Must-Read Blogs for Data Analysts

Data analysts lead the charge in collecting and analyzing key data points to make business decisions. How else does a company know what products they should order more of? Or how would they know which customers are dissatisfied with services? Every company needs a data analyst, which makes anyone in the field in high demand.

Since data analysts are translating business findings day in and day out, they have ample time to read and dissect information. In order to connect others with shared data knowledge that could help improve professional skill sets or business outcomes, many data analyst experts and data analytics companies have analytical blogs to share their findings. Below you can see the top blogs you should read as an aspiring data analyst:

Top Data Analytics Blogs to Read

Must-read blogs for data analytics newbies:

ListenData: ListenData asks––how can I make my data listen to me? The blog covers everything from basic to advanced topics and was started with the mission of helping others learn statistical modeling and data mining techniques to solve business problems. With articles that touch on object-oriented programming with Python, loan amortization using R, and precision-recall curve simplified, this is a great place to dive right in.

Dataversity: With a mission to provide the single best source of education for anyone working with data in their professional life, Dataversity is a stellar place to begin. Find several data topics to learn about specific to data architecture, data literacy, and data modeling. You can interact with a robust data community, learn from data case studies, and participate in live webinars. If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop for getting to know what data analytics is all about, you’ve found it.

Hacking Analytics: Get an overview of big data, analytics, and data engineering with Medium’s Hacking Analytics publication. Not only will you find articles to help you understand topics like data processing and visualization, but you’ll be able to learn from experts in the field from around the world. See what practitioners think about the evolution of data engineering, data storage, and more. Editors of the blog are senior data engineers and one is a previous solution architect & head of data at Heineken, Facebook, and Amazon, guaranteeing there’s a host of can’t-miss insights and information to be explored.

IBM Big Data & Analytics Blog: Learn big data from the experts at IBM. Get to read invigorating discussion topics on enterprise analytics from thought-leaders, subject matter experts and practitioners. You’ll get the opportunity to get informed about IBM and its partnership initiatives to improve data findings, how AI impacts accountability across the company, and tips on how to choose the best data management systems. Become more aware of how data is used at a large technology company like IBM and how it impacts so many different people across sectors.

Thinkful’s Blog - Data Analytics: The thinkful.com blog offers must-read salary insights, job roles and opportunities, and a close look at what it’s like to take a data analytics course with Thinkful. You can also read up on the differences between data analytics and data science, and hear from our students and mentors.

Must-read blogs for data analyst students:

Smart Data Collective: Want to relearn any and everything about data analytics? Smart Data Collective is your go-to. Read about the importance of data in the tech products we create and use, as well as society as a whole. Browse through topics like the impact on big data in academia, what it takes to secure files when transferring large data sets, and how deep learning and machine learning have made strong improvements for the healthcare industry.

Teradata: Teradata is a data analytics company that shares interesting insights on their blog about how we’re connected to analyzing data in so multiple ways throughout culture and community. This is a great blog if you’re looking for more knowledge about data trends that relate to current events. Learn about topics such as data surveillance and how data insights are crucial to helping global pandemics uncover valuable resources.

DBMS 2: Read about what it takes to manage databases, business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools commonly used by data analysts on DBMS2. Get tips on how to work with Amazon Web Services (AWS), PostSQL, Confluent, data warehousing and inside data scoops from many leading business executives about innovations in the data analytics industry. The blog is authored by Curt Monash who has been a data advocate and professional since 1981.

Cross Validated: Cross Validated is not your typical data science blog. Here, you’ll get a chance to join a community and check out questions and answers to top data analytics questions. Find out how to evaluate different data analytics job offers, how to use statistical models for measuring COVID-19, and get the answers to intricate questions about regression and more. Created by the team at Stack Exchange, you’ll be able to explore and learn about topics like data visualization, data mining, and statistics.

The Forrester Research Blog: If you’re interested in how data and technology have changed over time, this research blog covers business intelligence and analytics topics at a high level. Forrester Research is a company that focuses on research around “the age of the customer” and embracing customer obsession. Check out articles with recommendations on analyzing human capital management investments, business intelligence platform reviews, and tips on how to get smarter about your customer and competition analytics.

Must-read blogs for data analysts in the workforce:

TechRepublic: Always a solid source of technology news and information, TechRepublic’s Big Data Analytics blog is a valuable publication for data analysts. Expand your skill base in setting data strategy, data reporting, understanding big data risks, and more. A major focus of this blog is for companies to be able to better extract important insights from their data. Get an up-close look at how to successfully manage your data to help your business performance from practitioners from across various data analytics disciplines.

NetworkWorld Data Center: NetworkWorld Data Center is a business intelligence blog of news, tutorials, reviews and everything that deals with data centers and analytics. With a focus on data networking, storage, servers, and virtualization technologies, you’ll never be short on topics to dive into. Read about industry trends and stay abreast of current topics impacting data storage, data cleaning, and data management in the industry.

Online Behavior: If you’re a data analyst who wants to know the intricacies of online user behavior, this blog is for you. Articles on Online Behavior cover marketing optimization, measurement, and analytics, so you can learn a ton on how data analytics applies to digital marketing and advertising. In specific industries like marketing, data analytics is crucial to ensure you are meeting performance goals. The founder & editor is Daniel Waisberg, the analytics advocate for Google, making the info shared a must-read.

Big Data to Big Profits: Gain an understanding of how data analytics directly relates to profits and sales revenue with this blog from Dr. Russell Walker. Dr. Walker currently serves at the University of Washington as the Director of Experiential Learning in Analytics and Senior Lecturer in Marketing and International Business. With extensive experience helping companies manage risk using data, he shares his knowledge on Big Data to Big Profits. This blog is great if you want practical examples of how data improves profits.

Harvard Business Review – Analytics: See how world-renowned scholars and business leaders think about data analytics. An array of data topics in business, education, healthcare and more are covered in Harvard Business Review to help you explore data in depth. You’ll find stories on how companies can create a data-driven work culture, how using data can revolutionize project planning and the importance of boosting your team’s data literacy.

CIO: In the CIO blog, you’ll get bold business and data insights from seasoned professionals who help you connect the dots of the industry. Find out who the top data analytics companies are, all while getting a better understanding of how data-driven cloud management works. Read about topics like data hiring trends, how to best manage your cloud data for business success, and ways to boost any data team’s productivity.

Does digging into data and making sense of your findings interest you? The ability to pull raw quantitative and qualitative data points and turn that information into valuable insights is an important skill for any industry. Becoming a data analyst is a smart move if you’re thinking about which skills are recession-proof.

Thinkful’s Data Analytics Flex and Data Analytics Immersion courses are well equipped to give you the data expertise necessary to launch your new data career in the world’s next workforce. Get your own personal data analytics mentor who knows their way around the field, plus a full academic/career support team that will help you every step of the way to ensure your success.