Data analysis has become increasingly important and relevant, with more people relying on technology than ever. As a data analyst, there are plenty of important ways that you can apply your skillset. Let’s look at some of the most exciting projects that you can expect to face and some of their real-world implications.
Sentiment Analysis
One of the most basic projects is performing sentiment analysis. In this case, you will need to design a program that will look at the words that a customer is using. For example, you will need to know whether they were angry, sad, confused, or happy with the experience. This will give organizations a good gauge of the way that their users are feeling about their products. It can also inform changes that will benefit the community.
Building a Chatbot
One of the most important components of a modern service interface is a chatbot. This will draw on a few aspects of data analysis. First, you’ll be able to come up with an AI. This gives the feeling that the customer is talking to a real person. It needs to make them feel comfortable, especially when talking about a sensitive topic.
You’ll also need to be able to comb through a lot of data. This will allow you to find the answer that they are looking for. You might also need to incorporate some aspects of machine learning. This will allow the chatbot to learn from the experience and improve for the next inquiry.
Detecting Gender and Age
Another useful project is a program that is capable of detecting the age and gender of a person, just based on an image. This can be used to help businesses learn more about the demographics of their customers. This will test your ability to build a machine learning system. It’ll also require you to know about machine vision, which is how a computer will “view” the image.
Credit Card Detection Systems
This is one of the most important tools that a bank will have in its arsenal. In this case, it will allow you to examine the details of a credit card transaction and decide whether it’s a genuine purchase or something that has been made fraudulently. The hope is that a system like this will be able to stop false transactions before they happen.
But, as you can imagine, this needs to be accurate. If you misclassify a transaction, it could have big consequences. The best way to accomplish a task like this is through machine learning. It will make it easier to monitor and track the thousands of transactions that will be occurring each day.
Recommending Products
One of the most important parts of a recommendation system is getting to know what products the customer likes. If a company can make a relevant recommendation, users will spend more time on the platform. Dozens of platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, and Netflix will have some version of this algorithm.
You’ll need to design a program that will look at the type of things people are searching for and interacting with. As the program learns this information it will be able to build a profile of likes and dislikes.
Detecting Problems With Drivers
One of the best ways to use your computer programming skills is by stopping people from being distracted while behind the wheel. You can do this by using machine learning. This will allow you to identify some signs that the person isn’t fit to be behind the wheel. For example, it might be able to look for slurred speech or erratic movements to identify a drunk driver. If you want to take things to the next level, you can write a program that will shut off the engine when these warning signs are spotted.
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
One of the first things that you will need to do when faced with a new data set is to sort and separate it. This is where the EDA process comes in. You will often need to transform the data into graphs. You can also transform it into a heat map. This will make it easier for you to understand what it is saying. It can also make it easier to spot patterns. This will make it simpler to spot potential outliers and points that need more investigation.
Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change
There is no reason why data analysts can’t branch out into other sectors and sciences. For example, you might want to branch out in environmental science. You can use machine learning to help develop models that will predict the effects of climate change. This can be used to help mitigate some of the effects of environmental change. You can also advise on the most effective ways to reduce emissions.
Segmenting Customers
Another essential component of many businesses is the ability to segment customers. In this case, you will be responsible for sorting them into groups. There many ways that organizations will be able to use this information. Though one of the most common is when they are advertising. They will be able to use this database to learn what demographics their customers belong to. This lets them craft a message that will appeal to these groups.
Analyzing Web Traffic
Today one of the most important assets of any company is its website. It’s one of the best ways to bring in new customers and sell their products. Because of this, data analysts will need to spend a lot of time looking at web traffic. This will deliver plenty of valuable information. You will be able to tell where customers are coming from and how long they are spending on the site. You might also be able to build a tool that will be able to predict the number of users who will be visiting the site.
Conclusion
When you become a data analyst, you have the skills to work on a wide range of exciting projects. This can be everything from helping a company better understand their customers to stopping drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. These projects are just the tip of the iceberg. There are limitless ways of using data to help people.