In this episode I'll show you what it takes to land data analyst jobs! I'll provide in-depth insights and tips for six data analyst positions with salaries ranging from $35K to $200K-- and why should you apply even if you don't meet all the requirements.

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No College Degree As A Data Analyst Playlist: https://youtu.be/mSWtnjq4LRE?si=FlfChqSxIPBXc_Lb

⌚ TIMESTAMPS

Data Analyst Jobs: How Much $$$ Could You ACTUALLY Make???

00:00 - Introduction

00:21 - Data Analyst Job #1: Data Specialist ($35k)

04:00 - Data Analyst Job #2: Business and Data Analyst ($55k)

07:48 - Data Analyst Job #3: Data Visualization Analyst ($75k)

10:21 - Data Analyst Job #4: Senior Financial Analyst ($90k)

13:04 - Data Analyst Job #5: Senior Investment Operations Data Analyst ($125k)

14:35 - Data Analyst Job #6: Business Intelligence Engineer ($107k to $189k)

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I'm about to show you what a 200, 000 data analyst job looks

2

like and what it takes to get there.

3

In this episode, I'll explore

six different data analyst

4

jobs ranging from 25K to 200K.

5

I'll explain what they pay.

6

What you need to do to be qualified

and how you can actually land the job

7

starting with the lowest paying data

analyst job that I could find job number

8

one is located in Fresno, California,

and it pays drumroll please only 35, 000

9

well technically it pays 17 and 69 cents

an hour and it's for a data specialist

10

role for an analytics firm in California

called Avenue Insights and Analytics now

11

technically this Is a data specialist

role, which isn't really quite a data

12

analyst role, but often it's like the

job right below a data analyst, you'll

13

still be doing some sort of analysis

and analytics, but it's also mixed with

14

some manual analysis, like looking at

things or some sort of data entry or

15

data validation or something like that.

16

The good news about that is it has

less requirements and we'll get to

17

those requirements here in a second.

18

But the bad news is it doesn't pay great.

19

You can honestly make more starting out

as a cashier at Bucky's than this job.

20

But, but, but this job would help you

get some relevant data experience on

21

your resume, which is very beneficial.

22

That would make landing a data

analyst job down the road.

23

a lot easier.

24

Anytime you can get the word data

on your resume, it is a good thing.

25

So at this job, you'd basically

be ensuring data accuracy, finding

26

leads from tax sheets and making

corrections for state and local

27

governments, because that's actually

what this analytics firm does.

28

It comes into your state or local

government and does some basic

29

revenue and operations analysis.

30

for these local entities.

31

Fun, I know.

32

In terms of requirements, they are

looking for someone with an associate's

33

degree, attention to detail, and

some sort of ability to do some sort

34

of analysis and think critically.

35

This job also strangely requires

you to be bilingual with Spanish and

36

English, which seems a little bit

more specialized and niche than usual.

37

Pero si puedes hablar

espanol, You're good.

38

Like I said, it's in

California and it's on site.

39

So even though it doesn't require a

lot of previous experience, I think

40

they're going to have a hard time filling

this role because the pay isn't great.

41

It's on site and there's that

strict bilingual aspect that

42

it's going to make it really

difficult to find the right person.

43

I personally think that this

role should pay more like

44

something around 50, 000 per year.

45

Not 35, by the way, all of these six

jobs that we're looking at today,

46

I found on my own data job board.

47

It's called find a data job.

48

com and it's a hundred percent free.

49

It has a great search and filter

widget on the left hand side that

50

allows you to search by title,

company, salary, remote jobs.

51

So if you're looking for a place

to find less competitive data

52

jobs in the U S and Canada, be

sure to check it out, find a job.

53

com a hundred percent free.

54

And just a real quick note requirements on

job descriptions, in my opinion, are more

55

like wishlist than actual requirements.

56

Basically it's a way of companies

saying like, this is what we'd want in

57

a perfect world with perfect candidates.

58

But in reality, they're not even really

likely to find one person that has.

59

All of those requirements.

60

And if they did the salary that they have

listed on the job description or that

61

they've allocated in the budget probably

isn't enough to properly compensate

62

this absolute unicorn of a data analyst.

63

So my personal recommendation and you're

welcome to follow it or not is whenever

64

you're looking at job descriptions is

to kind of look at them with blurry

65

eyes, like kind of squint your eyes

at it and look at the descriptions.

66

If you fit.

67

Say 60%, 70%, 55 percent

of the requirements.

68

And you're actually like

interested in the job.

69

Like genuinely, I think you should apply

because you never know what might happen.

70

And honestly, the hiring manager who

rejects you the most is actually yourself.

71

So go ahead and hit apply anyways.

72

Okay.

73

Job number two is located in

the great town of Pickerington.

74

Ohio.

