work, education, or other training. Hard skills are also measurable. In fact, some interview processes can include testing of these skills, such as Excel or coding, so Hiring Managers can get a quantifiable evaluation of your skills.
The hard skills you’ll need are going to be specific toward your career field, since these skills encompass what you’ll be using in your day-to-day.
Soft Skills
Soft skills are the skills that are much harder to define and harder to teach, but they are just as important in your career. If hard skills are what you’ll do, soft skills define how and how well you’ll do it. For example, say you’re highly skilled in Tableau, a data visualization tool used to present data and finding through visual representation. In order to best present insights to stakeholders and other teams, you will also need strong communication and storytelling skills.
The average person spends around 90,000 hours at their job, so you’ll be around your coworkers more than family. Having great soft skills not only makes you better at your job, but it also makes you an enjoyable person to work with, which means people will want to work with you and see you succeed. In fact, a LinkedIn survey shows that 57% of employers value soft skills over hard ones.
Another reason soft skills are valued is that they transfer easily from job to job. Companies may use a different development stack, a new mailing service, or even a different project management system, but being able to communicate and adapt under pressure will start adding value on day one.
Now that we know what a ‘hard skill’ and a ‘soft skill’ is, let’s take a look at what the job itself entails, which of these skills you’ll need, and some places to gain these skills.
Data Analysis
A Day in the Life
We live in a data-driven world in which the majority of businesses make decisions backed by numbers. Simply having access to those numbers isn’t enough, however. In order to do well in a competitive market, companies need to be able to extract and understand information from this data to make informed business decisions. That’s where a Data Analyst comes in.
Work Responsibilities
- Manage the data pipeline process with assistance from the engineering team
- Transform raw data into insightful findings
- Build reports, dashboards, and run analyses needed by various teams (ex: Customer success - dashboard and alerts for underperforming accounts, Marketing - gauge performance of specific content, Sales - analyze email campaigns, page visits, and sales information to improve sales funnel)
- Effectively present insights from quantitative analysis
Hard Skills
- Programming
- Data Warehousing
- Predictive Modeling
- Statistics
- Data Analysis
- Data Mining
- SQL (Structured Query Language)
- Excel
- Tableau / Power BI / Google Analytics / Mailchimp
Soft Skills
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Research
- Attention to Detail
- Presentation Skills
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration / Teamwork
How to get these hard skills:
- Google Data Analytics Certificate
- Data Analytics Basics for Everyone by IBM
- Data Science: Inference and Modeling (FREE)
- Data Warehousing for Business
- Predictive Analytics and Modeling for Decision Making ($84.99)
- Statistics for Data Science and Business Analysis ($84.99)
- Data Mining Specialization
- Learn SQL
- Work Smarter with Microsoft Excel
- Tableau Training
- Power BI Training
- Mailchimp Academy
Interested in exploring this job, the skills it takes to break into this career, or still looking for that perfect fit in the workforce? Download the Pathmatch app to discover companies that match your interests, strengths, and goals! Pathmatch can help find the perfect career fit for you!
