I recently received a question about a crime analyst looking to break into data science. Figured it would be a good topic for my advice in a blog post. I have written many resources over the years targeting recent PhDs, but the advice for crime analysts is not all that different. You need to pick up some programming, and likely some more advanced tech skills.
For background, the individual had SQL + Excel skills (which many analysts may just have Excel). Vast majority of analyst roles, you should be quite adept at SQL. But just SQL is not sufficient for even an entry level data science role.
For entry data science, you will need to demonstrate competency in at least one programming language. The majority of positions will want you to have python skills. (I wrote an entry level python book exactly for someone in your position.)
You likely will also need to demonstrate competency in some machine learning or using large language models for data science roles. It used to be Andrew Ng’s courses were the best recommendation (I see he has a spin off DeepLearningAI now). So that is second hand though, I have not personally taken them. LLMs are more popular now, so prioritizing learning how to call those APIs, build RAG systems, prompt engineering I think is going to make you slightly more marketable than traditional machine learning.
I have personally never hired anyone in a data science role without a masters. That said, I would not have a problem if you had a good portfolio. (Nice website, Github contributions, etc.)
You should likely start just looking and applying to “analyst” roles now. Don’t worry about if they ask for programming you do not have experience in, just apply. Many roles the posting is clearly wrong or totally unrealistic expectations.
Larger companies, analyst roles can have a better career ladder, so you may just decide to stay in that role. If not, can continue additional learning opportunities to pursue a data science career.
Remote is more difficult than in person, but I would start by identifying companies that are crime analysis adjacent (Lexis Nexis, ESRI, Axon) and start applying to current open analyst positions.
For additional resources I have written over the years:
The alt-ac newsletter has various programming and job search tips. THe 2023 blog post goes through different positions (if you want, it may be easier to break into project management than data science, you have a good background to get senior analyst positions though), and the 2025 blog post goes over how to have a portfolio of work.
