Introduction
I was recently asked for my thoughts on the fundementals to look for when filling a new position of a data focused business analyst - these notes are a starting point some others might find useful if asked the same question!
Notes
Fundamentals a good data/Microsoft technology focused BI recruit would need to have:
- Ability to quickly grasp business concepts and produce models to represent, measure and analyse same in a quantifiable manner
- Solid, demonstrable SQL skills (not with drag/drop tools, in plain basic ANSII SQL code)
- Knowledge of the fundamentals of data quality
- Good understanding of database relational theory
- Power user of Microsoft Excel, to include pivots, advanced filtering, macros, advanced manipulation functions – demonstrable
- Extremely good communicator, written and oral
- Very good presentation skills (PPT and other tools)
- Solid insight into data visualisation, and charting
- A curious mind
- Attention to detail
- Be able to work with ambiguity
- Persistance
Nice to have:
- Experience with SQL BI enterprise tools such as:
- SSIS (etl data loading)
- SSRS (reporting services)
- SSAS (data mining / analytical services)
- Experience with BI tooling such as Pentaho, Tablaeu, Qlik, Birst, etc.
- Experience with OLAP / MDX (multi-dimensional expressions)
- Experience with working with data from different sources (eg: sql, no-sql, csv/tabular, dirty data)
Additional
For an interesting article on skills/knowledge versus simply being a tool user, read this…
http://sonra.io/essential-skills-any-bi-consultant-should-have-or-why-a-fool-with-a-tool-is-still-a-fool/
Feel free to add other insights in comments!