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The differences between data technicians and data analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a data technician, becoming a data analyst takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a data analyst has an average salary of $74,342, which is higher than the $41,834 average annual salary of a data technician.
The top three skills for a data technician include data entry, java and data management. The most important skills for a data analyst are data analysis, python, and power bi.
| Data Technician | Data Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $41,834 | $74,342 |
| Hourly rate | $20.11 | $35.74 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 101,074 | 167,520 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 4 |
A data technician is responsible for handling the company's data management systems and ensuring the safety and security of the stored information. Data technicians write data reports, retrieve necessary information, and dispose of outdated data properly according to the company's guidelines. They also create incident reports and identify data storage solutions to prevent unauthorized access and malicious leak of confidential information. A data technician must have excellent organizational and technical skills, especially in strategizing techniques, to enhance the stability and optimization of data servers.
Data analysts are responsible for interpreting the company's statistics and providing sound recommendations to the organization. They manage the organization's data sets, usually related to market performance, finance, or human resources. They are in charge of studying the available data, spotting trends, interpreting what the data and the trends mean, and recommending suggestions that will help the organization perform better. Their recommendations should also be relevant and backed up with strong analyses. Data analysts are expected to have a good grasp of the current market trends in the industry.
Data technicians and data analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Data Technician | Data Analyst | |
| Average salary | $41,834 | $74,342 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $68,000 | Between $53,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Citi | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Finance |
There are a few differences between a data technician and a data analyst in terms of educational background:
| Data Technician | Data Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between data technicians' and data analysts' demographics:
| Data Technician | Data Analyst | |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% | Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.5% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 12% |