If you are looking for a career in data analytics, I would suggest that you take up a job in one of the analytics companies - Mu Sigma, ZS associates, Fractal, Tredence, etc. These companies mostly don’t need any prerequisites for entry level analyst jobs and provide great opportunities to learn the skills from scratch
If that’s not possible for you, I would suggest you take the following progression to learn data analytics in each of the key areas:
Maths
- Basic statistics and data summarizing parameters like mean, median, mode, central tendencies, distributions, etc.
- Data integrity, comparison and tendency tests like t-test, z-test, f-test
- Regression - Linear, Logistic, GLM, Mixed in that order
- Advanced techniques like predictive modeling and prescriptive methods
Technology
- Microsoft Excel: This is the Holy grail of analytics. Learn this in and out. From simple formulae to the data analytics tool and dashboard in, you should learn it all
- VBA: This is an extension of Excel and though not used very extensively, can help in making a lot of tasks in excel easier
- SQL: This is the logical progression from Excel for handling larger data volumes and also standardizing processes and creating code modules for repeated use
- SAS/R: The next step will be one of these tools as they can help you do more complex processing like regression and modeling
- Tableau: This is almost the standard right now for data visualization and dashboarding
- Advanced technologies like Shiny, Hadoop, Hive, etc.
Business
- Working of different verticals like Technology, Pharma, Healthcare, Retail, Banking, etc.
- Applications of analytics in each of these verticals
Hope this helps.