How do I Become a Data Miner?

To become a data miner, you must have excellent computer programming and data analysis skills. Developing these skills through formal education, either through obtaining a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, or both is essential in building the knowledge base required to analyze massive amounts of data at the enterprise level. Learning how to manipulate various computer programming languages to initiate specialized software is also important.

If you want to become a data miner, you should be interested in studying engineering or computer science during your undergraduate years. These programs of study emphasize critical, analytical thinking through solving challenging mathematical dilemmas. Operations engineering in particular will help you understand optimization theory and how to best sort through the data at hand to acquire the result that you need. You will also learn more about probability and statistics, both of which are important concepts to master for someone who will be building predictive models based on numerical data and analytical trends.

Studying computer science at a university or any institution of higher learning will exponentially increase your skills in leveraging complex computer programming languages. It takes a solid grasp of a handful of software languages, such as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Structured Query Language (SQL), and any variation of C++, to design and execute highly functioning and substantial data models. Without a deep understanding of computer science, its methods, and its application, a person who seeks to become a data miner will find it difficult to obtain many interesting jobs in the field, particularly within the financial industries.

If your goal is to become a Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a company or to secure an executive level position in data mining, a more advanced degree is in order. For those who find quantitative concepts fascinating and would like to delve further in these matters, a master's degree in advanced analytics or operations engineering would be suitable. These programs will allow you to explore the world of data analytics more in depth. You will uncover topics that are quite applicable to the business realm, such as regression diagnostics, relational databases, cluster analysis, and data querying and reporting.

To become a data miner who also manages projects across a number of different teams, securing a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree might be in order. In an MBA program, you will learn much more about how to manage people effectively in order to get the best results. Such programs also teach you how to utilize the results obtained from data mining to tackle real-life business issues such as market research, revenue analysis, and employee retention.