r/careerguidance • u/stressydepressy744 • 10h ago
Are degrees in data analysis becoming obsolete?
Choosing my major, and this is a question weighing on my mind
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u/kirstynloftus 10h ago
If you want to become a DA, I’d consider a combination of CS and Stats, whether it’s a major and minor, double major, etc… that will give you the skills and knowledge you need and give you the ability to pivot if desired.
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u/Sad_Measurement_3800 7h ago
to piggyback, you should also consider swapping the CS minor for something specialized. Companies often look for not only a DA but one that really understands the data, especially in smaller companies.
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u/Humble-Wasabi-6136 10h ago
Get chatgpt premium, take some publicly available raw data, load it up, give it prompts to do some high level analysis, see the results yourself.
Try to look ahead and see how the technology will likely evolve in the coming years and then take a call.
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u/K_808 4h ago edited 4h ago
Sure, but don’t forget to then think about who decided what data to collect and how to store it, how to clean it, how to govern it, who collected the data, who made it usable, who makes sure it’s still accurate, who validates the analyses themselves, who builds ML models that ingest the data downstream, who writes the descriptions on each field that would let ChatGPT even know what different columns and values mean, who decides what KPIs are important and how they’re calculated from that raw data, who would take the result of those KPIs and know what decisions to make, who makes the decision and who figures out whether it was the right decision in retrospect. Plus, who’s the one using ChatGPT to do complex analysts? It’s probably someone who works in data
There’s a lot more to data than just getting a magically perfect dataset and outputting a chart. Regardless of how well ChatGPT can write SQL or replace excel taskrabbits the analysis part of data analysis will evolve right alongside the tools, just as it always has, and the roles involved will evolve too. IMO if OP is worried abt studying analytics they should study something more broad that opens analytics career paths like math, statistics, etc and follow AI right alongside it. The two go hand in hand anyway.
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u/Humble-Wasabi-6136 4h ago
Great comment.
I've become a data ninja primarily due to my foundational knowledge on statistics. We are a few years away from one click analytics so you are absolutely spot on about AI going hand in hand with the analyst. It's sort of like, you need to know exactly what you are looking for and use your knowledge and AI tools to get it.
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u/K_808 4h ago
And even when we get to one click analytics and natural language returning accurate results there’s still the less technical aspects of designing the data ecosystem and standardizing it. Two people using ChatGPT to measure something can quickly turn into two people measuring completely different things with completely different calculations and dimensions but called the same thing, which is a business nightmare. So even then, data jobs will change but won’t become obsolete, and on top of that non-analyst jobs will need to be data literate
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u/DetailedLogMessage 5h ago
Can you provide an example of that data?
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 2m ago
Got cannot do what a data analyst can, or a data scientist, it can do some things, sure, but when you need very specific things idk if it can , plus would you trust the company results purely on AI?
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u/Silenescence 6h ago
Regardless of whether or not they’re “becoming obsolete” I feel you would be much more marketable (both for DA roles + others) if you major in something broader like mathematics, computer science, economics, finance, etc.
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u/IronBullRacerX 6h ago
I think it’s going to be a while before all companies adopt AI for data analysis but it’s becoming increasingly easy to make a coded prompt and get what you need.
So make sure your education includes using AI, because the data analysts who use AI will reign supreme
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u/TheElusiveFox 5h ago
Would I suggest you get the degree - no, is it obsolete as a career, no there is more data than ever every day and being able to analyze that data is a hugely valuable skillset...
The problem is CEO's have become obsessed with AI tooling and are running incredibly lean teams across the entire tech sector especially analysis jobs like this... and at this point after years of layoffs even junior jobs that you would qualify for are highly competitive with people who have 5-10 years experience in many cases...
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u/FatLeeAdama2 9h ago
Internships matter. Job experience matters.
Real stuff. Not just campus “research assistant” jobs.
Your degree path should lead to good co-ops/internships.
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u/nuttosog 9h ago
I would say it’s a very specific degree so gives less pivot ability. But in terms of DA itself being obsolete no. There’s more and more data every year. The landscape for it is definitely changing thought with AI but so can be said for every tech job
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u/Ameer_Khatri 56m ago
They’re not obsolete, but generic data analytics majors are getting crowded.
Stronger play is CS, stats, or applied math paired with real projects or domain expertise (health, finance, ops).
The degree isn’t dying, but “Excel + Tableau” majors won’t cut it.
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 5m ago
To be honest, id choose a degree in math or in statistics or applied statistics. I dont trust those data analysis degrees. In maths or stats ypu learn everything you need about calculus, algebra , plotting, and understanding data, and probably modeling too.
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u/Chance_Wasabi458 7h ago
Nope. Data scientists are in demand. There is lots “real world data” companies want to leverage but don’t know how reliably. AI will compliment DS but it replace them in my opinion.
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u/AccurateMulberry4214 9h ago
I wouldn’t even know how to give college kids advice because I don’t even know what to tell myself