How I Would Become a Data Analyst if I had to Start Over in 2024 | 6 Month Plan
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Alex discusses how he would become a data analyst if he had to start over from scratch. He emphasizes the importance of understanding what a data analyst does, learning key skills (SQL, Excel, and Tableau), and building a portfolio to showcase these abilities. Alex also recommends using free resources like YouTube for learning, and if possible, paid platforms like Udemy or his own Analyst Builder. He highlights the importance of working with recruiters, preparing for interviews, and suggests that it's possible to land a data analyst job within six months with dedicated effort.
Takeaways
- 📊 If starting over as a data analyst, the first step is researching what a data analyst does and determining what type of data analyst to become.
- 📚 Focus on learning three core skills: SQL, Excel, and Tableau. These skills cover most entry-level data analyst job descriptions.
- 🎓 If money is tight, YouTube is a great resource for free learning, but platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and the analyst's own Analyst Builder offer more in-depth courses.
- 📝 Building a project portfolio while learning the skills is essential to solidify the knowledge and create a more impressive resume.
- 📁 Include key projects and skills in the resume, even without work or educational experience, to catch hiring managers’ attention.
- 🔎 Working with recruiters is highly recommended to increase the chances of landing a job. This approach is more effective than applying to many jobs independently.
- 💼 Be prepared for two types of interviews: general interviews and technical interviews, with SQL being the most common focus in technical assessments.
- ⏳ Aiming to learn the skills, build a portfolio, and secure a job within six months is an optimistic but achievable goal, depending on dedication and market conditions.
- 📈 Continuous learning is important, with future skillsets possibly including AI and cloud platforms as they become more integrated into the industry.
- 💡 Landing a job quickly is crucial, but remember that the long-term goal is to grow in the field and potentially advance to data science, engineering, or related roles.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video?
-The video focuses on how the creator, Alex, would become a data analyst if he had to start over from scratch. He shares a step-by-step process, including learning essential skills and preparing for job interviews.
Why does Alex suggest researching the role of a data analyst first?
-Alex suggests researching the role to understand what a data analyst does and to determine which type of data analyst to become, such as in healthcare, finance, or general analytics.
What three main skills does Alex recommend learning to become a general data analyst?
-Alex recommends learning SQL, Excel, and Tableau because these are the most commonly required skills in job descriptions and provide the best chance of landing a data analyst job quickly.
Why does Alex recommend learning only three skills at the beginning?
-He recommends focusing on three skills (SQL, Excel, Tableau) to streamline the learning process and improve the chances of landing a job quickly. Learning more skills would take additional time but may open up more job opportunities later.
How does Alex suggest learning these data analyst skills if you're broke?
-Alex suggests using YouTube, which offers free resources. He also mentions that his own YouTube channel covers 90% of the skills needed to become a data analyst.
What platforms does Alex recommend for paid courses?
-For those who can afford paid courses, Alex recommends Udemy, Coursera, and his own learning platform, Analyst Builder, which provides more in-depth content than what is available on YouTube.
Why does Alex emphasize building projects while learning skills?
-Building projects helps solidify the skills you’re learning and allows you to create a portfolio that can be showcased on your resume, making you more appealing to potential employers.
What does Alex suggest including on a resume if you have no work or education experience?
-Alex suggests focusing on listing the skills you’ve learned (SQL, Excel, Tableau) and showcasing projects you've completed to demonstrate your practical experience.
Why does Alex recommend working with recruiters?
-Alex recommends working with recruiters because they often have direct connections with companies, which can help bypass the large volume of applicants applying for jobs through traditional means.
How long does Alex think it would take to become a data analyst if starting from scratch?
-Alex believes it is possible to become a data analyst in about six months if you dedicate yourself to learning the skills, building a portfolio, and actively working with recruiters.
Outlines
📝 Starting Over as a Data Analyst
The speaker discusses how they would start their career as a data analyst again from scratch, comparing it to having amnesia and remembering only the desire to become a data analyst. They would first research what data analysts do, then decide what type of data analyst they want to become (e.g., healthcare, financial, marketing). The focus would be on becoming a general data analyst to maximize job opportunities.
📊 Essential Skills to Learn First
The next step is to learn core data analyst skills, with a focus on SQL, Excel, and Tableau. These three are chosen because they are highly likely to appear in job descriptions, making them essential for breaking into the field quickly. SQL is especially important, appearing in about 75% of listings. Although there are other tools like PowerBI or Looker, learning Tableau gives the flexibility to adapt to similar BI tools.
