A data specialist's job is to convert raw data into easily accessible formats for clients. This might include designing databases and training clients on the use of data storage systems and databases. It is your job to firstly, analyze and verify the authenticity of data, convert the data into a simpler format like a database, generate reports, and provide technical support to your clients. Your job revolves around data processing and analysis. You might be called upon to manage high-priority projects and resolve data discrepancies and errors. Pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and IT firms are a few of the places you can find employment either as full-time staff or consultants.
A data specialist is expected to be great at math and to be excellent at coding. Good listening skills, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills are a few of the traits required from a data specialist. You can become a data specialist with a high school diploma as long as you can prove that you know what you're doing. The average salary is $78,000 yearly.
How to Become a Data Specialist
What is a Data Specialist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Data Specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.68 an hour? That's $78,374 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 10,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Data Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many Data Specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Detail oriented, Problem-solving skills and Customer-service skills.
How To Become a Data Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a Data Specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 56.2% of Data Specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 8.8% of Data Specialists have master's degrees. Even though most Data Specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Data Specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a Data Specialist, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Data Specialist resumes include Master's Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Data Specialist. In fact, many Data Specialist jobs require experience in a role such as Administrative Assistant. Meanwhile, many Data Specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as Customer Service Representative or Cashier.
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Data Specialist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of Office Manager you might progress to a role such as Operations Manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Program Manager.
Data Specialist Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Data Specialist
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12 Data Specialist Resume Examples
Build a professional data specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your data specialist resume.
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Matthew Ortiz Data Specialist |
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Sean Perkins Data Specialist Experience Data Specialist2020 - Present Receivable Management Services•East Hartford, CT
Registrar2019 - 2020 St. Elizabeth's Hospital•Appleton, WI
Switchboard Operator2017 - 2019 Walmart•Milwaukee, WI
Skills External CallsCommunicationGeneral InformationEHRERPTelephone CallsPaperwork FlowInsurance CompaniesEmergency Room PatientsETL Education High School Diploma 2017 - 2017 |
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Learn How To Write a Data Specialist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Data Specialist resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Data Specialist Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Data Specialist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Data Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Data Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Data Specialist Demographics
Data Specialist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Data Specialists, 59.4% of them are women, while 40.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Data Specialists is White, which makes up 59.9% of all Data Specialists.
- The most common foreign language among Data Specialists is Spanish at 51.0%.
Find the best Data Specialist job for you
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From beginners to skills needed for Data Analyst or Desktop Specialist certifications. Tableau 2021, 2020, 2019...
Top Skills For a Data Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.4% of Data Specialists listed Procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as Detail oriented and Problem-solving skills are important as well.
Best States For a Data Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Data Specialist. The best states for people in this position are Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and California. Data Specialists make the most in Connecticut with an average salary of $105,338. Whereas in New Jersey and New York, they would average $98,937 and $98,593, respectively. While Data Specialists would only make an average of $96,194 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Connecticut
$105,338
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$98,593
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$98,937
Avg. Salary
How Do Data Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Data Specialist Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Data Specialists and discovered their number of Data Specialist opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that IBM was the best, especially with an average salary of $87,292. Google follows up with an average salary of $135,014, and then comes Charter Communications with an average of $89,267. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Data Specialist. The employers include Salesforce, Stanley Black & Decker, and Southern California Edison
Data Specialist Videos
Becoming a Data Specialist FAQs
How can I become a good reporting analyst?
You can become a good reporting analyst by earning an applicable bachelor's degree and gaining relevant technical experience. Reporting analysts are data specialists in an organization tasked with operational optimization.
The first step to becoming a good reporting analyst is to earn your bachelor's degree. Most reporting analysts have their bachelor's or master's degrees in business, accounting, or finance.
After earning your bachelor's degree, you will want to gain relevant technical experience. For example, many reporting analysts worked as other analysts first -- process, performance, data, or strategic analysts. This work should give you the required technical knowledge to become a good reporting analyst.
Earning additional certifications can also help you become a good reporting analyst. Many analysts earn certifications in Microsoft, Google Analytics, and other data analytics software.
Top analytics professionals often earn their Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) credential, which requires three to seven years of analytics work experience and a bachelor's or master's degree.
