Advice to a Data Analytics Newbie.

Data Analysts are recognized as some of the most sought after tech talents with increasing demand and companies are prepared to pay extremely competitive salaries. It’s no surprise that more and more people are looking to switch into the field from other fields including non-technical fields. However, making a career switch isn’t just about the salary specs and job security but you also want to be certain that it is a role you will excel in.

What do Data Analysts do?

1. They collaborate with key business stakeholders to identify specific business challenges, which need to be solved.
2. They extract and gather the data required to solve the business problem.
3. They perform data wrangling to ensure the data is useful.
4. They find trends, patterns and key insights within the data using the most appropriate techniques. 
5. They interpret findings, turn them into visualizations (such as graphs and charts), and share them with the key stakeholders.
6. They apply market research then recommend data-driven strategies and actions to help the business.

The job description of a data analyst as well as the tools needed to get the job done varies from company to company so for now you only need to get familiar with the general roles and tools.

As a newbie to the Data analytics field, you may get overwhelmed with overload of information, as there are a lot of available information on the internet. I believe setting both big and small learning goals is a technique that will help you make progress.

Here are some tips that have helped me since I started my journey in July 2021 and I hope you find them useful as you start your own journey.

1. Do proper research: Before diving into the field, you should do a proper research, find out what data analytics is all about and if it is something you find interesting. One important skill that you will need frequently is the ability to search for what you need on Google with the right keywords.
2. Do a proper self-assessment: You should do an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses to find out if you have what is needed to excel in this field. As the role of a data analyst relies heavily on critical thinking, statistical analysis, problem-solving, and communication, You can assess yourself by answering questions like; 

•  Are you naturally curious and inquisitive? A good data analyst is like a detective, piecing the story together, figuring out the meaning behind the data and finding the culprit/answers. 
• Are you an analytical thinker? A data analyst draws conclusions based on facts and information as opposed to gut feeling or intuition. 
• Do you look carefully at the evidence before taking action? A good data analyst pays good attention to details.
• Do you tend to questioning everything rather than making assumptions? A good data analyst knows how to keep asking the data questions until it confesses.
•  Are you hungry for information when solving a new challenge? A data analyst is resourceful and has good research abilities.
• Are you a keen problem-solver? 
• Are you comfortable collaborating with others and presenting your findings to a variety of audience?

If you answered YES to the above questions, you‘d be an excellent data analyst!

3. Join Data communities: The importance of community in the tech space cannot be over emphasized, as a collaborative effort is necessary for technological advancement. There are communities on different platforms (LinkedIn, Discord, slack, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.) that you can join to stay motivated, learn from others and ask for help when stuck. I would recommend joining ‘The All about Data’ community. It is an online data community of over 6000 members from varying data fields, ready to assist you. You can join the community on Twitter, Facebook and Discord.

4. Get mentors: Mentors can influence and help you directly and indirectly on your journey. You can follow and even reach out to some professionals for tips and recommendations. Here is a list of 10 data professionals that you can follow online that constantly contribute to the growth of data community,

• David Abu
• Datajayintech
• Jessica_xls
• Alex_Theanalyst
• Nicksinghtech
• Gift Ojeabulu
• Theoyinbrooke
• Greyisheep
• TheMaryamO
• The_numerist

5. Love knowledge: As an aspiring data analyst, you should be hungry for knowledge and have a ready-to-learn mindset. Choosing this career path means, you’ve agreed and signed up for a life of consistent learning and growing. Data Analytics is still developing so even the professionals are still learning new things. Are you up for the task?

6. Have a ‘Growth over Goal’ mindset: Some days you will meet and exceed your goals, other days you may not but you are still learning and growing regardless. 

7. Go slow and steady: Going fast and hard leads to burnout but going steady ensures you make consistent progress. There is a lot to learn, so do not try to learn everything so fast. Draw up a learning curriculum for the road map you want to follow and move at a reasonable pace. Learning is a lifelong process.

Below is a list of tools and skills to include in your data analytics learning curriculum. 

• Spreadsheet (Excel or Google sheets)
• SQL 
• Visualization (Tableau or Power BI)
• Programming language (R or Python)
• Data Wrangling
• Statistics & Mathematics
• Machine learning
• Critical thinking & Problem-solving skills
• Research, Data collection & documentation
• Teamwork, communication & Presentation.

8. Understand the process: Data analytics is much more than the tools involved. In as much as we all want to master the tools, knowledge about the data analysis process is important. I’d recommend taking the Coursera Google Data Analytics professional course, it explains the analysis process from asking the right questions to giving actionable recommendations from the results. (Check out the article I wrote on how to get financial aid for the course.)

9. Self-Development is important: Don’t just focus on the technical skills, learn other skills like time management, proper planning, presentation, communication, etc. You can read good self-development books and work hard towards becoming your best self. These skills will help you stand out.

10. Share your work online: The feedback and recommendations you get online will help you grow and improve your skills. However, before sharing your work online with professionals, share with your friends and make the suggested corrections before sharing with a professional for review as they are busy and get a lot of requests daily. Some of the mentors I mentioned earlier, selflessly make out time to review projects for newbies.

Follow me on Twitter for more data related information.