Get into Data Analytics NOW!

[Ezekiel 25:17]

... As a data engineer who just finished his day having his first meal at 4pm, having a list of 7 things to do and getting none of them done because my bosses boss had a request we had to work on for the past 3 days.... I'll cosign this in a couple days when I'm recovered.

Heavy SQL, python, and Java/scala. I don't have any certs, but I am experienced in AWS and some azure, though when I was job searching it was mainly AWS or gcp environments.

I dunno where AI is headed in this environment, but make sure you get comfortable using it to speed up your ability to develop solutions

You taught yourself all of that? Where did you learn? What online school and how much did it cost?

 

[summwunn]

 

[Fill Collins]

I can't imagine only having data analytics skills plus a good job

I write for porn sites, straight, gay, and in-between — I maintain a spreadsheet but that's it

 

[Regular Developer]

You taught yourself all of that? Where did you learn? What online school and how much did it cost?

Kind of. I'm self taught programmng until college where I did just software development. Everything else has been learned on the job. I haven't taken any online courses, so I'm not really sure what would be good to suggest. But the main topics you'd want to get an understanding of is Data Warehousing (organizing data for people to use), Data Dashboard Design (telling a story with data. reporting and analysis), and then Data Engineering (gathering, cleansing, and combining data).

Then Machine Learning/AI really should be a part of this, but the way they like their data structured/organized is a little bit different than data is structured for Data Analysis/Reporting.

This book did help a lot though:

Data Warehouse Toolkit​

The Data Warehouse Toolkit, 3rd Edition - Kimball Group

Wiley, 2013 Tools and Utilities NOTE: You may need to “Save Link As” to download the files. Chapter 3 Sample date dimension spreadsheet Download Correction to Figure 3-13: The first heading in the lower report shown in Figure 3-13 should read “Calendar Week Ending Date,” just like the top report...

www.kimballgroup.com

If you want to kind of experiment with data and doing things, there's a few places that have datasets for free. The main issue with getting started in this space is just having a dataset to start with, whereas regular software challenges come from people's imagination/problems. I think I've seen like a pokemon card based on, but I know the big cities have open data websites. I did spend some time messing around with NYC's 411 data. Looking through taxi incidents and heat related complaints, lol. Dataset is decent size, so its a good way to deal with problems that arent just "how do I show this data", but "how do I show ths data without it freezing my computer"

NYC:

NYC Open Data

NYC Open Data helps New Yorkers use and learn about City data

opendata.cityofnewyork.us

LA:

DataLA: Information, Insights, and Analysis from the City of Angels | Los Angeles - Open Data Portal

data.lacity.org

Chicago:

City of Chicago | Data Portal | City of Chicago | Data Portal

data.cityofchicago.org

Kaggle (not sure if datasets are free, but they have more than just pokemon cards):

Pokemon TCG All Cards 1999 - 2023

Aggregate csv of all related set and card data found within the Pokémon TCG API

www.kaggle.com

 

[summwunn]

... just start with getting a comfortable grasp with SQL before you fukk with Python . . . it doesnt hurt to become familiarized with Tableau . . . Excel can only handle so many rows of data . . . . . it all depends where you work . .. . the larger the firm and the more "corporate" its structured - you will be extremely constrained from being able to really build and play in a true sandbox . .. . . all depends if youre out for salary ... or if you have passion for swimming through raw data to build a storyline . . ..

 

[Regular Developer]

... just start with getting a comfortable grasp with SQL before you fukk with Python . . . it doesnt hurt to become familiarized with Tableau . . . Excel can only handle so many rows of data . . . . . it all depends where you work . .. . the larger the firm and the more "corporate" its structured - you will be extremely constrained from being able to really build and play in a true sandbox . .. . . all depends if youre out for salary ... or if you have passion for swimming through raw data to build a storyline . . ..

I'll also add, Qlik or PowerBI are good alternatives to Tableau as well. Starting off in Qlik, Tableau has been kind of uncomfortable to me.

 

[chineebai]

I’ve been in analytics on and off for 20 years. I’ve lead quite a few analytics teams. What’s critically missing from analytics is not the skillset but rather connecting analytics to usable insights and optimization. There are lots of people with amazing data science skill sets, but can’t tell a story for the life of them. They either lack business context or lack the skillset of insights and storytelling. I’ve met so many talented people with years of all types of data experience from analytics to infrastructure, python to sql to r to excel and all sorts of dash boarding, but I’ve only met a few people that have those skill sets and can also impact the business with insights and story.

 

[the bossman]

They either lack business context or lack the skillset of insights and storytelling.

How do people get better at storytelling with data or deriving meaningful insights?

 

[Trips]

I’ve been in analytics on and off for 20 years. I’ve lead quite a few analytics teams. What’s critically missing from analytics is not the skillset but rather connecting analytics to usable insights and optimization. There are lots of people with amazing data science skill sets, but can’t tell a story for the life of them. They either lack business context or lack the skillset of insights and storytelling. I’ve met so many talented people with years of all types of data experience from analytics to infrastructure, python to sql to r to excel and all sorts of dash boarding, but I’ve only met a few people that have those skill sets and can also impact the business with insights and story.

I feel this. This is definitely area I've been struggling with the last couple of years. Just have not found the lane to attack and really make the strides with insight and story telling. We're very much the data is the data, but I as the Senior Analyst should be finding ways that we can better shape Company directives.

 

[chineebai]

How do people get better at storytelling with data or deriving meaningful insights?

I can’t do it justice in a post because it’s something that is learned over years but generally you’ll want to understand the client challenge and goals as it relates to their business so you have big picture understanding of what outcomes they want to achieve. Then you want to look at what you’re doing or what your team is doing to positively impact those outcomes. From there it’s a matter of what’s the story you want to tell where it shows you understand the client business needs, what’s working, what’s not working, start with big statements and peel the onion with granular data. Keep everything to a minimum, maybe 3 main points. There’s a lot of styles and ways. I can expand on it another day.

 

[WIA20XX]

I can’t do it justice in a post because it’s something that is learned over years but generally you’ll want to understand the client challenge and goals as it relates to their business so you have big picture understanding of what outcomes they want to achieve.

It's not a technical skill! But good luck getting STEM people to take liberal arts seriously. *goes off on rant...*

 

[Lord_nikon]

Subs i guess

 

[Afro]

I can't imagine only having data analytics skills plus a good job

I write for porn sites, straight, gay, and in-between — I maintain a spreadsheet but that's it

 

[Fill Collins]

fakkits and lonely women have money too

 

[Brolic]

Do I need to get a degree? Or is it possible to get in with certs and online courses?