The answer is rarely the same. Unlike other careers, like accounting or law, web analytics professionals generally don’t follow a standard career development path.

It’s a newbie industry and each of us is, to a degree, a professional pioneer. Ivy League credentials are good, but the ability to unearth data to improve business results and increase customer satisfaction is what matters most.

However, we are the first wave of analytics professionals. We’d be short-sighted to think that the pioneer path is a sustainable model for developing the next generation of analytics leaders. If we want to nurture analytics professionals for generations to come, we have to think differently.

And WAA has several initiatives underway.

First is the Web Analytics Certification Program. The purpose of the program is to provide a mechanism for individuals to obtain professional recognition after demonstrating their knowledge of and competency within the web analytics industry. Certification will be issued to each qualified person upon meeting WAA’s required education, experience, and examination requirements. Corry Prohens, owner of IQ Workforce, said it best:

“The Web Analytics Association's Certification™ program, as a symbol of excellence, represents a huge advance for the web analytics community and a victory for all companies and organizations that want to be data-driven. We know that having the right tools and technologies is only half the battle. Acquiring the talent that is capable of taking the data and making an impact on the business is where the rubber meets the road.”

To that end, I’m excited to introduce two new related projects:

Analytics Career Development: The goal of this program is to create resources for WAA members that tell them more about what a career in digital measurement looks like, the roles and how they fit into corporations, job expectations, etc.

The project is led by Michele Hinojosa, Red Door Interactive, and winner of the “Rising Star” award at the WAA Gala this past spring. The team has conducted a number of interviews with folks in the industry and is putting the finishing touches on the written plan.

They also will start talking about this topic at upcoming conferences. To that end, there will be an "Analytics Career Development" panel at eMetrics NYC on October 21. The panel will consist of the following WAA Members: Shari Cleary (MTV, client-side, large team perspective), Nancy Koons (Vail Resorts, client-side, small team perspective), Matt Gellis (Keystone Solutions, agency/consultancy perspective), and Michele Hinojosa.

Encouraging Careers in Digital Measurement/Web Analytics: The goal of this program is to address the shortage of talent in the industry and help attract more people to careers in digital measurement. This program is aimed to provide information and encouragement to people to consider a career in digital measurement. The plan is to form a Task Force to help guide the development of the program and get it started quickly. As a first step, WAA will create a section of the website that will contain articles as well as provide resources. An outreach program will also be designed to contact universities and other educational organizations to spread the word to their students.

For more information on, or to help out with, either of these projects, contact the .