Data Analyst / Business Analyst
(Female, Age 33) from Arlington, MA
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 33 who works as a Data Analyst / Business Analyst in Arlington, MA. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Data Analyst / Business Analyst |
|---|---|
| Salary | $100,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | 40 |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Arlington, MA |
| Years Experience | 1 year |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
I work for a Fortune 500 Telecommunications corporation that have locations all over the world.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I analyze data and find discrepancies, problems, issues, similarities and make recommendations on how to address these issues.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
Health Insurance
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
Under compensated
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
My job entails working with a group of coworkers who are located in other states. We use phone, e-mail, conference tools to communicate. I like working alone and not having my coworkers with me all the time.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 1
Benefits: 8
Hours: 2
Co-Workers: 7
Supervisors: 6
Job Title: 3
Level of Responsibility: 4
The Actual Work: 5
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | n/a |
| 8am to 9am | Start work and check e-mail. Respond to any questions, or do research if needed. |
| 9am to 10am | Start working on data sets. This starts by uploading text files into MS Access and analyze the data using keywords or other shortcuts. |
| 10am to 11am | Provide training to one of the junior analysts over the phone by using web conferencing tools. |
| 11am to 12pm | Analyze data using MS Access. Identify the records that will be used for the summary. |
| 12pm to 1pm | Summarize data in MS Excel. |
| 1pm to 2pm | Respond to questions of coworkers or boss throughout the day. Continue working on data set. |
| 2pm to 3pm | Upload the summary into the software to be run by the development team. We upload data to make changes into the database based on our analysis. |
| 3pm to 4pm | Communicate with the development team any issues with the upload. Leave at 4 pm if there are no late meetings. I rarely have meetings after 4 pm. |
| 4pm to 5pm | |
| 5pm to 6pm | |
| 6pm to 7pm | |
| 7pm to 8pm | |
| 8pm to 9pm | |
| 9pm to 10pm | |
| 10pm to 11pm | |
| 11pm to 12am |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
Recruiter
What was the application process?
Submitted resume and had a phone interview
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
I had to do a phone interview. It was fairly general and short. It was an individual interview by my manager. I was told the responsibilities and asked about my skills in general.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
Do not remember
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
No
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
No
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
I worked in fast paced environments so I learnt a lot throughout my career that prepared me for this job.
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
N/A
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Have strong MS Office skills. Advanced level MS Access and MS Excel are required for this job. I would also recommend SQL and VBA.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Patient: you have to look at millions of data manually most of the time. Resourceful: you need to be creative to make sense of large amounts of data
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes, I think you need good computer skills
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Learn how to use computers well. Try to work with large sets of data and try to learn/ figure out short cuts so that you can be efficient. Speed is as important as accuracy in this work.
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Salary wise yes.
What are your current career goals?
I do not have any specific career goals. My goal is to increase my income as much as possible.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
No
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