Business Data Roles and Companies

By Daniel Egger, Duke University

Business Metrics for Data-Driven Companies
Job Title:
"Business Analyst" "Business Data Analyst" "Data Scientist" "Senior Software Engineer" / Taught in Excel to MySQL:
Matching Job Titles to Required Skills "Technology Project Manager" Business Analytics Techniques
(based on review of US help-wanted advertisements, and interviews, by Daniel Egger, June 2015) 4-Course Specialization

1 Identify critical business metrics (will be industry-specific) Yes Yes Yes No 1 YES Course 1
2 Find and apply appropriate models for each metric Yes Yes Yes No 2 YES Course 2
3 Evaluate the effectiveness of models used Yes Yes Yes No 3 YES Course 2
4 Interview "clients" to define project requirements ("client" may be internal to the Corporation) Yes Yes Yes No 4 YES Course 3
5 Excel skills - import data sets, run analyses, and display results using charts and graphs Yes Yes Yes No 5 YES Course 2
6 Presentation Skills - effective verbal and written communication skills Yes Yes Yes No 6 YES Course 3
7 Data Visualization Skills with Tableau Yes Yes Yes No 7 YES Course 3

8 Able to identify new ways to combine business data to achieve business process improvement No Yes Yes No 8 YES Course 4
9 Ability to "pull" needed data and recombine it using SQL Queries No Yes Yes No 9 YES Course 4

1 Modeling Tools: R, Matlab, or SAS - intermediate to advanced skills in at least one No No Yes No
2 Advanced Statistical Methods No No Yes No
3 Bayesian Learning and Probabilistic Models; Machine Learning for Algorithms for Predictive Analytics No No Yes No
4 Ability to populate and optimize SQL Databases - design basic relational database schemas No No Yes Yes
5 Python, Java, and Javascript No No Yes Yes
6 Experience Managing distributed/unstructured data - using Hadoop/Mapreduce/Hive/Spark No No Yes Yes
7 Natural language processing - text sentiment analysis No No Yes Yes
8 Experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) or other equivalent cloud-based data-hosting and processing services No No Yes Yes

C++ or eqivalent No No No Yes

Experience with Oracle, Teradata, or other large commercial databases or low-latency cloud-based database structures No No No Yes
Experience Leading Data Analytic Teams No No No Yes
Project Management, Budgeting and Planning Experience No No No Yes
Experience integrating real-time data feeds No No No Yes

The Relative Demand for Data-Centric Employees by Job Title in the Five (5) Types of Companies
Categories of Companies - a subjective representation of relative hiring rates in each of the 4 job categores above "Business Analyst" "Business Data Analyst" "Data Scientist" "Senior Software Engineer" /
(results ranked by their relative need in each category for Business Analysts & Business Data Analysts) "Technology Project Manager"

Traditional Strategic Business Consulting - General 30% 40% 20% 10%

Examples: Argus, Comscore, Deloitte Consulting, McKinsey

Traditional "Bricks and Mortar" Businesses 20% 30% 30% 20%

Examples of Companies Using Best Practices: Bank of America, Costco, UPS, Walmart

Strategic Business Consulting - with a focus on Software and IT Systems Integration 10% 20% 30% 40%
Examples: Accenture, Opera Solutions, Palantir

Hardware & Software Companies 10% 10% 30% 50%

Hardware: Intel, AMD, Cisco; Enterprise Software: IBM, Oracle,SAP;
Commercial Desktop Software: Microsoft, Tableau, SAS,Matlab.
Digital Businesses 0% 10% 30% 60%
Examples: Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, If(We), Zillow