💻 How to Learn Data Analyst Skills for Free
For someone starting with no money, the recommendation is to learn data analytics skills for free on YouTube. The speaker mentions their own channel as a resource, along with other free content available online. For those with some money, platforms like Udemy and Coursera are recommended. The speaker has also created their own learning platform, 'Analyst Builder,' which offers in-depth courses and interview preparation for aspiring data analysts.
📈 Building Projects and a Portfolio
To strengthen a resume, the speaker recommends building projects as part of the learning process. These projects, such as SQL, Excel, and Tableau-based examples, will serve as portfolio pieces that demonstrate real skills. After two months of learning, the speaker advises spending an additional week or two creating 4-5 projects to include on a resume and portfolio site, which will make it more compelling to recruiters and hiring managers.
📝 Crafting a Simple but Effective Resume
Once the skills and projects are ready, the speaker emphasizes the importance of a clean and focused resume. Even if the person has no work experience, including skills, projects, and a summary can make a good impression. The goal is to highlight what's most relevant to data analytics positions while passing automated resume filters that many companies use.
🤝 Partnering with Recruiters
The speaker encourages working with recruiters early in the job search process, as they can provide direct connections to companies and help bypass the frustration of online job applications. The advice is to reach out to multiple recruiters on platforms like LinkedIn and actively engage with them to increase job search success.
🎯 Preparing for the Interview
The final step is to prepare for interviews, which often have two parts: a general interview and a technical interview. General interviews focus on questions like why the applicant wants the position, while technical interviews assess specific skills like SQL. Preparing thoroughly for both is essential, and practicing SQL questions can significantly boost confidence for technical interviews.
⌛ Realistic Timeline for Landing a Data Analyst Job
The speaker outlines a realistic timeline of 6 months to go from learning skills to landing a data analyst job. While self-learning and building projects can be completed in about 2-3 months, the job search process, which includes working with recruiters and interviewing, may take longer. The speaker notes that external factors like the job market or location may impact this timeline.
🚀 Future Skills: Cloud and AI
For those with more time or resources, the speaker recommends learning cloud platforms and AI tools. Although not critical for landing a job in early 2024, these skills are expected to become more essential in the future as they integrate more into the data analytics field. For now, they are nice-to-haves but could be more necessary in the next 3-5 years.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Data Analyst
💡SQL
💡Excel
💡Tableau
💡Portfolio
💡Projects
💡Technical Interview
💡Recruiter
💡Learning Platforms
💡Resume
Highlights
Research what a data analyst does to understand the role and choose which type of data analyst you want to become (e.g., healthcare, finance, or general analyst).
Focus on learning three key skills to become a general data analyst: SQL, Excel, and Tableau.
SQL is essential, appearing in around 75% of data analyst job descriptions. Excel is found in nearly 100% of job descriptions.
Learning a BI tool like Tableau will make you proficient in other similar tools like Power BI or Looker.
YouTube can be a free resource to learn these skills; for more in-depth learning, platforms like Udemy and Coursera are recommended.
Amnesia Alex would dedicate around two months to mastering SQL, Excel, and Tableau.
Building projects while learning these skills is key to solidifying knowledge and adding experience to your resume.
Creating a portfolio with projects in SQL, Excel, and Tableau will make your resume more competitive and appealing to hiring managers.
Work with recruiters early on in your job search to improve your chances of landing interviews and bypass applying to hundreds of jobs.
To succeed in an interview, prepare for both general questions (e.g., about yourself and the company) and technical questions (usually in SQL).
You can practice for technical interviews on platforms like Analyst Builder, which offers specific interview preparation in SQL, Python, and other tools.
Landing a job could take between 3 months to a year, but focusing on skills, projects, and recruiters can reduce the timeline to around 6 months.
Even though AI is not currently a must-know for data analysts, it may become more integrated in the future, making it beneficial to learn over time.
Developing a good resume tailored to data analyst roles is essential to passing automated screening systems and getting the attention of hiring managers.
Consider future career growth, like transitioning into data science or data engineering, as new tools and skills become necessary.
