What is the difference between data analyst and data scientist?

Data analysts are responsible for taking out valuable results from the existing data through data analysis and report writing. However, data scientists curate new methods to collect and process that data on which data analysts can work and improve the business model of the organization.  

Thus, data analysts have to do more of the analysis task while data scientists work on new ways of data collection.

Data Analyst is someone who works with existing data to find patterns, trends, and insights that help businesses make decisions—using tools like Excel, SQL, and dashboards. On the other hand, Data Scientist is someone who goes a step further—they build models, use advanced statistics, machine learning, and often write code in Python or R to predict future trends. So, if you enjoy solving problems with numbers and visuals, start with Data Analysis. If you’re ready to dive deeper into tech, math, and coding, Data Science could be your path.