I have a NYC government career as a Staff Analyst (a title that compasses a lot of things, mostly not even data related). I took a civil service exam and did well and have a math degree so I had no trouble with the qualifications. basically all I really knew as far as tools was excel basics like lookups and pivots. my current role is a staff trainer. we design curriculum and act as instructors for staff development. but I have no interest in doing that so I started looking at ways I could use excel to provide some insights to the training data vs the work the staff do every day. I had no coding experience (I got my degree in 2007 when it was basically just some Matlab. no other coding was done in my program). I found fiverr and found someone that could inject VBA into workbooks to make what I needed to do easily accessible to myself and others I work with. we were now able to quickly have a report generating template this way so that reporting was more consistent. fast forward 2 years when I found out about chatGPT. after trying to learn python so I could do what I paid the fiverr guy for, I gave up and tried chatGPT. I told chatGPT what I needed to do and it spit out the code. after some back and forth fixing errors, I actually had working code. I was hooked. I started learning about APIs after trying to automate with Playwright and found our learning management software Absorb has an API. chatGPT was able to help me code with the API as well as Mongo to pull the data in from the back end and manipulate it for reporting export to excel I thought wow this is amazing. then I found out about Streamlit and things have been getting even better. I have figured out so much with chatGPT and I now send amazing looking reports with visuals to comissioner level people. nobody cares how I do it but now my name is known and sky is the limit for moving up. moral of the story is, start the data journey with the job you already have. use your work as your coding projects to learn. that kills two birds with one stone. its a lot of fun and rewarding to know that people value me and look for me for help. programming can be daunting when you dont know where to begin, but dont be afraid to just talk to chatGPT. start from there.
Hey, just started your video. Your candle is giving me anxiety lmfao. It looks safe, it looks innocent, it looks accident proof, but it's not. There are random one in a blue moon embers from a whick, and can catch that bust or paper on fire. GYI ;)
Hello, thanks for your concern.I practice proper candle safety. The candle by the bust has a battery operated candle in it. So hopefully it doesn't catch anything on fire. The one on my dresser that you can see towards the end of the video is a real candle. I never burn a candle for longer than 3hrs at a time and I'm always have an eye on them.
Thanks for sharing your background!! I work in HR operations and I don't have a data analysis background but I just interviewed for a role that will involve LOTS of data analysis, so I'm a little nervous but similar to you I feel confident in my transferrable skills.
Blessed ! I saw someone say, i don’t get paid because I’m good at SQL, i get paid because i can derive and explain insights. I feel like you showed you were competent in that skill and so it was a no brained to train you in the technical stuff. Thankyou so much for sharing ! Loving all your videos
Hello my name is Lekan. I really like your content it’s really helpful. I want to ask of something. Can we get connect on LinkedIn 🙏🥹. If yes please send your link profile so that I can follow you and get connect to you 😊
Love your videos! I was in a similar position to you for my first data analyst job! One of my colleagues connected me with the hiring manager and we initially spoke (they told me I should learn PowerBI if I want to take on this path), 6 months later they opened the position and I had my interview. I showed them my first dashboard made (it wasn't that great) and the manager was so impressed. So in the end I got the job internally and as you said I think my domain knowledge in insurance also helped over the external applicants.
I wasn't specifically asked about excel but one of the projects that I reviewed during the interview was in excel. I had to speak to what I did with the data in excel.
Thank you for posting! I’m glad I found your videos as I’m currently transitioning in my career field. What website/platform do you recommend for somebody wanting to build a portfolio or something to present to employers when applying?
Your journey inspires a lot of people, including myself. I have a question, without having a degree in finance or statistics etc, how would you recommend someone who has skills in Tableau, power bi, Excel, and SQL get their foot in the door? The reason I ask is because I see these posting all the time, but the degree they ask for is very intimidating and makes you feel as if you don't have them, you won't even be considered.
I would recommend that you apply anyways. I didn't have a degree when I applied. I think I forgot to mention that in this video. But I just got my BS earlier this year.
Just had an idea. It may be a departure from what you normally do, but given the range of skills the people you work with have Can you speak to any programs or methods for learning that were universal? I assume you can’t speak to proprietary systems. Now I’m even more curious about how you learned on the job versus those who already had skills.. normally you don’t get a lot of time to learn when you’re asked to perform.
