Data Warehouse Specialist

In order to know what a data warehouse specialist is, you must first understand what a data warehouse is. It is a computerized storage and retrieval system, often used by businesses and governments to organize vast amounts of information.

Say Target implements a data warehouse. When management or stakeholders request information on the buying activities of customers, the data warehouse is told what information to access. It then spits out this information in a readable form. This type of information is used to identify sales trends, determine the number of customers who use coupons, or spotlight cyclical spending.

There are many businesses that use this technology. The data is typically transaction-based, which means some sort of transaction took place. Bank deposits, grocery bills, or utility providers could all be scrutinized with this same technique.

So now you know about data warehouses, but where do you fit in? As a data warehouse specialist, you not only understand all this, but you know how to make the computers do what they’re supposed to do, which is store, process, and output massive amounts of data.

A data warehouse specialist works with teams of computer gurus, designing and implementing systems that solve specific client problems. You also make sure the system is maintained, reconciled, updated, and backed up as needed. Additionally, the system’s security and privacy are other issues that take up a fair amount of your time.