Data Job Market 2024: Insights You Need to Boost Your Career
Data is everywhere, and so are the opportunities for those who can work with it. But what does the data job market look like in 2024? How is it right now after the pandemic and the rise of AI?
In this post, I will share with you insights from the latest data job openings on Linkedin, based on a scraping of 3K+ mid-level data analytics job posts in the US that were posted in 2024. We will uncover:
- The most in-demand data roles and skills
- The preferences of employers for remote, onsite, or hybrid work modes
- The locations and industries that offer the most data jobs
- The salary range for data professionals
Whether you are looking for a new data job, planning to switch careers, or just curious about the data world, this post will give you a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the data job market in 2024. Don’t miss this chance to stay ahead of the curve and boost your data career.
Let’s go!
A glance into the Data Job Market in 2024
Data Analyst, Analytics Manager, and Data Scientist are the top data roles in demand
Besides the top roles employers are looking to fill, here are the themes that emerge from the data, sorted by demand:
- Data Analysis / Business Analysis
- Data Science
- Business Intelligence
- Data Analytics Consulting
- Data Engineering
Employers prefer Onsite or Hybrid over Remote
If you are active in the market, you might need to consider leaving the comfort of working from home behind when searching for a data job in 2024.
According to CNBC’s recent research, companies have mixed views of remote working. Proponents argue that remote work hinders productivity (which is true, according to the US Labor Productivity Statistics Report in Nov 2023, US productivity declined 5 consecutive quarters Y/Y). On the other hand, the advocates say that the cost of lost productivity is compensated with the cost savings from dismissing office rent, equipment, etc.
In fact, in 2022, there is 1 remote job for every 7 jobs. That number decreased to 1 remote job for every 11 jobs in 2023. For data jobs though, it’s 1 out of 5 jobs as of Feb 2024. Let’s see how it goes.
So, if a job is non-remote, where are they?
California, New York, and Texas are the top hiring locations for non-remote jobs
What’s the hottest industry right now?
Technology, albeit mass layoffs, is leading the data hiring
Why on earth do you need to pay attention to the industry? Think about revenue analysis. Your approach should be completely different for a SaaS business (Technology) than for an Automobile one (Manufacturing). SaaS revenue comes from subscriptions and is recurring while Auto sales are not.
So if you are searching for a data job, you might need to gear up on the SaaS business model as Tech is the top player in the market.
Now we’re coming to the most awaited insight: Skills!
Dive into the in-demand skills for data jobs
Data analytics skills desired by role
Skill profile varies across data roles but no single role is exempt from programming (SQL or other languages). That’s right. We data folks are a mixed breed of professionals. I once read a fun definition of Data Scientist:
Data Scientist (n): a person who is better at statistics than any software engineer and better at software engineering than any statistician.
Let’s see if hiring managers demand something else from us.
Skills desired by role — beyond analytics: Employers are not only looking for data warriors
Problem Solving is desired for all data roles, especially for Business Intelligence and Data Analysis roles. Besides, soft skills like Communication and Stakeholder Management are also most desirable.
One pattern emerges from the data: the more technical the work, the fewer people skills hiring managers ask from you. See the difference in the level of people skills (communication, collaboration, stakeholder management) for BI and DA/BA roles vs. DE and DS roles.
Also, DS pivots from the skillset a bit — though some roles still require business strategy (revenue growth strategies, marketing strategies, etc.) to an extent, most managers expect DS hires to have product strategy thinking.
A glance into the salary of data jobs
Data analytics salary varies widely with most jobs paying 100K-150K annually
One fact in the data job market is that the roles are not standardized. You can find a DA position at a company that requires no to low coding while one at another company requires robust SQL skills (like Google asking for 5+ years of SQL experience for their DA roles).
Skills vary, salary varies. And that’s what you see in the histogram above.
Here’s the methodology of the analysis
That’s it for today.
Stay healthy and crunch data!
I hope you found this post useful and interesting. If you did, please give it a like and share it with others who might like it too.
Don’t forget to follow me for more data posts and comment if you would like an analysis for data analytics entry level (or others)!
Thanks for reading and being part of my data journey. Cheers!
P/S: Bonus on Skills Cloud for curious minds :)
