How to Become a Project Analyst? One Guide for All.

The completion of a project has a lot of factors to consider such as opportunities, feasibility study, resource management, collaboration, and budget. It gets difficult for a project manager to handle all these factors. And in big companies, many projects run simultaneously. To aid the project manager, the role of the project analysts come out. Project analysts are persons who aid the project managers by processing all project information, creating reports, and developing strategies. They act as the right hand of the project manager.

In this article, we’ll discuss the responsibilities of a project analysts, the required skill set, the payment system, and finally how to become a project analyst.

What is a Project Analyst?

A project analyst is the one who provides data support to help project managers plan and manage the projects.

They need to do research and get data before designing new projects, help plan after completing the phase of data collection and research, and provide improvement suggestions after analyzing the projects.

Project analysts play a great role in making crucial decisions for a project. The project managers will turn to the project analysts for suggestions.

The project analysts are not a dying necessity for small projects. But for large projects, it is a must. Depending on the complexity of the project, there may be more than one project analyst.

What Do Project Analysts Do?

The main task of project analysts is to help the project managers develop strategies based on data analysis. They through all the data relevant to the project and processes and analyzes those data. After the processing, they provide the project managers with the summarized data to help them make decisions. The project analysts contribute to the whole project and help the project managers make effective use of available resources, deal with employees, improve their productivity, set up priorities, and more.

Project analysts may also act as the project managers in their absence as they are the ones with the most knowledge about the project. They need to attend meetings with both clients and supervisors of the project and present the opportunity, progress, and cost estimation reports. They will check how well the project is progressing, the current difficulties, the problems that may arise in the future, and the necessary steps to solve those difficulties.

The project analysts play a great role in resolving internal problems. They figure out how to apply the skills of each individual in the most productive manner with the data analysis. They need to analyze all the data to track progress and suggest a change of plan if things are not going as expected.

Project analysts deal with the project finances as well. They need to schedule a budget, keep track of the expenses, suggest the most effective approach with low cost, and provide analysis reports.

What Are Project Analyst Qualifications?

Skilled project analysts should be equipped with various abilities. Here, we’ve collected some key abilities that any project analysts should have. Anybody with these abilities can be a good candidate for turning into one professional project analyst.

Data Analysis: Good project analysts should be able to collect and analyze available information. They need to know the effective ways to gather all data, use great methods to analyze them, and have the ability to figure out solutions. Data analysis is a crucial factor for any project. Useful data may be the key factor to success. And data analysis is the most important ability that project analysts should have.
Technical Skills: The project analysts should have basic technical knowledge of all the aspects of the project. Proficiency in computer systems and Microsoft office tools is a must irrespective of the project type. If it is a hardware project, they need to have a basic idea of how the components operate and coordinate with each other and understand their benefits and drawbacks. If they are working on a software project, they need to be familiar with the basic languages, existing software, and the development life cycle.
Management Skills: The project analysts should have the ability to manage team members, resources, finance, and more business issues so that they can analyze the data for the members, resources, and others.
Project management skills: They must have a very good idea about project management. As sometimes they may have to play a managerial or executive role depending on the industry and project strategy. They may be responsible for maintaining the communications and timeline and should know every little detail about the project including how they operate and their pros and cons. They need a clear understanding of the project because they are the ones the project manager will be looking for suggestions.
Communication Skills: They need to convey their data, research or idea to the project manager or team members. And communication skills are a must to do this.
Business Knowledge: The project managers should have a basic idea of business management as they need to stand at the company’s angle to consider and develop a cost-efficient strategy, keep track of all the expenses, manage the costs, check transactions and provide a clear report to the authority whenever demanded.
Educational Certifications: ‘Computer Science’ Bachelor’s degree holders are the ones who take the job of project analysts. However, it is not enough to own one degree, they need to study management, finances, and IT knowledge.

What Is a Project Analyst Salary?

Various companies offer different amounts of salary. This depends mainly on the job requirements and the working experience. It may also vary depending on geo-location. But you can know the range via the salaries standard from some companies. Here is a list of offered salaries to project analysts from some renowned companies

Company Name	Average Salary of a Project Analyst(Yearly)
Intel Corporation	134,319 USD
Pacific Gas & Electric Company	105,326 USD
Jaguar Land Rover	37,506 USD
HCL Technologies	98, 316 USD

How to Become a Project Analyst?

First, you need a bachelor’s degree and you need to major in computer science, management information systems, finance, business administration, public administration, or any relevant subject.

After completing your Bachelor’s degree, you may also look for certifications in related items. This will make you more capable of the role. The fact is, there is no end to learning in this field. You become more and more qualified, as you keep studying more relevant subjects.

The different industry has a big difference in the requirements for project analysts. You need to choose a specific industry you want to be an expert in and have the basic knowledge of the industry. And you need to improve the relevant skills required in that industry.

There may be software that is used almost every day for project purposes like keeping records or creating reports. You need to learn those tools in your free time.

And the fastest way to succeed in one industry is to join a company as an intern after graduation. You can gain a lot of experience valuable for your career during the internship.

With all the above preparations, you are sure to be a project analyst.

Job Description Samples for Project Analysts

Here are some job descriptions so that you may have a better understanding of the requirements.

Project Analyst Resume Template

To write a good project analyst resume is not easy. You can get some ideas by checking these templates.

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Platforms to Find Project Analyst Jobs

If you are seeking for project analyst jobs after you are ready to be a project analyst, you can use these popular sites.

Linkedin:. https://www.linkedin.com/
Naukri:https://www.naukri.com/
Indeed: https://au.indeed.com/?from=gnav-homepage

Final Words

A project analyst is a crucial position in project management. In this article, we’ve tried to give you a good idea of the roles of a project analyst and how to become one. Hope it can help you pursue your goals much more easily.