With a background in finance, I never imagined I’d end up being interested in data analysis.
Looking back, I had actually been introduced to one of its foundations, statistics, back in college.
Funny how things turn out. I never thought I’d find myself getting interested in anything related to statistics.
To be honest, I took statistics just like any other subject I needed to earn credits.
It was a matter of getting through the course and moving on. I never really clicked with it.
You know how someone you barely noticed in high school can suddenly catch your attention?
Well, statistics and I have a similar story.
It all started when I had to dig into research and find relevant data to back up my articles as a content writer.
I was amazed by how much data could tell us about the topics I was writing about.
On top of that, using reliable sources made my articles more credible because they were based on reliable data.
It might sound silly, but I think the turning point came when I managed to predict my husband’s salary increase based on his previous raise percentage.
That’s when my husband said, “Why don’t you take a data analytics course? You seem to enjoy making predictions, but why not learn how to back them up with data?”
I’m not going to lie, the idea intimidated me.
It had never crossed my mind that I’d be dealing with concepts like mean, median, mode, integers, floats, and all that stuff.
Still, I felt up for the challenge.
After giving it some serious thought (especially since I was also taking an intensive English course at the time), I made up my mid to enroll in the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate program on Coursera.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Juggling my job, English lessons, and the data analytics course wasn’t easy.
That might explain why it took me longer than expected to wrap up the program and earn my certificate.
My motivation for learning data analysis
I believe having a clear motivation is essential to staying on track.
Although subjects like statistics was never my cup of tea, I somehow managed to stick with it because I had a few things keeping me going:
#1 I love a good challenge. There’s something satisfying about finally figuring out a query or understanding a new syntax after struggling with it for a while.
Every little breakthrough makes me happy and motivates me to keep learning.
#2 I find women in STEM inspiring, and I want to become one of them by pursuing a career in data analytics.
#3 I wanted to make a career change and step out of my comfort zone.
After spending years working in finance and writing content for my website, I began wondering what else I could explore.
That’s when data analytics caught my attention.
#4 The possibility of working from home as a data analyst is a huge plus, especially as someone who is married like me.
Where am I now in this journey?
After completing the Google Data Analytics course, I put together my first portfolio project using one of the program’s case studies.
You can check it out here:
Google Data Analytics Capstone Project: Cyclistic Case Study (2024 Dataset)
However, the program didn’t cover everything I wanted to learn, particularly Python programming and Power BI.
I’m also still working on building my confidence in advanced Excel.
So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and teach myself through full-length YouTube tutorials covering the skills I wanted to develop.
I started by watching Luke Barousse’s videos to learn Python, then put what I’d picked up into practice through my next case study project.
Right now, I’m focusing on getting to grips with Excel through the same channel, and I might move on to Power BI next.
I’m also putting myself out there and applying for roles that align with my current skills and qualifications.
I’m still a work in progress, and I know I have a long way to go before becoming a confident data analyst.
I don’t know exactly where this journey will take me, but I’m excited to find out.
