It is somewhat common knowledge today that “Analysts,” those who master the numbers and formulas that fuel our information economy, do quite well for themselves. Lots of people want to talk about statistics, analytics, data mining, predictive modeling, etc., however, there are still relatively few companies that engage in serious analytics and relatively few people, who do this type of work. As such, we analytically oriented folks still end up being generally classified as "geeks." I personally love the term and aspire to be the biggest, baddest, and best analyst geek at my company.

While I may enjoy being a bit of an analyst geek, I am acutely aware of the fact that the title "Analyst" is distinctly not the title "Manager," and therefore analysts are often slotted into non-management functional roles with great starting salaries, but questionable pathways for advancement to the very top of the organization. My very important and fundamental question at this point in my career is, “Do I really want to brand myself as an “Analyst” or as something else? “Digital Marketing Manager” roles off the tongue nicely for instance! More >>