What is data analytics? Here is what Wikipedia says about data analysis: “Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, and is used in different business, science, and social science domains. In today’s business world, data analysis plays a role in making decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively”.
Data analytics is about using data to make better decisions. Data analytics is the science of data. Data analytics is a broad concept that encompasses managing and using data to the tools and methods data workers use. It involves managing the RDBMS and sandboxes along with the prograaming tools like Python and R. Regarding data, data analysis, and the data ecosystem, note that all of these things fit under the data analytics umbrella.
Data Analysis is part of the world of Data Science.
Data analysis is the collection, transformation, and organization of data to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making. To understand the process a bit better, consider the Data Analytics Life Cycle.
Learn with YouTube
As always there are several videos on data analytics. What Is Data Analytics? – An Introduction (Full Guide) by CareerFoundry. It’s just over 9 minutes long. How I’d Learn Data Analytics in 2023 (If I Had to Start Over) by CareerFoundry. It’s just over 14 minutes long.
Alex the Analyst
Alex Freberg’s description at his channel says “My name is Alex Freberg and on this channel I will be going over everything you need to know to become a Data Analyst. If you are wanting to make a career change or learn the skills needed to become a Data Analyst, be sure to subscribe to stay up to date on all my latest content.”
Luke Barousse
Luke’s channel is here. In Luke’s description it says “What’s up, Data Nerds! I’m Luke, a data analyst, and I make videos about tech and skills for data science.”
Thu Vu
Her channel has this description: “Hi there! Thanks for checking out my channel. Me in 3 words: Economist turned data nerd. I’m a Data science consultant by profession in the past 5 years, based in the Netherlands. My background is in Economics and Computer Science. I love learning and explaining stuff about data science. If that sounds interesting, consider subscribing! :)”
Shashank Kalanithi
Shashank Kalanithi’s YouTube is here.
Ken Jee
Ken Jee’s channel says “Hi, I’m Ken! Data Science, machine learning, AI and Sports Analytics are my passions. When I was first starting out on my data science journey I was extremely lost. There were very few resources for me to learn about this field from. I decided to start making YouTube videos to share my experiences and to help others learn about data science, machine learning, and AI.” Ken is a data scientist, not a data analyst, but he makes my list anyway.
Certificates
There are two Data Analytics certificates available. One is from Google and one is from IBM. Here are two YouTube videos that discuss and compare them. What’s the best certificate for data analysts? Google vs IBM Data Analyst Certificate by Tina Huang. It’s 15 minutes long. Here is another video called Google vs IBM Data Analytics Certificates | Which is Better?. It’s about 6 minutes long. Here’s one by Luke called Become a DATA ANALYST with NO degree?!? The Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate. It’s 11 and a half minutes long.
The Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate Coursera is over 180 hours of coursework and should take 3 to 5 months to complete if you are doing 10 to 20 hours per week. You learn Google Sheets, SQL in Big Query (Google Cloud), Tableau (for visualization), R Language in RStudio. Google focuses more on resume and portfolio preparation than IBM. They style of content delivery is video and talking heads, where at IBM it’s animation (slides) and narration. Once you finish, Google will share your profile with potential employers.
The IBM Data Analyst with Excel and R Professional Certificate at Coursera is about 140 hours of coursework that typically takes 3 to 4 months to complete if you are doing around 10 to 15 hours a week. You learn Excel, Cognos, SQL, Dashboards, IBM Cloud, and Python taught in Jupiter Notebooks. It’s heavy on Python. Many people prefer Python over R, (or vice versa) but what you could do is take a certification and then add a Course to the end of it. Alex the Analyst recommends the Google certification with a Python couse along with it. Why? Alex prefers the style of delivery and the focus on resumes, interviews, and your portfolio.
Sample Projects
Here is an article at Coursera called 5 Data Analytics Projects for Beginners.