There are many different roles in managing, controlling and using data. Some of these roles are business-related, and others involve engineering or a focus on research – some hybrid functions may combine different aspects of each.

Let’s introduce the three key job roles that deal with data, according to Microsoft:

Database Administrators / DBA

Database Administrators focus on performance, integrity, and the security of the database platforms. They are involved in the planning and development of the database and in troubleshooting any issues on behalf of the users.

They ensure that the data remains consistent across the database, the data is clearly defined, users can access it concurrently, and everything related to security and recovery in an emergency is in place.

Data Engineers

The Data Engineer’s primary role is to prepare data for analytical or operational uses. They are the data pipeline builders who bring together information from various sources. The data is integrated, consolidated and cleansed for use in analytics applications.

Depending on the size of an organisation, the Data Engineer will work with a different scale and complexity of data. The larger the organisation, the more complicated the analytics architecture and the more data it will be responsible for.

Data Engineers work in data teams with Database Administrators and Data Analysts to improve data transparency and enable businesses to make more responsible business decisions.

Data Analysts

Data Analysts explore and analyse data to create visualisations and charts that enable organisations to make informed decisions.

Their job is to convert business questions into data queries, so they must be familiar with how the business operates, the strategic objectives, and how data fits in. Data analysts use data and communicate findings from their research to senior management for decision-making.

In addition to the above three key roles that deal with data, according to Microsoft, we should include Data Scientists.

Data Scientists

Data Scientists manage statistics, deep learning, and machine learning. Machine learning uses statistics to find patterns in massive amounts of data.

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning; it’s an artificial intelligence function that imitates the part of processing data by the human brain and creates data patterns for decision-making.

So, as you can see, there are many critical roles in the world of data, and all play their part in the modern data-driven organisation.

To stay competitive, organisations need to leverage data whenever and wherever possible to enhance business effectiveness and efficiency.

To create such an environment, organisations need to create and develop data teams and understand the key role-players that contribute to their organisation being data-driven.