I wish that I could but not really. After I got my access to all of the systems/database I had a couple of days (maybe a week) before I got my first project. During that time I just had zoom calls with people on my team and watched them work. We spent a lot of time together as a team on calls working on/through code together. I didn't receive any official training until I was about 1yr into the job.
Yes, your path is not typical. However, it was your domain knowledge and the reputation you established during prior work that made the difference. Given that, I laughed at all of the advanced level (SQL, excel, etc.) requirements.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am looking to transition to Data Analytics and really hope to be given a chance to learn on the job. I am doing courses on the side but do you recommend any resources that will help with beginners especially now that you are in the field?
I work for a Tech start up. Due to the nature of the company I don’t really need to work more than 20 hours a week. But this is only because there aren’t much projects and usually have an ample amount of time for big projects. Also I’m the only Analyst… This has its pros and cons though. I’m looking forward to joining a bigger company eventually where I can take on more projects and work the full 40 hours.
This is good, very informative to know what data analysts actually do daily. People always made it sound like rocket science, it really is not. Alot of us are doing data analyst roles buy its worded under a different title 🤦♂️
This is very true, which is why I tell people to look for the skills in job descriptions and not the title as titles can be deceiving. I know many people that have the title Project Manager but they are doing the job of a data analyst.
It wasn't a duplicate data issue. There was an issue where employees had multiple ID's. I eventually found a table that had their ID's tied to a date. So I could differentiate which ID they had during a specific timeframe.
If only there was a way we could see more of what you’re doing in your excel and SQL… sounds too cool for us to just hear it from you… help us emerging data analysts… hehe
Yeah not every project requires a dashboard. I’m a freelance at the moment and what my recent client only needed was a TABLE… a FREAKING TABLE… hehe… nothing more… nothing less
I’m late on the video, but my company also hired me under the guise of being remote permanently and then somewhere along the line last year changed it to hybrid. It went from hybrid 2 days in to hybrid 3 days in (thankfully I was able to get an exclusion). Prior to the pandemic I did hybrid three days in office two days from home and I enjoyed it and I’ve been remote ever since. I think for the first two years I enjoyed it but now I’m getting the itch to work hybrid. Just not at this job 😅 but if I have another job that pays more money, I would definitely be looking towards hybrid. My current employer does not pay enough for me to consider hybrid. But it can be quite isolating being at home working solo and. I’m an introvert.
You just popped up on my feed. This is my 3rd video and I subscribed. I just started liking the video at the beginning lol I've actually been watching until the end and thats saying alot from me. SO yea ^_^ Thanks for these
Learning SQL right now. Loved this video, sharing with my class for Monday Motivation. Good to see what we're learning used in a real work environment. ^_^ Thankyou
I'd recommend getting some introduction to either R or Python, but having comprehensive projects in Excel, SQL and Tableau should be enough for certain job postings. The issue here, imo...would not be entry level but rather the number of opportunities cause sometimes they do want you to work with both Excel and Google sheets (similar enough tbh but still). Just show through projects that you are ready to learn, that should help. I'm gonna be applying too for entry level, but I'm working towards data scientist opportunities cause I'm kinda comfortable with Python, it's quite a lot of statistics tho for me. But yeah, data analyst jobs are doable mostly with the above three you mentioned.
I agree with the comments. There is nothing stopping you from applying. But you need to showcase that you have those skills through comprehensive projects. I would recommend that you do projects related to companies that you plan to apply for a position with or something you’re passionate about and can speak to confidently.
Also, just want to add that it may depend on the field you're planning to go into. May need some additional skills and/or knowledge of specific systems.
Hello I just came across your channel you have some good content. I wanted to ask if I get the basics down for data analytics like SQL,Excel and tableau. Would that be enough to start looking for an entry level job?
The 20 is small but it’s as cute as a button. I wanted the 26 but it wasn’t available, I really like the divider and the front pocket. Different strokes.
lately, too many to count. Currently juggling like 3 full projects plus several adhoc requests. Also, backing up 2 team members that are out of the office for an extended period of time. TLDR...I'm tired
I appreciate this video. In about a year or so, I’ll be coming into the data analytics job setting, and I agree. I’ll look into companies that has an office in case remote work goes away
You are correct, alot of companies require a degree to be a data analyst, but i don't think you need one. I don't have a degree and i know so much about power bi, Tableau, sql u name it. Don't be afraid to apply for positions even if they ask for a degree. Maybe you know more than those who have one. RU-vid, coursea, udemy, skillsoft... all teach us from beginner to Advanced.
