Differences Between a Data Analyst and a Data Scientist

In the information age, data has become an essential and essential element for any brand that wants to develop a precise and effective strategy and achieve the engagement of its target.

For this, many companies invest a lot of money in recruiting the best talent in this field, but when it comes to choosing which is better, a data scientist or a data analyst? And more importantly, do companies know what the difference between them is?

Although both professions are vital for the marketer world, it is essential to understand the differences between their jobs depending on the approach you want to give to a strategy. The truth is that the industry tends to name these professionals indistinctly and has generated a confusion that we want to clear up.

Advent of the data scientist

Companies saw the availability of large volumes of data as a source of competitive advantage and realized that if they used this data effectively, they would make better decisions and be ahead of the growth curve. The need arose for a new set of skills that included the ability to draw client/user perceptions, business acumen, analytical skills, programming skills, analytical skills, machine learning skills, visualization of data and much more. It led to the emergence of a data scientist.

Data scientists and Data analysts

Data scientist– You probably have a strong business sense and the ability to communicate effectively, data-driven conclusions to business stakeholders. A data scientist will not only deal with business problems but will also select the right issues that have the most value to the organization.

A data scientist and an analyst can take Big Data analytics and Data Warehousing programs to the next level. They can help decipher what the data is saying to a company. They are also able to segregate relevant data from irrelevant data. A data scientist and an analyst can take advantage of the company’s data warehouse to go deeper into them. Therefore, organizations must know the difference between data scientists and data analysts.

Data scientists are a kind of evolution of the role of analysts but focus on the use of data to establish global trends on the problems of a company to solve them and improve business strategy.

Data Analyst– Your job is to find patterns and trends in the historical data of an organization. Although BI relies heavily on the exploration of past trends, the science of data lies in finding predictors and the importance behind those trends. Therefore, the primary objective of a BI analyst is to evaluate the impact of certain events in a business line or compare the performance of a company with that of other companies in the same market.

The data analyst has the primary function of collecting data, studying it and giving it a meaning. It is a process that can vary depending on the organization for which you work, but the objective is always the same, to give value and meaning to some data that by itself has no use. Thus, the result of analyzing, extrapolating and concluding is a piece of relevant information by itself, comparable with other data and use to educate other industry professionals about its applications.

An analyst usually relies on a single source of data such as the CRM system while a data scientist can conclude from different sources of information that may not be connected.

Main differences between the two

• Usually, a data scientist expects to ask questions that can help companies solve their problems, while a BI data analyst answers and answers questions from the business team.

• It is expected that both functions write queries, work with engineering teams to obtain the correct data and concentrate on deriving information from the data. However, in most cases, a BI data analyst is not expected to construct statistical models. A BI data analyst typically works on simpler SQL databases or similar databases or with other BI tools/packages.

• The role of the data scientist requires strong data visualization skills and must have the ability to convert data into a business history. Typically, a BI data analyst is not expected to be an expert in business and advanced data visualization.

Companies must know how to distinguish between these two functions and the areas in which a data scientist and a business analyst can add value.