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How I Transition into Data Analytics (Self-Study Route)

(updated on 3 Apr 2024)

Hello, I'm Katie and I'm sharing with you my personal experience and approach to self-studying for data analytics.

📕 My Study Approach

  • As a visual learner, I prefer watching video tutorials over reading textbooks to better understand how the code works on my screen.

🧐 What You Should Know

  • Self-studying can be challenging because you are on your own without any syllabus, instructors, or classmates to guide you.
  • It requires resourcefulness in finding solutions and troubleshooting errors.
  • If time is a constraint, self-study may not be the best option. However, with consistency, hard work, and determination, it is achievable.

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, just someone who is passionate about data analysis and wants to help others who are transitioning into this field.

Another important note: I'm not sponsored to recommend any of the courses mentioned below.

📚 Table of Contents

How and Where to Start?

If you're reading this, you're probably interested in starting a career in data analytics, but don't know where to begin or whether it's the right path for you. I totally get it - I was once in your shoes! 🧐

To start, I recommend taking a general data analytics course, like the Google Data Analytics or the IBM Data Analyst course. I started with Google's course as it was released more recently. I'm not sponsored for both courses.

Both courses provides:

  • An overview of data analytics
  • An introduction of the skills/tools you need to learn
  • Flexible, study-at-your-own-pace courses
  • Relatively inexpensive. You can apply for financial aid and study for free.

You can enroll in both courses on Coursera for around USD 20-40/month. I paid USD 39/month for Google's course last year, but a friend recently only paid USD 20+/month.

On average, people complete the course in 2 to 4 months, and the faster you complete it, the less you pay. 😇

💡 My Experience

I found Google's course to be very helpful, especially since I'm a visual learner. However, please note that the courses only teach basic Spreadsheet, R, BigQuery (SQL), and Tableau, so you'll need to take additional courses to gain more in-depth knowledge.

‼️IMPORTANT‼️

  • The course claims that you'll learn everything you need to know to be job-ready. That is not true. 🥲
  • What you learn from this course is NOT ENOUGH to get an entry-level job or pass a technical interview.
  • At most, the course contributed to 5% or less in my learning.

Thus, I'm sharing the following resources to help you continue your studies after completing the course.

My Advice on Technical Skills to Learn

In my opinion, you should focus on these three skills in the following order:

  1. SQL
  2. Tableau (or Power BI)
  3. Python & Statistics

I found SQL to be the easiest and most essential skill for any data analyst role. It's a crucial language for extracting, manipulating, and analyzing data. Once you understand SQL, you'll have an easier time learning other tools like Tableau, which relies on SQL for creating calculated fields.

Python is also an essential skill, particularly if you're pursuing a data scientist or data engineer role. However, it's not always a requirement for data analysts. In some companies, it's only a good-to-have skill, while in others, it's a must-have. I recommend becoming proficient in Python if you're planning to pursue a career in these fields.

🏕️ Bootcamp

I highly recommend checking out Alex the Analyst's free data analyst bootcamp on YouTube. Alex is a well-known expert in the data analysis community, and his resources are top-notch.

This bootcamp covers a range of tools, including SQL, Excel, Tableau, Power BI, and Python. It's an excellent resource if you're new to data analytics or want to improve your skills in any of these tools.

In my experience, Alex's instruction has helped me develop my own data analysis skills, and I believe you'll find his bootcamp to be a valuable resource.

📕 Where to Learn SQL

🌟 is my tried-and-tested favourite.

📺 Tutorial

  1. Alex Freberg 🌟
  1. Programming with Mosh 🌟 [Beginner] - A 3-hour course that covers the basics of SQL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S_tz1z_5bA&t=44s
  2. freeCodeCamp [Beginner] - 4-hour course - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXV3zeQKqGY&t=12282s
  3. DataLemur SQL Tutorial 🌟 [Beginner] - https://datalemur.com/sql-tutorial

📚 Courses

  1. Udacity SQL for Data Analysis 🌟 [Free][Beginner] - https://www.udacity.com/course/sql-for-data-analysis--ud198
  2. Danny Ma SQL Masterclass Course 🌟 [Free] - https://github.com/DataWithDanny/sql-masterclass
  3. Mode SQL Tutorial [Free][Beginner] - https://mode.com/sql-tutorial/
  4. freeCodeCamp Relational Database Course [Free][Intermediate-Advanced] - https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/relational-database/
  5. Maven Analytics SQL for Data Analysis 🌟 [Paid][Beginner] - https://www.udemy.com/course/mysql-for-data-analysis/
  6. Maven Analytics Advanced SQL [Paid][Intermediate-Advanced] - https://www.udemy.com/course/advanced-sql-mysql-for-analytics-business-intelligence/

✏️ Practice Your SQL

  1. SQL Bolt 🌟 [Free][Beginner-Intermediate] - https://sqlbolt.com/
  2. Select Star SQL 🌟 [Free][Beginner-Intermediate] - https://selectstarsql.com/
  3. SQL Zoo [Free][Beginner-Intermediate] - https://sqlzoo.net
  4. SQL Climber [Free] - https://www.sqlclimber.com/home

👾 SQL Games

  1. SQL Murder Mystery [Free][Beginner] - Interactive game that teaches you SQL basics by solving a murder case. - https://mystery.knightlab.com/walkthrough.html
  2. The Schemaverse [Free][Beginner-Intermediate] - The Schemaverse is a space-based strategy game that allows players to write SQL code to control their spaceships and battle other players. - https://schemaverse.com
  3. SQL Police Department [Free][Beginner] - Online game that allows you to practice your SQL skills by solving a series of crimes. - https://sqlpd.com

