What I have for you here today is a different kind of stuff. We will take a look at what should BI developer working on Microsoft technologies be able to do. I put up together a list of knowledge and abilities which I consider important for this job. I gave each skill rating (1-10) according to its influence and importance.
I want to say in advance that this is only my personal opinion. Value of some knowledge can be different depending on your environment and also on seniority.
Ideal BI Developer Skill Set
As I already said, everything depends on environment and seniority. To put it simple, you will need different skills in each company. It only depends on what your actual job will be, with whom you will work and what will be your responsibility level.
Lower is a list of skills that, in my opinion, mean a good senior candidate able to lead a team and serve complex BI needs of mid-large companies. With lower seniority comes lower requirements. But the key skills are still needed by the employer. Junior candidate is required to be ready to learn and able to process new knowledge.
| Skill | Is a key factor? | Field of skill |
| Steep and growing-in-time learning curve | Yes | Soft skills |
| Time management and work organization | Yes | Soft skills |
| Effective analysis and information synthesis | Yes | Soft skills |
| Knowledge of data warehouse concepts | Yes | Data warehouse |
| Data modeling and data architect tools | Yes | Data warehouse |
| SQL queries for advanced users | Yes | T-SQL |
| Procedures, functions in T-SQL programming knowledge | Yes | T-SQL |
| Excel pro | No | Self service BI |
| Company processes knowledge | No | Miscellaneous |
| Accounting and controlling knowledge (financial) | No | Miscellaneous |
| SSIS | Yes | Data warehouse |
| SSRS, SSAS (both) | Yes | Data warehouse |
| Language – English | Yes | Miscellaneous |
| Script optimization, automation (Job agent) | No | T-SQL |
| Power BI, Power Query, PowerPivot (all) | Yes | Self service BI |
| Ability to communicate effectively and empathy | Yes | Soft skills |
| SQL Server Administration incl. SSRS settings, backup, etc. | No | Data warehouse |
| MDX, DAX, M (one) | No | Self service BI |
| Windows server Administration | No | Data warehouse |
| SharePoint | No | Miscellaneous |
| C# | No | Miscellaneous |
| HTML | No | Miscellaneous |
| JSON/XML | No | Miscellaneous |
BI Developer Wage (Czech Republic)
BI developer is a hard and responsible job. Developer builds or helps to build architecture meant to aid in management decision making (data, reporting). This job hold quite big operational risk. The risk is that anytime an error occurs, the consequences for the company are significant. Management decisions are based on data and it is therefore not sensible to make savings on this position. It is actually the same with accountant or lawyer 🙂
BI payouts and payouts in general IT are rising in the last few years. Current job market situation only helps the growth as the market is coping with lack of IT personnel. According to freely available information, situation is as follows:
- Average gross wage is 47 000 CZK
- BI Developer wage is dependent on local situation and seniority. It moves in range between 30 – 100 000 ++ (big space for growth)
- Mid-senior position Prague/Brno 45 000 – 70 000
- Junior position 30 000 a fast growth
- International projects 100 000 +
