Data & Analytics Career Guide
Analytics professionals transform raw data into insights that power decisions. They build dashboards, run experiments, and enable teams to act confidently.
median us salary
$125K
Data Analyst III · jobboardai, 2025
key deliverables
Dashboards · Experimentation · Forecasts
Analytics teams support product, marketing, finance, and ops.
most requested tools
SQL · dbt · Tableau
Analytics engineering skills are increasingly bundled into analyst roles.
salary outlook
Total compensation can include annual bonuses tied to company performance. Some teams offer education stipends for certifications.
Entry-level data analyst / analytics engineer
$70K–$124K
Builds dashboards, writes SQL, supports ad-hoc requests.
Mid-level data analyst / analytics engineer
$99K–$150K
Owns end-to-end analyses, designs experiments, mentors junior analysts.
Senior-level data analyst / analytics engineer
$130K–$196K
Leads analytics strategy, evangelizes self-serve data, advises executives.
Director+ data analyst / analytics engineer
$200K–$255K
Manages analytics orgs, defines data governance, shapes company-wide data culture.
experience roadmap
Demonstrate progression by showing how you increased scope, cross functional influence, and measurable outcomes.
master the toolkit
Advanced SQL, data modeling, and dashboard design. Learn to translate requests into analysis plans.
drive experimentation
Own A/B test design, instrumentation, and causal analysis. Build automated reporting suites.
become a strategic partner
Define analytics roadmaps, evangelize self-serve data, and advise executives on data-driven bets.
day-to-day impact
- Meets with stakeholders to scope questions and align success metrics.
- Writes efficient SQL to extract, transform, and validate data across sources.
- Builds dashboards and scheduled reports that surface leading indicators.
- Runs experiments or scenario modeling to recommend next best actions.
Decision Storytelling
Hiring managers want analysts who translate insights into recommendations backed by clear visuals.
Data Reliability
Owning quality checks, lineage, and documentation sets great analysts apart from report builders.
core skill clusters
analytics core
- Advanced SQL & window functions
- Statistics & experimentation
- Data visualization best practices
- Forecasting & scenario modeling
modern data stack
- dbt & modular data modeling
- Python/R for analysis automation
- AI/ML integration for analytics
- Version control (Git) and CI for analytics
business partnership
- Stakeholder management
- Requirements gathering
- Storytelling with decks
- Data governance & privacy basics
tools & platforms
top companies hiring
sample roles to target
trend highlights
- Analytics engineers blur the line between data engineering and analysis—dbt and data contracts are hot skills.
- Companies want proactive analysts. Expect to share examples where you identified an opportunity without a direct request.
- GenAI tooling is emerging to accelerate data exploration, but SQL fluency remains the foundation.
certifications that resonate
- dbt Analytics Engineering Certification
- Google Professional Data Analyst
- Tableau Certified Data Analyst
resources to level up
Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
Comprehensive curriculum covering data cleaning, analysis, visualization, and R/Python basics.
dbt Learn
Free courses covering modern data modeling, testing, and documentation workflows.
Mode SQL Tutorial
Hands-on SQL practice that teaches analytical thinking with real datasets.
Portfolio Dashboards
Share Loom walk-throughs of dashboards you built, focusing on decisions that changed because of your work.
Data Contract Mindset
Highlight how you partner with engineering to define reliable schemas, tests, and alerting for data pipelines.
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