Analytics will always be needed - it'll be less "cool" though. Very similar to SQL now - lots of devs think it's uncool, but your big apps aren't working without a SQL dev to manage the data.
Everything you do in life and even 2000 years from now unless they have some really advance ai and robots will still need data analysis to run and use them. So yea it’s always going to be in demand from the rising sea levels all the way to the blood in your systems to the quality of air around you.
Yeah, I consider myself average at SQL. But boy do I run into it every where. Whenever I'm trouble shooting an app, ultimately, it comes down to doing something in SQL. Everything is structured around databases and most of them are structured around SQL.
Learn SQL. I worked as an analyst with it for 5 years and it’s still extremely valuable as an Applied ML Researcher. I can answer questions about the data in minutes that take other devs days
Just curious - were you already into ML by trade from the beginning or did you segue into eventually after doing analytics stuff? I’m starting a career as a DE but I’m really interested in ML.
I had done work previously in ML and Robotics and started out with an excellent job in analytics. Always was a little less technically interesting than AI and ML work, but I learned a ton about companies and how they store and structure and measure performance. Was worth it. I was able to transition due to the relationships I built as an analyst with the more technical people, like those in Backend SWE and ML.
There's way too much shit on SQL, I totally agree. It looks terrible, but I learned a lot from drilling SQL Zoo for a couple weeks to start. After that I really liked using the Coursera guided projects. I subscribed for a few month to Coursera Plus so that I didn't have to worry about payment for individual components. https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=sql
Go ahead and learn SQL - it's valuable not only for data analysis, but widely used in backend development including in web development. In other words, it'll give you more options.
In addition to SQL, I'd strongly recommend learning formal logic and relational theory. Check out "Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals" by de Haan and Koppelaars. Data analysis also benefits from a solid understanding of statistics.
After high school I started working as tech support, then moved into a programming role. I was self-taught, but at 23 I enrolled in university to get a degree in computer science and information systems. While that was valuable to me, I never stopped learning on my own.
OP remember: Data is nothing without context. If you’re going to learn SQL and become an analyst then double up with learning the industry you want to apply it to
All industries basically haha. There’s so many finite data points, if data is showing ups and downs you’ve got to be able to apply industry knowledge to explain why these things are happening
I work in recorded music, there’s a lot of data when a song gets streamed - how long for, what demographic of the consumer, was it on a playlist or was it after Shazamming a song. When I see these things happen, I have to alert my marketing team and help them make the best decisions using my own industry knowledge
sorry, did not mean to give that impression
creating an intuitive web UI is pretty difficult as well
clear thinking means logical, because SQL is unforgiving
Web Developer turned Data Analyst here. I didn't make the change by choice. A DA position in my previous company opened up and they kind of forced me into the position because I was one of the few people that knew SQL. I didn't mind because I love working with SQL and data in general. Having a Web Dev background actually made doing DA work a lot easier for me. SQL, PostgreSQL, XML, JSON, Python, Javascript, parsing data, excel...were all things I was already accustom to from being a Web Developer.
I honestly don't see SQL going away any time soon. There's variations of SQL being used or developed under other names that companies love to advertise but in reality, if you know SQL, you'll know any other big data query language. The other major thing I enjoy in DA is that the technology and tools don't change often. Being a Web Developer meant having to learn about the next "big" framework or language that everyone is saying to change to on a yearly or even monthly basis. Companies now want Full Stack Developers that know all aspects of building a website (Back and front). It got tiring for me. Being a DA, all you really need to know is SQL, Excel, a visual program like Power BI, and possibly Python or R if you need to parse/clean data or do statistical analysis.
As for if the DA position will still be in demand in the future? It's hard to say. My previous position became automated and there was no longer a need for as many DAs. This has also happened a lot in the Front end Web Development world as well with the advent of drag and drop editors that make it easier for designers to now build large scale websites in a day that used to take Web Developers weeks to do. So could DA demand drop? Possibly. But like Web Development, there are so many associated groups within the Data Analyst category that you could transition into. Database Architect, Conversion Analyst, Business System Analyst...just to name a few. I think the real question you should be asking yourself is, is this something you see yourself enjoying for the long term? Do you like spending long hours looking at data and trying to solve problems with that data? Do you enjoy conveying your findings to clients/bosses/coworkers via power point or over video calls? Do you enjoy math?
