When many graduates leave the academic world and seek to enter the work force, often they have preconceived ideas of the various career opportunities they have available to them. These preconceived ideas are unfortunately limited in their nature because what appears to be the case is that there are very few career choices to actually pursue. I mean if you studied accounting for example, the likelihood is that you want to do all the appropriate exams and then finally become a CA – nothing else seems to quite hold the prestige of being a fully qualified Chartered Account…

This mindset starts getting sparked and honed long before the graduate actually leaves their institution of higher learning with their qualification, going all the way back to being asked what you want to be when you grow up. Sure, you’re asked what it is you want to be, but you’re only limited to the choices you’ve been presented and very little imagination is tolerated beyond the imagination contained naturally in any one or more of those choices.

I mean you could very well say that you want to be an astronaut, which is considered to be imaginative by way of career choices, but what if you said you wanted to build a space shuttle that can get to other planets?

Okay, so I guess I took a very long way around to get to my point of just how exciting some career opportunities which are hidden in plain view can be, such as data analysis. Maybe we have different ideas of what the word “exciting” means, I admit, but still – if you’re seeking some career satisfaction in  what is a very dynamic environment (it can be as dynamic as you want it to be), then you need to make a resolution to take a closer look at the big business of data analysis.

I’m not suggesting you go back to college and study a degree towards being an Actuarial Scientist, unless of course you’re in love with numbers and are willing to put up with a more stressful work environment than that of our beloved Chartered Accountants and auditors. What I am suggesting is that you can find pretty much any career you want within the field of data analysis, even if your aim is to enjoy a working day filled with activities that guarantee something different and totally new every day.

A car accident attorney for example would pay some good money for some data which demonstrates to them that a specific market would bring in great returns through the many clients they can get, so too a door-to-door salesman for whom the big data they can access demonstrates to them a market hungry for whatever they’re selling.

So even if you don’t get directly involved in the big business of big data, it’s big enough for you to find a way in which is directly in line with your specific passion, skills, interests, qualifications, etc. Big data is everywhere and if you think about platforms such as social media sites you’ll realise that the business they’re operating in is indeed that of big data.