Data Analyst

A data analyst is the professional who examines an organization’s existing data to answer specific business questions, spot trends and help make informed decisions. Unlike a data scientist ✕ A data scientist extracts insight and value from large amounts of data, combining statistics, programming and models — including AI — to help make better decisions. More in the glossary → , who focuses more on predicting the future and building models, the analyst usually works with what has already happened: gathering the information, cleaning it, exploring it and summarising it in easy-to-understand reports and dashboards. Their usual tools are SQL queries, spreadsheets and visualisation platforms like Power BI or Tableau, sometimes with a little Python or R. An essential part of the job is communication: turning the numbers into clear, actionable conclusions for non-technical people. It is a very common entry point into the world of data and a much sought-after role.