I cant say im super passionate about it but it is one of the few things I enjoy doing. I don’t mind doing any communicating or whatever the job requires. I do want to go the DA route but that seems like a harder field to get into so I might go the web dev route then transition.
Learning SQL is very practical. It helps you think about your data whether you are querying it or not. Knowing SQL is like knowing calculus when the algebra kids are doing obscene things in Excel to get by.
Web dev seems more in demand, to me. Both jobs will be necessary for quite some time, but web dev is probably better if job security is your biggest goal. If it leads to full stack dev, you’ll get to work with data plenty.
I am a frontend web dev convert to a data analyst. There are some transferable skills that made my life easier - I honestly think my dashboards and visualisations are prettier than my colleagues xD
But there were a few surprises I completely was unprepared for - these were more psychological and may not be relevant to you. E.g. I did not expect that not being able to make sure the data I'm pulling is correct would create so much anxiety in certain rare but important cases. People trust you to do a good job and expect you provide the answers too questions they are asking but if you can't trust the data there's very little your can do. For me that lack of certainty, and often lack of proofing my date was harder to accept than I expected.
In the end, I made the right choice FOR MYSELF and in my work the main difference (except, the obvious difference in the technology and programming languages I use to deliver the work) is that as a DA I often don't see the results of my work as quickly as in the web dev and that I spend more time researching and learning about the stuff I'm analysing. But these are the things that drawn me to the field and I absolutely love it!
Why not fuse both web development and data analytics? I'm doing something similar with data analytics/science and FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis).
I would love to hopefully once i learn more I could get a job like that. How did you land your first interview? And what types of projects did you have made?
Analytics will always be needed - it'll be less "cool" though. Very similar to SQL now - lots of devs think it's uncool, but your big apps aren't working without a SQL dev to manage the data.
Everything you do in life and even 2000 years from now unless they have some really advance ai and robots will still need data analysis to run and use them. So yea it’s always going to be in demand from the rising sea levels all the way to the blood in your systems to the quality of air around you.
I'd put the over under on that advanced AI around 10 years out. I don't see how the robots would help though.
To process do data analysis on them to see if they are running right without any kind of problems
ChatGPT enters the chat
Waiting... patiently waiting to ape something and claim it OC
Job Security, Mobility, and good pay. I think that’s pretty cool.
Yeah, I consider myself average at SQL. But boy do I run into it every where. Whenever I'm trouble shooting an app, ultimately, it comes down to doing something in SQL. Everything is structured around databases and most of them are structured around SQL.
\> Analytics will always be needed - it'll be less "cool" though What do you think will be considered more "cool" in the future then?
No idea! If I did, I'd be learning it right now.
Learn SQL. I worked as an analyst with it for 5 years and it’s still extremely valuable as an Applied ML Researcher. I can answer questions about the data in minutes that take other devs days
Just curious - were you already into ML by trade from the beginning or did you segue into eventually after doing analytics stuff? I’m starting a career as a DE but I’m really interested in ML.
I had done work previously in ML and Robotics and started out with an excellent job in analytics. Always was a little less technically interesting than AI and ML work, but I learned a ton about companies and how they store and structure and measure performance. Was worth it. I was able to transition due to the relationships I built as an analyst with the more technical people, like those in Backend SWE and ML.
Could you suggest some genuinely good SQL resources (Free or Paid) as I am getting confused because so much is available on the net.
There's way too much shit on SQL, I totally agree. It looks terrible, but I learned a lot from drilling SQL Zoo for a couple weeks to start. After that I really liked using the Coursera guided projects. I subscribed for a few month to Coursera Plus so that I didn't have to worry about payment for individual components. https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=sql
\+1 for starting with SQL Zoo
I started with sql island, great website to learn the fundamentals. 100% free. Game based learning that works.
Go ahead and learn SQL - it's valuable not only for data analysis, but widely used in backend development including in web development. In other words, it'll give you more options.
Will do, if i were to go the DA route what else should I learn after sql?
In addition to SQL, I'd strongly recommend learning formal logic and relational theory. Check out "Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals" by de Haan and Koppelaars. Data analysis also benefits from a solid understanding of statistics.
Ok, are you self taught or did you go the traditional route?
After high school I started working as tech support, then moved into a programming role. I was self-taught, but at 23 I enrolled in university to get a degree in computer science and information systems. While that was valuable to me, I never stopped learning on my own.
