To use the huge amount of data collected by information systems and other systems for business purposes, there is a growing demand for human resources who can collect, process, and analyze data. More and more companies want to train engineers with these skills and pay the current BI developer salary trends, but at the same time, there are many questions such as “what they should learn and how they should learn”, as well as “how long it takes to train them”. In this article, Alcor will tell you what skills business intelligence engineers need and how to learn them effectively.

Growing Demand…but Challenges in Training Engineers for BI

Business Intelligence (BI) is the process of collecting and analyzing data to enable organizations to make better strategic decisions.

 Although there is a growing awareness that it is better to incorporate this BI into organizational activities to solve business issues, there are still a few companies that are using it for their business. One of the reasons for this is the lack of engineers involved in building BI solutions. Even if they want to utilize the data, there are no engineers with the skills to do so.

 When trying to train engineers for BI, many companies are faced with issues such as “we don’t know what specific skills we need to acquire,” “we don’t know how to train them,” and “it takes a lot of time to train them.

 In order to solve these problems and develop engineers who can promote the use of corporate data, Alcor first identifies what skills are required of BI engineers. Next, we will explain how to acquire those skills efficiently.

Skills Required of Engineers for BI

What skills are required of engineers involved in BI? Here, Alcor mainly introduces the skills and knowledge required of engineers in the position of a data engineer or data analyst.

Knowledge of databases

Engineers involved in BI need to have knowledge of databases, which are the repository of big data, as well as basic operating skills.

Skills in data extraction, conversion, and verification

Although a variety of information has been converted into data and is easier to handle than in the past, it is rare that all data is stored in a format suitable for analysis. Therefore, knowledge and skills in data wrangling (data cleansing and formatting), which is the pre-processing of data for analysis, are important.

 Although described as preprocessing, the majority of time in data analysis is actually spent on this preprocessing. Data wrangling addresses missing data and errors and cleans and arranges the data so that it can be extracted and processed as needed.

BI tool operating skills

BI utilization seeks to visualize data and communicate the meaning of data in an easy-to-understand manner in order to utilize data for organizational decision-making. This requires skills in using BI tools to conduct data processing and analysis, modeling, and visualizing useful information.

Knowledge of statistics and data analysis

To analyze data correctly, it is not enough to be able to operate BI tools. Knowledge of statistics and data analysis is indispensable as the basic knowledge to collect necessary data and conduct appropriate analysis according to business issues and objectives.

 It is not necessary for all BI personnel to be able to perform advanced statistical analysis, but acquiring basic knowledge as a common language can reduce the risk of data selection errors and visualization errors.

Microsoft certifications for BI-related skills

• The knowledge and skills described in the previous section are often difficult to teach systematically in a company. In such cases, it is effective to take advantage of the BI certifications and related training offered by Microsoft.
• Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI are often used to build BI solutions. Microsoft BI-related certifications will equip you with general skills and knowledge, as well as the skills to use Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI in practice.
• In addition, certifications are structured according to purpose, role, and skills, so they can help you in your learning.

Here are some of the certification training that will help you learn how to build BI solutions in a structured way

Learn database fundamentals: DP-900 Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals course

• This is the most fundamental of the data-related certifications. You will learn the basic concepts of cloud databases and gain basic skills in working with cloud data services. You will also gain an understanding of data types (structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data) and data processing flows.
• Furthermore, you will learn how to design the best solution that meets business and technical requirements: DP-203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure.
• If you already have a basic understanding of cloud databases and want to learn about building data solutions on Microsoft Azure, this is the course for you: providing data storage, data ingestion, and data transformation services that are important to an Azure data engineer, and you will also learn about data-related implementations such as implementing security requirements and accessing external data sources.

DP-203 is the successor to DP-200, implementing an Azure Data Solution, and DP-201, Designing an Azure Data Solution

Learn data analysis skills with Power BI: DA-100 Analyzing data with Microsoft Power BI

Learn how to best use Power BI to model, visualize, and analyze data. You’ll gain skills in data cleaning and transformation, designing and building scalable data models, and creating easy-to-understand reports to analyze data.

Use training to systematically learn how to build BI solutions

Cloud and business intelligence-related technologies are evolving rapidly, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get up-to-date and accurate information when you’re trying to learn. This is even more true for information that is “easy to understand” for learners. That’s why it’s most effective to learn from a professional instructor who combines knowledge, skills, and teaching abilities.

Instructors are familiar with the areas where students usually “stumble” as well as the areas where they have problems in practice. Unlike books and websites, you can ask questions right away, so you can constantly improve your skills by solving any difficult questions or issues you find difficult to understand. Hands-on exercises allow you to learn by touching real equipment, which gives you skills you can put to use in the field.