Demand for data analytics skills has risen globally and employers seek to hire data-driven people. In fact, the business social network LinkedIn listed statistical analysis and data mining as the number two skill in their list of the “25 professional skills that will be hot in 2016,” and a joint study from Burning Glass Technologies and General Assembly reported demand for data science skills has tripled over the past five years.

Tableau Software — analytics that anyone can use — has announced new partnerships aimed at helping people easily acquire data analysis skills needed for today’s workforce.

Lynda.com, a LinkedIn company, is a leader in online learning with over 4400 courses in business, technology and creative categories, and Pluralsight, a global leader in online learning for technology professionals, have partnered with Tableau to train virtually anyone in data analytics.

Tableau is also partnering with Udacity, an online education company focused on jobs for students with over four million students taking its courses, and General Assembly (GA), the global education company that specialises in the most in-demand skills, to offer deeper training skills to current and future expert data scientists.

To address the skills gap, Tableau, Lynda.com and Pluralsight are helping teach those without a background in data analytics:

•             Lynda.com is developing Tableau training materials targeted for data science practitioners as well as for those entering the field, especially in transition from other IT careers. Current offerings can be found here 

•             Pluralsight teaches in-demand skills including Tableau from industry experts with real-world experience in data analytics. Current offerings can be found at this link.

“These partnerships are a continuation of our mission to help people see and understand their data,” said Elissa Fink, Chief Marketing Officer at Tableau. “Lynda.com and Pluralsight share our vision to empower everyone to learn valuable data analytics skills to help them be successful in their careers, no matter what role they have in the organisation.”

Expert data analysts are also in high demand. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, by 2018 the United States could have a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with analytical expertise and lack as many as 1.5 million managers and analysts trained to understand and make decisions based on the analysis of big data. Glassdoor also named “data scientist” the number one job in America in 2016 based on earnings potential, career opportunities and number of job openings.

“Our machine learning and data analyst nanodegree programs are some of the most popular among our students. That’s why one of our top priorities is to ensure students master the necessary skills to ‘be in demand’ for the data jobs most needed by today’s leading companies,” said Zhalisa Clarke, vice-president, business development, at Udacity.

Tableau is partnering with Udacity and General Assembly to fill this growing demand:

•             Udacity is developing course content with Tableau related to data infrastructure and data visualisation to help students advance their careers as data engineers, data analysts and beyond. For more information, please visit www.udacity.com.

•             General Assembly developed a full-time data science course, in partnership with Tableau: Data Science Immersive. The new three-month course will train the next generation of data scientists on core topics including statistics, data modeling and programming as well as Tableau to teach data visualisation, exploration and analysis. With a job placement rate of 99 percent for their full-time graduates, GA’s Data Science Immersive will prepare students for entry- and mid-level jobs such as financial analyst, data scientist and marketing analyst. For more information, please visit https://ga.co/DSI.

“Data has become democratised – in part, by companies like Tableau – making it possible to obtain a data-driven role without a PhD in statistics,” said Jake Schwartz, General Assembly co-founder and CEO. “Students can feel confident about a curriculum that not only draws from the expertise of an industry leader like Tableau but also incorporates our global career services program, which will set students up for success outside of the classroom and on the job.”