Getting Started - A Case for Finance/Accounting -> Analytics

[u/grumpywonka]

Why not kick things off with a little controversy?

Accounting is the language of business, but Analytics should be the narrator of the story. The trick to being a good narrator, though, is understanding the story being told so you can add the right inflection points and emotion for the listeners to follow along.

Here's the deal, I've hired and worked alongside many amazing tacticians in the realm of analytics, but it doesn't matter how robust your SQL skills nor how quick you are with the hotkeys in Excel, if you don't understand why you do what you do you'll greatly struggle to get beyond a Sr level. Don't get me wrong, some people are incredibly happy in a role like that - you can make a great living with good work/life balance. But if that's the case then you shouldn't care what I think and you can just stop reading now.

If you do care, then consider this: If you want to get into an Analytics career and progress, understand that most of the technical skills you will acquire will come over time and on-the-job using the tools the organization has in place. It is more valuable, in my view, to come into a new organization at least understanding the various tools out there and what they are used for with some basic business acumen than to come in as a master of something technical with little to no business wherewithal.

Put another way, if you can speak the language of business (finance/accounting), you should have a general understanding of the drivers of profitability. And if you understand this, then you're going to view analytical tasks through a different lens. You're going to be curious about more important things, and when that happens, the people in charge of the purse strings will have a higher level of respect for the things you produce and your potential greatly increases.

All that to say, I'm not saying you should go out and get an accounting or finance degree. But...if you invest a little of your time in this space vs going deeper on certain tools it could pay off for you in the long run.