📝 Projects

  1. Covid-19 Project (SQL & Tableau) [Free] - In this project, you learn how to use SQL and Tableau to analyze Covid-19 data. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfyynHBFOsM
  2. Data Cleaning [Free] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rO7ztF4NtU&list=PLUaB-1hjhk8H48Pj32z4GZgGWyylqv85f&index=4&t=497s
  3. 8-Week SQL Challenge 🌟 [Free][Intermediate-Advanced] - 8 different SQL projects designed to improve your SQL skills. - https://8weeksqlchallenge.com. (You can check out my Github repo for solutions: https://github.com/katiehuangx/8-Week-SQL-Challenge)

⏰ Practice For Technical Interviews

  1. DataLemur 🐒 (I work here!) 🌟 [Semi-free][Intermediate-Advanced] - DataLemur offers a database of real-world SQL interview questions, complete with detailed solutions and explanations. - https://datalemur.com
  2. StrataScratch 🌟 [Semi-free][Intermediate-Advanced] - StrataScratch provides a variety of SQL interview questions with explanations and solutions. - https://platform.stratascratch.com/coding?code_type=1
  3. Ankit Bansal Top 10 SQL Interview Questions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv9qBz-cyVA, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBTZqjSKn0IeKBQDjLmzisazhqQy4iGkb

💻 Which SQL Software to Use?

These are the most commonly free-to-use SQL softwares. In tech-speak, we call them SQL flavours.

📊 Where to Learn Tableau

Tableau is a business intelligence and data visualization software that allows users to create interactive dashboards and reports. Here are some resources to help you get started:

📺 YouTube

  1. Andy Kriebel 🌟 - https://www.youtube.com/c/AndyKriebel/featured - A YouTube channel with many helpful Tableau tutorials.
  2. Alex Freberg's Tableau Tutorials 🌟 [Beginner] - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUaB-1hjhk8GwbqoVmo_5zuhOa0Tcl3xC

📚 Courses

  1. Codecademy Learn Tableau for Data Visualization [Free][Beginner] - [https://www.codecademy.com/learn/bi-dashboards-with-tableau

📝 Projects

  1. Alex Freberg's Covid-19 Project 🌟 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfyynHBFOsM
  2. Alex Freberg's Visualisation Project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNlRvJlfQ&list=PLUaB-1hjhk8H48Pj32z4GZgGWyylqv85f&index=3&t=14s
  3. Maven Analytics Monthly Challenges 🌟 [Free] - A series of monthly Tableau challenges posted on LinkedIn by Maven Analytics.

🐍 Where to Learn Python

A YouTube video on installing Jupyter Notebooks, which is a notebook to code in Python - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUeBzT43JyY

📺 YouTube

  1. Programming with Mosh 🌟 [Beginner] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc&t=8118s
  2. freeCodeCamp Learn Python [Beginner] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfscVS0vtbw&t=2565s
  3. freeCodeCamp Data Analysis with Python [Beginner] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uOLxNrNk8

📚 Courses

Free

  1. HarvardX CS50's Introduction to Programming with Python 🌟 [Free][Beginner] - https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-to-programming-with-python
  2. Udacity Intro to Data Analysis 🌟 [Free][Beginner] - https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-data-analysis--ud170
  3. freeCodeCamp Data Analysis with Python [Free][Beginner-Intermediate] - https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/data-analysis-with-python/
  4. WorldQuant University Applied Data Science Lab [Free][Intermediate-Advanced] - https://www.wqu.edu/programs/applied-ds-lab/

Paid

  1. Maven Analytics Python Foundations for Data Analysis 🌟 [Paid][Beginner] - https://www.udemy.com/course/python-foundations-for-data-analysis/
  2. Maven Analytics Data Analysis with Python: NumPy & Pandas 🌟 [Paid] - https://www.udemy.com/course/python-pandas/
  3. Maven Analytics Data Visualization with Matplotlib & Seaborn 🌟 [Paid] - https://www.udemy.com/course/python-data-visualization-matplotlib-seaborn/

Books 📕

  1. Khuyen Tran's Efficient Python Tricks and Tools for Data Scientists [Intermediate][Free] - https://khuyentran1401.github.io/Efficient_Python_tricks_and_tools_for_data_scientists/README.html
  2. Python for Data Analysis - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/python-for-data/9781449323592/

📝 Projects

  1. Amazon Web Scrapping [Guided][Intermediate] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiOtQMcI5wg&list=PLUaB-1hjhk8H48Pj32z4GZgGWyylqv85f&index=7&t=510s
  2. Automation Crypto Website using API [Guided][Intermediate] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB2CtEDrglY&list=PLUaB-1hjhk8H48Pj32z4GZgGWyylqv85f&index=10
  3. freeCodeCamp Projects [Unguided][Intermediate] - https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/data-analysis-with-python/
  4. WorldQuant University Applied Data Science Lab [Free][Guided][Intermediate-Advanced] - https://www.wqu.edu/programs/applied-ds-lab/

♾ Where to Learn Statistics

📺 YouTube

  1. StatQuest with Josh Starmer Statistics Fundamentals 🌟 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblh5JKOoLUK0FLuzwntyYI10UQFUhsY9

📚 Courses

  1. Khan Academy Statistics & Probability [Free][Beginner] - https://www.khanacademy.org/math/statistics-probability 2 Codecademy Probability [Free][Beginner] - https://www.codecademy.com/learn/probability-mssp

How to Create a Portfolio on GitHub

Looking to showcase your coding projects and skills to potential employers or clients? Creating a portfolio on GitHub is a great way to do so.

Check out this guide on how to create a portfolio on GitHub: https://github.com/katiehuangx/How-to-Create-a-GitHub-Portfolio/blob/main/README.md

You can also refer to my portfolio for inspiration on structure and content.

If you find this guide helpful, give me a 🌟! (simply click on the Star button on the top right of this page)

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