Being trained as a Technical Web Analyst, why and how?
A Q&A about the traineeship Tracking & Analytics
- Podcast
- Technical Web Analytics
A new group of trainees Tracking & Analytics will start soon. They will be trained as Technical Web Analysts and can become part of the Digital Power team after their traineeship. But what does a Technical Web Analyst (not) do and what can you expect from this traineeship? In this podcast, Marloes interviews her colleague Jos on this topic.
Listen to the (Dutch) podcast below or scroll on to read the article.
What exactly does a Technical Web Analyst do?
Jos explains that a Technical Web Analyst bridges the gap between (Web) Analysts and Developers. "On the one hand, you have Analysts who look at data and advise. On the other hand, you have Developers who create websites with structured code. As a Technical Web Analyst, you are right in between."
Suppose a website user clicks a button or completes in a form. The Technical Web Analyst captures this interaction and complements the information coming out of the website, for example with the text that appears on the button. This information is then forwarded to an analytics programme.
What is the role and importance of a Technical Web Analyst in an organisation?
Decision-makers want to know what is happening on their websites. As an example, Jos talks about e-commerce websites: "You'll want to know which products were sold, what category they fall into and what the buyer journey looked like."
Not all this data would be measured by default in an analytics tool like Google Analytics. Information like the colour and type of product, the Developer has to make available through the website's code. The Technical Web Analyst retrieves this data and makes it available in the analytics tool. From here, the Analyst can analyse the data.
What are the misconceptions about the role of a Technical Web Analyst?
"Tapping code and sitting in a cubicle doing the work an Analyst tells you to do", that's not it according to Jos. "You are really translating a Web Analyst's question into a technical implementation. You have to be analytical, understand questions from an Analyst and be able to communicate with a Developer who speaks a completely different language so that the input becomes available. This makes the work very diverse."
A big misconception is that as a Technical Web Analyst, you also have to analyse data. "You are primarily responsible for making the data available," says Jos. Creating dashboards and reports is the job of the Analyst. As a Technical Web Analyst, you are 'chief quality', as an Analyst 'chief insight'. You're talking to each other a lot. Why does an Analyst want to know something and why? What information is needed to answer certain questions, and how can the Developer make it available?
What kind of background do you need to have to work as a Technical Web Analyst?
Digital Power's Technical Web Analysts have diverse backgrounds such as Communications, Interaction Design and IT. There is no such thing as a course to become a Technical Web Analyst. Jos: "Above all, you have to be curious about how to properly measure an online interaction." Several colleagues agree that you especially have to love solving puzzles.
"Above all, you have to be able to deal with different interests. The Developer wants to keep the code as simple as possible because otherwise it becomes difficult to maintain and too heavy. The Analyst, on the other hand, prefers to measure as much as possible," is Jos' experience. "Measuring is knowing, but you shouldn't want to measure everything."
What does the Tracking & Analytics traineeship look like?
The traineeship consists of three phases:
Phase 1
You attend full-time workshops for 6 weeks. These cover important soft skills for a consultant such as stakeholder management and communication. You will also receive hard-skill training, for example on how Google Tag Manager and JavaScript work.
Phase 2
You will be paired with a senior colleague. For 3 months, you will do a kind of internship with that colleague, taking on a client assignment together.
Phase 3
You start working independently. In consultation with you, our commercial team will look for an assignment that suits you. You no longer work under supervision, but if you have any questions, you can fall back on more than 100 colleagues. "That is the power of Digital Power."
Getting started as a trainee tracking & analytics? Apply now and start in 2023!
Can't wait to learn all about web tagging with JavaScript, HTML and CSS under the guidance of experienced specialists?
View the vacancy for a Tracking & Analytics Trainee and apply.
This is the 'From data to action' podcast by Marloes de Bruin
What is it like to work at a fast-growing data consultancy firm? In this podcast, I interview colleagues about their work at Digital Power. I speak to data consultants with different areas of expertise, as well as staff members. What does their working week look like, what challenges do they face and what do they love about their work and our company? You can hear it in the 'From data to action' podcast!
Marketing Managermarloes.debruin@digital-power.com
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