How To Become A Data Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a data assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Sarah Whitley Ph.D.

Data assistants can be known as database assistants or data entry assistants. Their job is to convert information from written to digital formats by typing or scanning them. Data assistants may work on documents, phone call records, or transcripts of meetings and conversations.

Data assistants need to have excellent attention to detail and organization skills to perform their jobs effectively. They perform a combination of data management, quality control, and documentation. As a data assistant, they may also complete database training to teach employees how to access and archive information on the database.

Data assistants may perform other administrative duties like scheduling appointments, taking phone calls, responding to emails, and greeting clients or visitors. A data assistant may also inspect office supplies, order replacements as needed, and supervise equipment maintenance.

To become a data assistant, appliants need a high school diploma and computer skills. Specifically, they need a strong knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite and other database programs.

What general advice would you give to a data assistant?

Sarah Whitley Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Career Track, Washington State University

highlight the unique value-adds you bring to a position; show tangible outcomes of skills you have developed; highlight how your skills match the minimum and preferred qualifications and how you see yourself contributing to the mission and goals of the organization

ScoreData AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,431

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.60%

Asian 11.12%

Black or African American 9.43%

Hispanic or Latino 20.07%

Unknown 4.31%

White 54.48%

Gender

female 63.43%

male 36.57%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a data assistant

Explore data assistant education requirements

Most common data assistant degrees

Bachelor's

62.7 %

Associate

14.9 %

Master's

8.4 %

Start to develop specific data assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Entry	14.45%
Data Collection	10.19%
Patients	8.62%
Data Management	7.64%
Research Data	5.81%

Complete relevant data assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New data assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a data assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real data assistant resumes.

Research data assistant duties and responsibilities

Create UNIX and LINUX shell scripts to automate data migration process.
Implement web crawlers in python with scrapy framework.
Serve as ETL lead to help the development stage take shape as quick as possible.
Work in collaboration with the systems administrators to troubleshoot and resolve RDBMS issues cause by common business network issues.

Prepare your data assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your data assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a data assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable data assistant resume templates

Build a professional data assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your data assistant resume.