How much do data specialists make?
Data specialists make $54,867 a year, on average. The range, however, can start as low as $32,000 a year to as high as $94,000 a year. Factors such as location and company impact how much you can earn as a data specialist.
Top-Paying Companies for Data Specialists:
IBM - $89,207 a year (range: $58K - $140K)
YipitData - $83,648 a year (range: $65K - $105K)
Sedgwick Claims Management Services -$50,811 a year (range: $44K - $55K)
NRC Health - $49,899 a year (range: $47K - $53K)
Brillio - $107,083 a year (range: $81K - $136K)
Xerox - $27,757 a year (range: $26K - $36K)
IHME -$80,133 a year (range: $64K - $83K)
Top-Paying Cities In the US for Data Specialists:
New York, NY - $99,860 per year
Dallas, TX - $60,825 per year
Oklahoma City, OK - $58,782 per year
Atlanta, GA - $55,039 per year
Austin, TX - $54,732 per year
Phoenix, AZ - $49,279 per year
Houston, TX - $45,222 per year
Is being a data specialist a good job?
Yes, being a data specialist is a good job. Data specialists are needed in a variety of industries and play a key role in the company. While a data specialist is considered an entry-level position, it's a great way to advance your career in data analysis.
A data specialist works on computers, entering information for processing or records retention. In many cases, this work can be very repetitive. However, accuracy is most important.
The data that is being processed is often essential for the day-to-day operations of a company. A data specialist is a great job for someone detail-oriented and good with numbers.
Data specialists are needed in a wide variety of environments, such as working with insurance information for claimants and new applicants, updating product information for online retailers, and processing patient records for large-scale medical. In fact, the demand for data specialists is expected to grow by 14% over the next ten years.
Data specialists are paid around $55,000 a year. Working as a data specialist can be a great stepping stone to other careers such as data analyst, data scientist, business analyst, or even a manager or consultant role.
What are the duties of a data entry specialist?
The duties of a data entry specialist are primarily focused on digitizing data for storage purposes. A data specialist works on computers, entering information for processing or records retention. Data specialists are needed in various industries, such as in medical records or legal cases.
Some of the main responsibilities of a data entry specialist include;
Perform all data entry tasks, including sorting, proofing, updating, mailing, and storing.
Maintain data files accurately.
Compile, sort, verify and correct data to be entered.
Review data for completeness and accuracy.
Contact authors of source documents to address data inconsistencies and to gather missing data.
Manage filing and routing of source documents after entry.
Maintain records of work completed.
Update data in appropriate databases in an accurate and timely manner to avoid backlogging.
Establish data naming standards and consistent data definitions to improve overall data quality.
Process and resolve data inquiries by searching and reviewing the databases.
Enter and update files into Excel spreadsheets.
What qualifications do you need to be a data analyst?
The qualifications you need to become a data analyst are typically a college degree with relevant skills and work experience. The average data analyst typically has a bachelor's degree, usually in math or computer science or another related field that has an emphasis on statistical and analytical skills.
Some may even earn a master's degree in data analytics or data science if they plan to advance their position to a managerial or senior level.
Some important skills to have as a professional in this field are SQL databases, programming languages such as R and SAS, data visualization, and the ability to use analytical software like Microsoft Excel.
What skills do you need to be a data specialist?
The skills needed to be a data specialist include attention to detail, patience, and a decent understanding of databases and statistics.
The job of a data specialist is to ultimately transfer information on paper to electronic systems such as cloud computing. While this may seem easy enough, it does require both technical and database knowledge.
Data specialists typically begin any data conversion process by conducting thorough data analysis of a client's information. A data specialist needs to research data sources and make any corrections to existing data as needed. This is essential for ensuring the accuracy of the information being recorded.
A data specialist may also be asked to analyze a client's existing systems and create a program suitable for that specific system. In some cases, a data specialist may need to know how to design a database or software program to convert data.
Data specialists must also be familiar with presenting their work. In fact, data specialists consistently provide reports regarding the progress of a conversion program to clients. They must be skilled at presenting reports covering workflow and workflow disruptions, exceptions, costs, and analysis results.