Why a Data Analytics Certificate is Worth It

We’ve written about the ways data is impacting the world, including its effect on sports (including the Raptor’s first NBA championship win), community building, and greater societal change.

There’s evidence that this is only the beginning. According to Dresner Advisory Services, data science adoption in enterprises has increased from 17 percent to 59 percent.

If that’s not enough to convince you data skills are important, here are a few more reasons why a Data Analytics certification is worth taking.

Demand for Data Analytics Skills is High

Simply put, there has never been a better time to be a data professional.

To start, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created daily and that pace is only quickening. The International Data Corporation’s 2017 forecast predicted that revenues for big data and business analytics would reach $150.8 billion worldwide, a 12.4 percent increase over 2016.

In its 2017 report The Quant Crunch: How the Demand for Data Science Skills is Disrupting the Job Market, IBM predicted that the number of jobs for U.S. data professionals would grow from 364,000 to 2,720,000 by 2020. Further, the study found that jobs in data analytics and data science remain open five days longer than average, that demand for data professionals is projected to grow 39 percent, and that the fastest-growing roles in this sphere are data scientists and advanced analysts.

We recently took a closer look at some of the most in-demand data science jobs, which can help provide a better understanding of the opportunities available.

Employers Want Up-to-date Data Training

The world of big data has changed at such a breakneck pace, most employers are not just prioritizing the quality of a candidate’s training, but also how recently it was attained.

According to IT research firm Foote Partners, data skills and certifications have increased in value every quarter for the past two years. That aligns with what hiring experts are hearing from companies looking to hire data professionals.

“Any time would be a good time to get a data analytics certification. It shows a potential employer a bona fide level of interest in the industry and the skill set, and as well, continued education demonstrates work ethic and commitment,” said Shaun Lemmer, Partner and Consultant at Benchmark Tech Recruitment.

Technical Competency Determines Compensation

Salaries for data roles already compare favorably to other careers in tech, with average annual compensation averaging around $99,558. There is evidence that even if you’re in this field already, boosting your skillset could bump your salary further. According to IBM’s report, professionals with experience using Hadoop, for example, are in the market for jobs that average over $110,000 per year. 

“If someone is retooling and considering a career change, getting a certification would be paramount to opening up doors,” Lemmer said.

And according to IBM, it could be a lot of doors. Their report noted that if its forecast supply of 2.8 million “analytically savvy” workers turns out to be correct, nearly every one of those workers would have to change jobs annually to fill the required data analytics and data science positions.

BrainStation’s data certificate courses were created to help professionals take advantage of these opportunities, allowing them to gain hands-on experience uncovering new insights from data sets, making data-driven predictions, and generating striking data visualization.