Transcripts
what's going on everybody welcome back
to another video today we're going to
talk about how I would become a data
analyst again if I had to start over
from
[Music]
scratch actually been thinking about
this a lot recently because things have
changed since I became a data analyst
six or seven years ago right uh the job
market is different the Tex Stacks are
different and a lot of people ask me
every single day hey how do I become a
data analyst and so I want to give a
good perspective of from today if I had
to completely start over exactly how I
would do that again now in this scenario
it's almost like I had Amnesia I
completely forgot everything I know the
only thing that was left in my memory is
that I really want to be a data analyst
that's all I have left so my sole
purpose right now is just to land a job
in data analytics and I'm starting from
scratch nobody knows who I am nobody
knows who Alex freeberg is or Alex the
analyst I'm just some person right who
wants to be a data analyst and I'm going
to tell you how I would do that as
quickly as possible so let's start from
the very very very beginning remember
Amnesia Alex doesn't remember anything
except that he wants to become a data
analyst he doesn't even know what a data
analyst does so the first thing that I
would do the very first step is just
research what a data analyst does and
this part just takes like a couple days
right you're just figuring out what they
do figuring out what kind of things you
might be interested in and then I would
determine what kind of data analyst do I
want to be do I want to focus on
healthcare because Healthcare uses
different tools than something like
financial analyst or a marketing analyst
or just a broad General en data analyst
which would learn kind of the tools that
I usually talk about on the channel so I
would try to figure that out and then I
would try to research what skills to
learn exactly for that position but for
this example for this scenario I'm just
trying to become a general data analyst
where I can get hired at any company so
that's the first thing that I would do
the second thing that I would do is then
start learning the skills because you
cannot become a data analyst with none
of the data analyst skills it's just not
possible now I've talked on my channel a
lot about what skills you need to learn
SQL Excel Tableau powerbi python then
there's a ton of others you could do R
AWS Azure looker and a ton of others but
Amnesia Alex wants to get a job as
quickly as possible so I'm not going to
recommend he learns all of those skills
I'm going to recommend that he only
learns three that's going to be SQL
Excel and Tableau now why do I recommend
those three skills in particular that's
because those ones are the ones that
have the highest probability of being in
a job description so SQL for sure is
going to be in like 75% of job
descriptions for data analyst Excel
should be in probably like 100% % and
then Tableau is just a bi tool so if you
know Tableau you know powerbi or you
know looker for the most part like you
know like 80% of the other ones and so
if you learn a tool you usually know the
other ones and so just learning a tool
you can switch Tableau for powerbi or a
lot of other tools but I recommend
Tableau just because it is a popular
tool that a lot of companies use and
those three skills are going to open up
probably 40% of the jobs for a data
analyst out there now of course the more
skills that you know the more jobs that
you can apply for right if you keep keep
adding skills to your skill sets then of
course you're going to be able to apply
for 50 60 75% of the jobs that are out
there but if I was starting over I would
just want to give myself the best chance
to land a job really quickly and so I
would just focus on those three skills
at the beginning now where would I learn
these skills I'm pretending Amnesia Alex
doesn't remember he's married doesn't
remember that he has any money in his
bank he is completely broke so if he has
absolutely no money I would recommend
that he goes on YouTube and learns all
the free things that you can find on
YouTube is basically a university a
YouTube University out there where you
can find anything and I myself have an
entire Channel dedicated to data
analytics and you can probably learn 90%
of what you need to learn just on my
channel but there's tons of other great
channels out there if you want to dive
into different things now if you're not
Amnesia Alex and you do have some money
and you remember who you are and you do
want to dive into some of these skills a
little bit more in depth than what
YouTube has to offer there are some
platforms that I do recommend I've been
using udemy for a long time I've also
been using course Sarah for a long time
I've even created my own learning
platform for data analytics called
analyst Builder on analyst Builder I
have all of my own full courses that go
a lot more in depth than what I have on
YouTube we also have a questions page
where you can practice for technical
interviews and we'll get into technical
interviews in just a little bit when we
talk about getting interviews so I'll
leave links in the description if you
want to check it out but learning the
skills is super important so that is the
next step that I would do and honestly I
think that I can learn SQL Excel and
Tableau within two months so that's kind
of assuming that I don't have a job
Amnesia Alex doesn't have any work to do
he's only dedicating just to those
skills I think two months is plenty of
time to really know those skills well
enough to land an entry-level job now if
I as Amnesia Alex would start applying
for jobs right now all my resume would
have is Excel Tableau and SQL that's one
of the worst rums I've ever seen so what
amnesia Alex is going to do or I am
going to do is I'm going to build
projects and build a portfolio when
you're learning the skills you should be
building project s with them so you
really solidify those skills so the
projects are just kind of complimentary
to learning the skills and then you can
put those projects on your resum at
least that's what I would do so now
instead of just those three skills at
the top we have three skills and we have
multiple projects underneath it I
probably do two in SQL one in Excel and
maybe one or two in Tableau all these
would go into a website and I have a
link in the actual resume but then I'd
have my actual projects on my resume
that will really fill out my resume and
