Data analytics will be regarded as an increasingly important skill for professionals in the modern workplace. These comments come from Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Jonathan Rosenberg, adviser to Google’s CEO Larry page. They identify that jobs using analytic skills are expected to grow by 30% over the next seven years.
The executives name some known areas of higher-level skills such as Excel, SQL and Tableau, as well as a grasp of calculus. However, they also noted that “an understanding of how to approach big data would still be very helpful in finding a job.” My experience has been that just within Excel a couple of basic cross-tabular tables allow you to pinpoint key findings. It’s like the high-and-low when you’re creating an outfit or decorating a room. You need one or two blockbuster items to make things excellent, but other things can be pulled from Ikea or a thrift store.
Eric Schmidt poses the metaphor that “Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it well, the samurai.”
Stuart Murray Speaks 