75

And now I don't actually

know if it's a great town.

76

I've never even been to Ohio, but

doesn't it just have like a lovely

77

name and sound like a great place.

78

Now, job number two, it is a business

and data analyst role for the

79

American motorcycle association.

80

And how freaking cool is that to work

for the AMA, especially if you ride

81

a motorcycle, it sounds pretty cool.

82

In my opinion, like.

83

Fun job.

84

This job pays between

55 and 60, 000 per year.

85

And if you heard me say that title and

you were kind of like, what the heck

86

did he just say, then you are correct.

87

Because a business and data analyst

title is a very interesting title.

88

It's not really one

that I've heard or seen.

89

Very often, or actually ever, it's usually

just like business analyst or just data

90

analyst, or maybe like business data

analysts combined in some cases, but

91

certainly not business and data analysts.

92

That's sort of weird.

93

In fact, I search LinkedIn jobs to see

if I could find a similar titled role.

94

And sure enough, there was absolutely no

matches, at least in the market right now.

95

And that made me even more curious.

96

Cause it's like, what the

heck is going on here?

97

So I went to the American motorcycle

associations, LinkedIn page and went to

98

the people tab and searched for analysts,

by the way, side note, this is an

99

absolutely great way to network and try to

learn who actually is already inside the

100

company and who might be able to give you

a referral for any jobs that you apply.

101

But when I searched for analysts.

102

Sure enough, like no one popped up.

103

And I think that there's no actual

data analyst or business analyst

104

working at this company right now.

105

This very well might be this company's

first day to hire, or at least first

106

in a while, I obviously can't be

a hundred percent sure here, and I

107

could be wrong, but based on the very

strange title and no other analysts

108

that I could find on LinkedIn,

working for this company, my guess is.

109

They don't really know what they

want or exactly what they're doing.

110

Once again, I could be wrong, but that is

my gut feeling that this company is kind

111

of new in the data maturity space, but

that's my gut feeling that this company

112

is kind of new to the whole data thing.

113

All right.

114

Regardless in this role, you'd be working

with stakeholders to maintain and analyze.

115

data to identify trends and to

work on some business processes.

116

They are asking for a bachelor's

degree in business or computer science

117

or analytics or something similar.

118

And they also want one to three years

of experience in some sort of analytics.

119

They want you to be proficient in

Excel, SQL, Power BI, or Tableau.

120

And once again, when they're

saying Power BI or Tableau.

121

Or even like having Excel,

SQL, Power BI, and Tableau be

122

all in the same sentence here.

123

It's kind of hinting that they don't

have a very mature data team because

124

like just take Power BI and Tableau, for

example, usually a small company like

125

this, it only has like a hundred employees

would only have Tableau or Power BI.

126

Not really both large companies.

127

They often have both.

128

But they're both very expensive.

129

And so smaller companies

usually pick one or the other.

130

Now it's not always the case,

but that is my gut feeling.

131

And so they probably don't

know which one to choose.

132

And so maybe that would be something

that you would influence them on.

133

Now, if you're learning Tableau,

learning Power BI isn't hard.

134

Like you'll be able to figure it out.

135

And sometimes I feel like companies

maybe list Power BI or Tableau

136

because they're like, if you know

one, you'll figure out the other, but

137

I think that's actually pretty rare.

138

And I don't think that's

what's happening here.

139

Anyways, this is a onsite role as

well, and it's quite a bit lower

140

than the average data analyst salary

in the U S which is around 82, 000.

141

They're requiring a bachelor's degree,

one to three years of experience, and

142

the pay is a bit low for all of that.

143

So despite that, I think

you should apply anyways.

144

If you think that you fit maybe like

60 percent or maybe even 50 percent of

145

the requirements for this job, the pay

that they're listing is much more entry

146

level than their actual job description.

147

And with their data maturity

being probably pretty low, you

148

might be surprised on the bites

that you could possibly get in

149

applying for a job like this.

150

All right, next we have job number three.

151

This is the 75, 000 job and

it is in Woodridge, Illinois.

152

It's for a company called

Mahoney Environmental Solutions.

153

And this job is right around the average

data analyst salary between 72 to 77, 000.

154

The title of this role is

data visualization analyst.

155

And now I purposely chose different

titles for each of these six jobs that

156

I'm showing you, just to illustrate that

if you're only looking for data analyst

157

roles, you're probably missing out on

like more than half of the job market.

158

But I really do like this role.

159

I think it is quite interesting.

160

Now this company Mahoney

environmental solutions.

161

They're pretty interesting too, because

at first I was like, okay, environmental

162

company, they probably do something like

climate change or water purification

163

or like toxic something or other.

164

Right.

165

But after looking at their

website, I was totally surprised.

166

And I think you'll be surprised as well.

