How To Become A BI Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bi consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A BI consultant is responsible for improving their organization's internal processes to achieve optimal efficiency and performance. They do this by conducting data analysis and consultations with key stakeholders and relevant teams within the company.

Moreover, a BI consultant is typically responsible for generating data analysis reports, overseeing data storage, documenting work procedures, and monitoring analysis outcomes. They also implement data analysis procedures, update existing mapping documents, optimize OLAP databases, and create new data collection and processing programs. With all these duties considered, it comes as no surprise that BI consultants spend most of their time in front of computers.

The qualifications for this role are a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or other similar fields and substantial experience in a similar role. More than that, an applicant must possess good communication, time management, and problem-solving skills to qualify for this role.

BI consultants earn around $86,000 per year, with the lowest earners taking home about $67,000 and the highest earners averaging around $111,000 per year.

ScoreBI ConsultantUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $96,297

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.3

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.19%

Asian 25.05%

Black or African American 8.44%

Hispanic or Latino 9.54%

Unknown 4.91%

White 51.88%

Gender

female 22.39%

male 77.61%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.8

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bi consultant

Explore bi consultant education requirements

Most common bi consultant degrees

Bachelor's

63.9 %

Master's

31.6 %

Diploma

2.4 %

Start to develop specific bi consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Dashboards	12.15%
Power Bi	8.28%
Analytics	7.50%
SQL Server	6.91%
ETL	4.88%

Complete relevant bi consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bi consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bi consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bi consultant resumes.

Research bi consultant duties and responsibilities

Implement QlikView desktop and publisher, manage user authentication, establish publisher tasks, streamline loading procedures and review log.
Update existing mapping documents and ETL metadata repository.
Create reports using IDT from more than one data source.
Optimize existing OLAP databases by reducing number of dimensions, attribute hierarchies and calculations, develop SSAS actions and security layer.

Prepare your bi consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bi consultant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a bi consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable BI Consultant Resume templates

Build a professional BI Consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your BI Consultant resume.

Apply for bi consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a bi consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do bi consultants rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

BI Consultant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2020

Pros

The challenges and opportunities offered by the role where I get to learn & apply new skills.

Cons

Mostly a sitting job with no opportunity to travel and interact with the business.

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019