How to become a data analyst

What does a data analyst do?

There is no one job description, and that is a fact about the label rather than a dodge. The same two words are used for 9 kinds of work that O*NET describes separately.

Written out, the range is the point. Here is the opening line of what each of the 9 occupations does, in O*NET’s words rather than ours — and an employer advertising any of them may write “Data Analyst” at the top of the advert.

• Financial Quantitative Analysts — Develop quantitative techniques to inform securities investing, equities investing, pricing, or valuation of financial instruments.
• Database Architects — Design strategies for enterprise databases, data warehouse systems, and multidimensional networks.
• Statisticians — Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information.
• Data Scientists — Develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming languages and visualization software.
• Business Intelligence Analysts — Produce financial and market intelligence by querying data repositories and generating periodic reports.
• Bioinformatics Technicians — Apply principles and methods of bioinformatics to assist scientists in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics.
• Bioinformatics Scientists — Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics.
• Survey Researchers — Plan, develop, or conduct surveys.
• Social Science Research Assistants — Assist social scientists in laboratory, survey, and other social science research.

They share a word and not much else. So “what does a data analyst do” has 9 answers, and which one applies is a property of the job, not of the title.

Which data analyst do you mean?

The 9 occupations O*NET 30.3 records the exact title "Data Analyst" under. Listed by O*NET-SOC code, not ranked: the source gives no ordering and neither do we.

• Financial Quantitative Analysts

  O*NET-SOC 13-2099.01

  Develop quantitative techniques to inform securities investing, equities investing, pricing, or valuation of financial instruments.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

• Database Architects

  O*NET-SOC 15-1243.00

  Design strategies for enterprise databases, data warehouse systems, and multidimensional networks. Set standards for database operations, programming, query processes, and security.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degreeRelated experience: Less than 5 years

• Statisticians

  O*NET-SOC 15-2041.00

  Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information.

  Typical entry education: Master's degreeWhat this occupation asks you to prove

• Data Scientists

  O*NET-SOC 15-2051.00

  Develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming languages and visualization software.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

• Business Intelligence Analysts

  O*NET-SOC 15-2051.01

  Produce financial and market intelligence by querying data repositories and generating periodic reports. Devise methods for identifying data patterns and trends in available information sources.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degreeWhat this occupation asks you to prove

• Bioinformatics Technicians

  O*NET-SOC 15-2099.01

  Apply principles and methods of bioinformatics to assist scientists in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

• Bioinformatics Scientists

  O*NET-SOC 19-1029.01

  Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

• Survey Researchers

  O*NET-SOC 19-3022.00

  Plan, develop, or conduct surveys. May analyze and interpret the meaning of survey data, determine survey objectives, or suggest or test question wording.

  Typical entry education: Master's degree

• Social Science Research Assistants

  O*NET-SOC 19-4061.00

  Assist social scientists in laboratory, survey, and other social science research. May help prepare findings for publication and assist in laboratory analysis, quality control, or data management.

  Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

A second O*NET table, Sample of Reported Titles, records what people doing a job called themselves. “Data Analyst” appears there for Survey Researchers only. That is a separate, narrower relationship collected a different way, and it is reported here rather than merged into the 9 above.

Does "senior" or "junior" or a specialism narrow it down?

No. 14 further job titles in the same table contain "Data Analyst", and between them they are used across 12 occupations.

Qualifying the label widens it. The same table records titles such as Bioinformatics Data Analyst, Business Data Analyst, Clinical Data Analyst, Data Analyst Specialist — and those land on occupations that are not in the 9 above at all. A more specific job title is still a job title, so it still tells you what the employer decided to call the role rather than what the role is.

How to tell which one a specific job actually is

The title on the advert is the one part of a posting that carries no information. Everything under it does.

A job description names the actual work, the tools and systems, the education the employer says they want, the experience they expect and the domain it sits in. Those are what separate a database architecture role from a survey research role from a business intelligence role, and none of them are visible in the two words at the top.

We are not going to pretend a keyword rule maps postings onto these 9 occupations; the source supports no such rule and inventing one would make this page exactly the sort of confident guess it is arguing against. Read the description, and compare it against what you have actually done.

So how do you become a data analyst?

In an order that survives the ambiguity, rather than a universal path that does not exist.

1. 01

   Pick the kind of work, not the title

   Of the 9 occupations above, which one describes work you would actually want to do? That choice is yours to make and nothing in the data makes it for you — but it is the choice every "become a data analyst" plan silently assumes you have already made.

2. 02

   Read what BLS records about entering that occupation

   Typical entry-level education is published per occupation, and it is not the same across these 9: a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for 7 of them and a master's degree for 2 of them. It describes the people already doing the work.

3. 03

   Test the target against real postings

   Job adverts using this title are the market's own version of the occupation, and they vary more than the occupational data does. A handful of real postings for the work you picked will tell you what employers in your area are actually asking for.

4. 04

   Compare the postings against your own history

   Not against the occupation in the abstract. The gap that matters is between one employer's stated requirements and what you can evidence, and it is usually smaller and more specific than the title makes it look.

5. 05

   Close the gaps that a posting names, then apply

   Evidence a named requirement rather than collecting credentials against a job title that 9 different occupations answer to.

What degree do you need to be a data analyst?

There is no one answer, because there is no one occupation. BLS publishes a typical entry-level education per occupation, and across these 9 it takes 2 different values.

Read that as a description, not a rule. BLS records the education level typical of the people already working in an occupation; it is not a legal requirement, not a licence, and not a statement about what any individual employer will accept. It is also not evidence that some other route exists — the table simply does not speak to that either way.

Can you become a data analyst with no experience?

The pinned BLS table records related work experience for 1 of these 9 occupations and "None" for the rest — which is a real difference between them, and a starting point rather than an answer.

• Database Architectsrelated work experience: Less than 5 years

Beyond that, the occupational data has nothing to say about whether a specific opening will take you, and neither does anyone writing a general answer to this question. What an employer wants is written down, in the posting, in their words. The useful move is not to guess at a universal bar for a title 9 occupations share — it is to take one real posting and work out, requirement by requirement, which parts you can already evidence and which you cannot.

Transferable evidence is usually there and usually undersold: analysis you have done under a different job title, systems you have queried, reports other people made decisions from. That is evidence for a named requirement. It is not a substitute for one an employer has actually stated.

Occupations here we have a qualification page for

Each one reports what that specific occupation rates as important, ordered against the occupations closest to it.

• Am I qualified to be a statistician?
• Am I qualified to be a business intelligence analyst?

Where every claim on this page comes from

Three sources, three different kinds of claim. They are kept apart on purpose, because one of them cannot be used to make another's point.

O*NET 30.3 Job Titles— which occupations employers use a job title for

Says: "Data Analyst" is used as a job title for these 9 occupations. Does not say they are similar, equivalent, or that one of them is the real one.

O*NET 30.3 Occupation Data— what an occupation is

Supplies the official occupation title and description quoted on each card above. Nothing on this page paraphrases an occupation into something the source does not say.

BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 (2025-35 projections; 2025 worker characteristics)— typical entry into an occupation

Supplies typical entry-level education and related work experience per occupation. Typical describes the existing workforce. It is not a requirement, a licence, or a promise about any employer.

O*NET also publishes a Related Occupations list, which says that two occupations resemble each other. It is a different relationship from the one this page is about and it is not used here: occupations being related would not make a title mean them, and a title meaning them does not make them related.