167

It looks like they basically specialize

in one thing and only one thing,

168

which is removing used cooking oil.

169

And I think that just goes to

show that you can land a data job.

170

A data role in any industry for

any company that does all sorts

171

of different things, right?

172

Like from Chuck E.

173

Cheese to Apple.

174

I don't know.

175

Sometimes we just think that like,

Oh, it's only Facebook or that hires

176

like data analysts, but like even this

company that's just doing like grease

177

removal, they'll hire data analysts.

178

So interesting.

179

Data is literally everywhere.

180

You guys, you just got to look for it.

181

This role based on the description

sounds like you'd be building a

182

lot of power bi reports on the

operation side of the business.

183

It actually is quite a big business.

184

They have lots of

locations all over the US.

185

It does sound like there is some sort

of queries that may or may not need

186

to be written to join a bunch of their

data sets together in order to visualize

187

it in power bi requirements wise.

188

You're looking at Two plus years of

experience with Power BI, DAX, and SQL.

189

And they also say that

Python is preferred.

190

They do mention that they're looking

for someone with a BS in data science,

191

computer science, or a similar field.

192

Once again, you need to look at, or I

guess really in your case, hear all those

193

job descriptions with your eyes squinted.

194

This is just a wishlist.

195

For unicorn divide everything by two.

196

And if that's you apply, if you

have any bachelor's degree at all, I

197

personally think that fits the similar

field requirement for the education.

198

And I say, apply, go for it.

199

To me, this role is a bit

more than an entry level role.

200

So I think the pay should honestly

be closer to about 90, 000.

201

Here, but it does seem like

a pretty interesting job

202

for an interesting company.

203

So if you're in an Illinois, this might be

a good fit for you moving on to job number

204

four, and it's actually right next door

to job number three in Chicago, Illinois.

205

And it's with the Griffin museum of

science and industry, which who knew

206

it is the largest and most interactive

science museum in the Western hemisphere.

207

Pretty cool, right?

208

Once again, like what a crazy company

and what an interesting industry.

209

I would never have thought that

like museums are going to hire data

210

analysts, but apparently they do.

211

This role is for a senior financial

analyst role, and it pays just shy

212

of a hundred thousand dollars salary

range is between 90 to 95, 000.

213

And you'll notice if you're paying

attention that we've actually crossed

214

into the senior role territory.

215

And now just because a role is senior

doesn't mean that it's going to pay

216

more than like a non senior role.

217

There are lots of different factors

like where you're located, what your

218

experience is, what the company does, what

industry they're in, so on and so forth.

219

With that senior jump.

220

We also are making that six figure jump,

or at least we're getting close to it.

221

In this role, you'd be managing all of the

financial and planning for the company.

222

You'd be reviewing budget reports,

doing some pricing analytics

223

and predicting future revenue.

224

If you're accountant or you've worked in

banking or any sort of like financial role

225

in the past, this type of role, like a

financial analyst role would be an awesome

226

fit for you with your previous experience.

227

Now I will say.

228

The requirements for this

role are pretty crazy.

229

It has the most strict and the highest

bar of requirements, which is a bit

230

weird considering we still have the

125, 000 job and the 200, 000 job left.

231

They want a bachelor's degree

in finance or accounting.

232

Okay.

233

That's fine.

234

That's standard, right?

235

But with six to eight years

of related experience, plus

236

they say public accounting

experience or an MBA are a plus.

237

And in terms of what skills they're

interested in, they want power BI SQL and

238

advanced Excel financial modeling skills.

239

And just as a side note here, and pretty

interesting one as well, this is the

240

only time a graduate degree will be

mentioned in any of the job descriptions

241

that I read today, even the 200, 000 job.

242

So if you're considering a master's

degree, just know that anecdotally

243

out of the six jobs that we randomly

pulled today, a master's degree was

244

only mentioned once and it was mentioned

as a plus, not as a requirement.

245

Now back to the job as a common trend.

246

The pay is a bit low for what's

being required, especially

247

if you already have an MBA.

248

But one thing to consider here and for all

these jobs as well is the cost of living.

249

One of my favorite tools is the cost of

living salary calculator from NerdWallet.

250

It lets you put in your current salary

and your current location and where your

251

new location would be and it would display

what the actual salary would be according

252

to the cost of living in that new place.

253

So this job would be six figures.

254

If it was in say, California, now

we've officially crossed the six

255

figure mark and we are moving to

our 125, 000 job or job number five.

256

And it's in the sunny state of California

in the beautiful city of Newport beach.

257

It's a senior investment

operations data analyst.

258

That is a mouthful with Pacific life

insurance company and it pays between

259

111, 000 and 135, 000 per year.

260

Now you've maybe heard of this company

before and in the name it's evidence

261

it it's a life insurance company.

262

So analytics is really important because

this business, this whole industry.