make it a lot better that can take a
week or two weeks depending on how
quickly you can get those projects done
or how well you know those skills but in
two weeks you can have five projects or
an entire portfolio created so up till
now it's 2 and a half months of work
invest in really learning and building
projects the next thing that I would do
is start creating a resume and this is
going to be a really simple resume
doesn't have to be anything crazy I've
done lots of videos on creating the best
resumé for data analytics and really I
would just highlight the things that are
really relevant and not include things
that aren't Amnesia Alex has no work
exper experience he has no education
experience so for him he's really just
going to be putting the skills and the
projects and maybe a summary section as
well but it's not going to be super
super impressive but it is going to have
a lot of what they are looking for in a
lot of job descriptions so I'm going
make a really really really good resume
because that is going to get past a lot
of these automated systems that kind of
check the resume first and when a hiring
manager sees it they're going to see the
skills that they're looking for they're
going to see projects that are
interesting and relevant to that
position and so hopefully I'd be able to
land an interview the next thing that I
would do is work with a recruiter and
this is one of those things where most
people when they're first starting out
don't do this they just start applying
to jobs and doing the LinkedIn you know
single click applies they don't work and
you get really frustrated and that's
because you're applying to hundreds of
jobs that thousands of other people are
applying for but recruiters are really
great because they have a connection
with the company so I would work with a
recruiter or as many recruiters as I
possibly could believe it or not there
was a time where I had no experience and
this was just you know six or seven
years ago and I was working with six or
seven recruiters at a time just juggling
them kept messaging them and asking them
and emailing them hey do you guys have
anything messing them on LinkedIn
reaching out to them cold calling you
just you kind of have to put yourself
out there so if I was starting over I
would do that tactic instead of applying
for a thousand jobs and then working
with a recruiter I would start out
working with a recruiter I also have an
entire video on how to reach out to
Recruiters on LinkedIn both by directly
messaging them and then also by finding
them and and cold calling and cold
emailing them so if you're interested in
finding out how to do that I would check
out that video now after I work with the
recruiter the very last thing that I
have to do in order to land a job is to
really nail the interview and get a job
offer that's it an interview is usually
comprised of two parts it's the general
interview and it's the technical
interview now the general interview is
one that you'll get on almost any
position so they're going to ask you
tell us about yourself tell us about
your work experience tell us uh why you
want this position and what you know
about the company these types of things
so you can just get ready for those by
researching the company researching what
they do and getting ready for that
interview the next part is a technical
interview and you're going to get this
in probably 75% plus of the interviews
that you have if it is a more technical
role typically it's either in SQL or
python just in general it's usually SQL
like 95% of the technical interviews
that I had over my entire career have
been in SQL so you really want to nail
that technical interview to show that
you know the skill well and that's why
we created analyst Builder like I was
talking about a little bit ago we have
that whole section where it's just
practicing for technical interviews in
either python MySQL postrace SQL
Microsoft SQL Server it is super awesome
just for that so I'd really want to
prepare for my interview I just practice
you know telling about myself practice
for the technical interviews I would
nail the interview and I would accept
the job position now that's usually the
longest process working with a recruiter
and Landing a job because all the
learning up till then is all self-paced
you can do that all yourself for free or
for very little money and then working
with a recruiter and then actually
Landing a job that can take anywhere
from 3 months all the way up to a year
and so in the shortest amount of time
possible if I really streamlined this
and I really worked hard at learning
those skills working with a recruiter
non-stop I like made it my job I think
it'd be very possible to do that within
6 months it's a really optimistic time
frame because 6 months to completely
change your career is pretty quick but I
definitely think it's possible if you
know I was starting over today I
definitely think I could do it of course
there are outside factors like the job
market if hiring is like really slow or
where I live or things like that but in
general I definitely think I could do it
within 6 months now to some of you that
may seem like a really long time but to
put it in perspective you're going to
have this job for the next 20 30 40 50
years and you're going to learn new
skills and you'll get promotions and
maybe you can transition into data
science or data engineering or any other
number of jobs that are related to data
analytics so that is the exact path that
Amnesia Alex would take in order to
become a data analyst as quickly as
possible now if I had a a little bit
more time I didn't need a job I had more
time to spend I would definitely be
learning something like a cloud platform
and then I be learning some AI as well
to work with those tools now I didn't
mention AI as a must know because even
now even today in the end of 2023 or
early 2024 depending on when I post this
um even today those tools are not crazy
integrated you don't have to know them
now in the future in 2 3 4 5 years they
may become more integrated into all of
our software into all the tools that we
use then it would become more of a
requirement to know those things so that
is exactly what I would do if you
haven't already be sure to check out
analyst Builder I am incredibly proud of
it it is one of the best platforms out
there for learning data analytics if you
like this video be sure to like And
subscribe below I will see you in the
next video
[Music]
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