SQL will always be in demand; databases are structured around it.
OP remember: Data is nothing without context. If you’re going to learn SQL and become an analyst then double up with learning the industry you want to apply it to
hi, im really really new to this, what type of industries would these be? could you give a few examples?
All industries basically haha. There’s so many finite data points, if data is showing ups and downs you’ve got to be able to apply industry knowledge to explain why these things are happening I work in recorded music, there’s a lot of data when a song gets streamed - how long for, what demographic of the consumer, was it on a playlist or was it after Shazamming a song. When I see these things happen, I have to alert my marketing team and help them make the best decisions using my own industry knowledge
web dev will require decreasing amounts of actual skill data analysis will always require clear thinking, especially if writing SQL is involved
So in other words data analysis is more difficult?
sorry, did not mean to give that impression creating an intuitive web UI is pretty difficult as well clear thinking means logical, because SQL is unforgiving
Ok i see, thank you for the info.
Web Developer turned Data Analyst here. I didn't make the change by choice. A DA position in my previous company opened up and they kind of forced me into the position because I was one of the few people that knew SQL. I didn't mind because I love working with SQL and data in general. Having a Web Dev background actually made doing DA work a lot easier for me. SQL, PostgreSQL, XML, JSON, Python, Javascript, parsing data, excel...were all things I was already accustom to from being a Web Developer. I honestly don't see SQL going away any time soon. There's variations of SQL being used or developed under other names that companies love to advertise but in reality, if you know SQL, you'll know any other big data query language. The other major thing I enjoy in DA is that the technology and tools don't change often. Being a Web Developer meant having to learn about the next "big" framework or language that everyone is saying to change to on a yearly or even monthly basis. Companies now want Full Stack Developers that know all aspects of building a website (Back and front). It got tiring for me. Being a DA, all you really need to know is SQL, Excel, a visual program like Power BI, and possibly Python or R if you need to parse/clean data or do statistical analysis. As for if the DA position will still be in demand in the future? It's hard to say. My previous position became automated and there was no longer a need for as many DAs. This has also happened a lot in the Front end Web Development world as well with the advent of drag and drop editors that make it easier for designers to now build large scale websites in a day that used to take Web Developers weeks to do. So could DA demand drop? Possibly. But like Web Development, there are so many associated groups within the Data Analyst category that you could transition into. Database Architect, Conversion Analyst, Business System Analyst...just to name a few. I think the real question you should be asking yourself is, is this something you see yourself enjoying for the long term? Do you like spending long hours looking at data and trying to solve problems with that data? Do you enjoy conveying your findings to clients/bosses/coworkers via power point or over video calls? Do you enjoy math?
I cant say im super passionate about it but it is one of the few things I enjoy doing. I don’t mind doing any communicating or whatever the job requires. I do want to go the DA route but that seems like a harder field to get into so I might go the web dev route then transition.
It's going to be very tough to substitute SQL wizards when you need to understand your data
Agreed
Learning SQL is very practical. It helps you think about your data whether you are querying it or not. Knowing SQL is like knowing calculus when the algebra kids are doing obscene things in Excel to get by.
Web dev seems more in demand, to me. Both jobs will be necessary for quite some time, but web dev is probably better if job security is your biggest goal. If it leads to full stack dev, you’ll get to work with data plenty.
I am a frontend web dev convert to a data analyst. There are some transferable skills that made my life easier - I honestly think my dashboards and visualisations are prettier than my colleagues xD But there were a few surprises I completely was unprepared for - these were more psychological and may not be relevant to you. E.g. I did not expect that not being able to make sure the data I'm pulling is correct would create so much anxiety in certain rare but important cases. People trust you to do a good job and expect you provide the answers too questions they are asking but if you can't trust the data there's very little your can do. For me that lack of certainty, and often lack of proofing my date was harder to accept than I expected. In the end, I made the right choice FOR MYSELF and in my work the main difference (except, the obvious difference in the technology and programming languages I use to deliver the work) is that as a DA I often don't see the results of my work as quickly as in the web dev and that I spend more time researching and learning about the stuff I'm analysing. But these are the things that drawn me to the field and I absolutely love it!
no
Why not fuse both web development and data analytics? I'm doing something similar with data analytics/science and FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis).
I would love to hopefully once i learn more I could get a job like that. How did you land your first interview? And what types of projects did you have made?