New opportunities emerge, a comprehensive review of data career development paths

In the data-driven era, data analysis has become an indispensable skill in the workplace, but many practitioners are still confused on the path of career development. This article will comprehensively review the development path of data analysis careers and provide clear guidance for everyone.

At the beginning of 2025, many students are thinking about how to develop this year. There are a lot of articles on the Internet about how to go from 0 to 1 in data analysis, but there are very few introductions to the subsequent development paths. Today, I will take stock of various development paths for you, and there is always one that can get you a promotion and a raise.

First of all, everyone must be clear: data analysis is not a job that is paid according to work. It is not based on who writes more SQL, who gets more salary. Even the human data extraction machine that writes 2,000 lines of SQL a day will be criticized as "lack of contribution to the business" and have no chance of promotion. So don't just bury your head in work, it is important to look up and see the road ahead!

1. Internal promotion

To be promoted within the company, you need to meet several requirements:

1. The company’s performance is growing

2. The data department has room for expansion

3. The data department has performance A quota

4. Your immediate supervisor recognizes your performance

You can check which one you are in and see how many of the following apply to you.

1. The company is not large

2. The company's performance is declining

3. The company does not have a data department

4. Your immediate supervisor does not recognize you

Then it is recommended to look down and choose other opportunities

2. Opportunities for job-hopping in the same industry

If you want to increase your salary by changing jobs, changing to a new job is the fastest way. Everyone likes to take advantage of what is already available, and it is easy to get a high salary if you have experience in the same industry.

Note! The same industry here refers to: similar business problems that have been analyzed, such as:

• Sales: Salesperson, telephone sales, online purchase
• Operation: users, products, private domain,
• Production: Discrete and process production
• Supply: Logistics, Warehousing, Distribution
• Products: content, e-commerce, tools
• Commodities: Durable goods, fast-moving consumer goods, fresh food

When looking for a job, you must look carefully and you will find more opportunities. For example, some students work in traditional companies, but:

1. Have self-built APP and full set of tracking points + user behavior analysis experience

2. CRM operation is mature and has a full set of sales operation experience

3. Have experience in public domain → private domain traffic diversion and online promotion

At this point, the student's abilities are the same as those required by Internet companies, so it is easy for them to successfully switch careers. On the contrary, some students, although they are called "Internet giants", actually only do marginal businesses such as content review, customer service, and telemarketing, and they will still encounter great difficulties in switching careers.

Special reminder, the "e-commerce" that people often talk about actually includes three types of enterprises:

1. Platform type: large e-commerce platform, serving users (C-end) and merchants (B-end)

2. Settled type: companies that sell goods on Tmall, JD.com, and Amazon

3. Self-built: Brands build their own APPs and sell their own products

These three types have different experience requirements! Platform-based positions often recruit people for the C-end and B-end; the settled positions mainly focus on product management and purchase optimization; the self-built positions often require more C-end analysis experience. If you are not prepared accordingly, it is easy to fail the interview.

However, some students do not have in-depth business experience and just mechanically generate reports and obtain a large amount of temporary data. What should they do? See the next item.

3. Opportunities for skilled workers

Note! Large companies also have entry-level positions that do not require deep business experience, but only support data collection. Such job descriptions generally have the following statements:

1. Support daily analysis needs such as sales, operations, and products (not limited to a variety of departments)

2. Output regular reports and monitor business trends according to business needs

3. Diagnose business mobility, identify business problems, and provide analysis suggestions

In short, they just talk in general terms and don't consider in-depth user, promotion, and product issues.

This kind of position is very suitable for low-level tool people to land, but some preparation is required:

1. At least sort out the needs/reports you have made to determine which departments/needs you serve

2. Be familiar with the indicator system of the regular business department and don't stutter during the interview

3. Be familiar with the routine of routine abnormal diagnosis and problem solving, and it is best to prepare in advance

Only by being well prepared can you pass the interview.

4. Opportunity to change track

Data analysis is a very useful skill. Being able to do data analysis does not necessarily mean you have to work as a data analyst. Some high-paying business positions also require data analysis skills, such as:

1. Operation: user operation, product operation, sales operation

2. Product categories: strategy products, data products

3. Management: business analysis, regional management

These positions are mostly core business positions, usually requiring:

1. Monitor business data trends

2. Analyze data to find problems

3. Determine strategy based on data calculation

Data analysis is the core competency of these positions. If you don't like SQL and are interested in business, you can switch to this position.

It should be noted that these positions are business positions and have certain requirements for business capabilities, such as:

1. User operation: common user grouping methods, user rights setting

2. Product operation: common product promotion, scheduling methods, product selection

3. Sales operations: common means of sales training and motivation

With accumulated business knowledge and data experience, it is easy to change tracks successfully.