263

It's basically one big math problem, the

odds of you dying and how much the payout

264

would be to your benefactors, so on and so

forth, based off previous conditions and

265

your current health in this role, you'd

actually be analyzing more financial data,

266

a lot of financial data in this video.

267

Don't know why you'd be

creating and redefining

268

dashboards for all of that data.

269

Talking to stakeholders, validating the

data for accuracy and consistency as well.

270

They're asking that you have a bachelor's

degree in finance or the famous line here,

271

similar field or equivalent experience and

five plus years of experience with SAP,

272

Power BI, Power Query, Excel, and SQL.

273

Remember guys, squint at these.

274

Don't take it word for word.

275

I actually think this pay is

honestly pretty realistic.

276

I think it's pretty fair.

277

Maybe they should add on an extra

10, 000 because cost of living

278

in California is quite high, but

I actually think especially the

279

upper end is fairly reasonable.

280

And I actually think that you

could land this role with three

281

years of experience, not the five.

282

Once again, that's how I'd

personally squint at this role.

283

And I would apply if I had

three plus years of experience.

284

Surprisingly, this role also requires

more experience than our last and

285

sixth job does pay nearly 200, 000.

286

It's just down the road in

Santa Monica, California.

287

And it's a company that you've.

288

Definitely heard of

and probably used snap.

289

Yep.

290

Snapchat, you know, the app that

all the teenagers use to like

291

send those like pictures of their

faces and say, Hey, what's up?

292

What are you doing?

293

Nothing much.

294

Yeah.

295

That company, this is a business

intelligence engineer role.

296

And it actually pays and get ready

here because this is a big range.

297

It pays between 107 and 189, 000 per year.

298

I was right, right?

299

That's a huge range.

300

And why is it?

301

Well, it's because this role might be

remote friendly in California and Arizona.

302

I'm not actually sure the job description

is very confusing, but snap as a

303

company actually has what's called

geographic pay zones that vary your

304

salary based on where you're located.

305

So if you're located in Washington or

California or New York city, you'll

306

get paid in the a zone, which is the

most if you're in Austin, Chicago,

307

Colorado, and a bunch of other States.

308

You are in the B zone and all the rest

of us are in the C zone, the lowest pay.

309

Now you'll notice that this is our

first job description that we've

310

had in the tech industry, right?

311

We did the analytics firm, a

motorcycle club, the grease for moving

312

service, a museum and life insurance.

313

And now we are in software.

314

We're in apps.

315

We're in like.

316

Tech, right?

317

That's one of the reasons

you'll see a high pay because

318

tech does have high salaries.

319

That's partially because they're really

like in Seattle or LA or San Francisco.

320

And the cost of living in those areas

is quite big, but also this role

321

doesn't have a huge barrier to entry.

322

They're only asking for a bachelor's

degree in computer science,

323

math, physics, or related field.

324

That's what they all kind

of have asked for, right?

325

Or equivalent years of

experience, whatever that means.

326

But they're only really asking

for three years of experience.

327

And minimum, you should

know SQL and Python.

328

One thing that I really liked that Snap

did with this job description, and this

329

is becoming more popular, but still a

lot of companies aren't doing it, is

330

they put the minimum qualifications.

331

And then the preferred qualifications.

332

Like I said, not a lot of companies are

doing this, but it makes the process

333

for the job seeker so much easier.

334

Like that whole squinting

thing I talked about basically

335

doing the squinting for you.

336

It's telling you what you need to

know and where you can get a leg up.

337

If you do know any of these things

for this particular job and the

338

preferred section, they're asking

for experience in big query, get

339

airflow and ETL type processes.

340

And in terms of salary, I feel

like this is a pretty fair salary.

341

I mean, obviously it's a huge

range, but with three plus years

342

of experience, I do think it is.

343

Pretty good.

344

So there you have it.

345

Our six different salaries ranging from

35, 000 all the way to 200, 000 per year.

346

Now I can already hear some of you guys

in the comments asking, you know, all

347

these jobs that we looked at ranging

from 35, 000 to 200, 000 a year, they

348

all required some college degrees.

349

Most of them bachelors.

350

You're probably going to ask, are there

any jobs that don't require degrees?

351

And the short answer is yes, there are.

352

They are less common, but they do exist.

353

I actually made this playlist here

with some interviews of people who

354

were able to land jobs without degrees.

355

It'll be right here on your screen,

or if you're an audio listener, it'll

356

be in the show notes down below.

357

And the other half of you are

probably going to comment in the

358

comments, you know, where do I start?

359

What skills should I start with?

360

What should I be focusing on?

361

And I have a great episode for you here.

362

That will help you get started learning

your tech skills, where to actually start.

363

So just click right here, or you

can find it in the show notes.

364

Thanks for listening.