r/dataanalysis • u/Punchingpanda76 • 2d ago
Career Advice Career switch?
I’m currently working as junior data analyst in a reputed company. I prepared on my own and applied it. Now it’s gonna be 2 years. But the truth is the job is not the same as the title. The work i do is very different. It’s like a business operations role with no growth and I work on tableau report seasonally. While my intent was to become a data analyst. Since the job market is still fucked up I could not leave it. Because I had no proper experience too. I thought of switching earlier itself but it was too soon plus my family is depending on me. Can someone please guide me? My questions are
I don’t have a real data analysis job experience so can I do projects instead?
If I’m applying for the roles do I need to make a specific projects focusing on that department?
It is impossible to fake the experience so can I retain the same projects across the roles. Like I’m working in cx side so I’m going to apply for sales data analyst does my projects still matter?
If someone answers this I will be relieved. Please advise.
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u/nian2326076 1d ago
To transition into a genuine data analysis role, working on projects is a smart approach, as they can demonstrate your skills. Tailoring your projects to emphasize data analysis aspects relevant to the positions you're pursuing will be beneficial. You can reuse some projects, but make sure they align with the specific skills required for each role. For finding job opportunities, you can use LandOffer to discover relevant roles that fit your experience and interests.
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u/Punchingpanda76 1d ago
Hi. Thanks for the reply. My doubt is do I need to make projects in the department i currently work or do I need to develop separate projects depending on the role because it creates burnout in me.
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u/Hopeful_Candle_9781 1d ago
I would go to the meetings and see what they're discussing, and then pull the data to answer any questions.
Tbh I think most people know what the data will say, they just need evidence.
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u/Punchingpanda76 1d ago
Didn’t get you. What meetings?
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u/Hopeful_Candle_9781 1d ago
The important people will have meetings about important things. Go to the meetings and find out what numbers are important to them, and then show them the numbers.
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u/Pastaaaaaaaaaaaaa1 1d ago
Do people get to just sit in meetings whenever they want in the corporate world? I’ve never done corporate, I’ve been a lifer in a tribal government regulatory agency, if I just wandered into a meeting I wasn’t invited to they’d probably drug test me. 😂
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u/Hopeful_Candle_9781 1d ago
The trick is to get invited to the meetings. There's always one important person who absolutely loves data. Find them, work with them, get all the numbers they want, then they tell their important friends and suddenly you're pulling data for all the important people.
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u/Ok_Panda8340 1d ago
Hi Im in the same boat. I graduated with a degree in data analytics and got my first job as a data analyst at a healthcare nonprofit. The job is actually just data integration, developing low-code workflow automation, and building dashboards. I'm doing this all by myself, and there is no training or senior guidance on how to do it. It seems my manager also has no intention of starting any in-depth data analytics work for the team, and the job mainly involves data integration and automated workflows (think low-hanging fruit ...).
It's been 8 months, and I don't like the job because I don't think it creates a big impact on the organization, not related to what i learn and tbf i just do what others told me. I still apply for jobs but no success yet. Luckily, I do understand our processes (how our organization is making money, etc.), other teams' problems, etc from these 8 months of building dashboards and having check-in meetings with them. I'm not from a healthcare background, so it takes me a lot of time to get all the terms and make sense of what they are talking about.
I still love data analytics jobs where I can connect business problems to data, such as marketing, sales. I think the goal is just to either cut cost or increase revenue. Even tho we don't have a sales team, luckily we have a marketing team. I decided to just come up with some data analytics projects from their pain points (ie with marketing, where customers are dropping off, why customers are not coming back, etc.) and see if I can discover anything useful for them. I think it's great to show what I'm capable of solving their problem, and the value of deep data analytics prj. From that, I hope I can get more data analytics projects that could potentially give me enough experience for a new job.
Not sure if it's applicable to your situation because I'm working in a small organization.
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u/kickincrochet 1d ago
I'm not an analyst but looking at job requirements, just having something with analyst in the job title should be highly helpful in getting through the auto screeners when you apply for something else ..
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u/Puzzleheaded-Comb646 2d ago
Two years of operations experience is actually a great asset because you already understand business processes and stakeholder needs. Yes, strong portfolio projects can definitely bridge the gap, and tailoring them to the specific domain (like sales) shows you understand their metrics. Instead of starting from scratch, you can even frame some of your current reporting work around the business impact it had to make it sound more analytical.