If you have read my previous posts, you will understand that I only share my practical experiences. In today’s article, I will discuss how one can learn data analysis skills very easily. I’ve scoured various articles online talking about different tools, suggesting multiple tools for the same job. Well, can you tell me why I would take help of multiple tools for a small task? Let’s say, why should I do programming for the work that can be done with Microsoft Excel? When such questions come to our mind, we stop in the journey of starting data analysis.
To be honest, when I started doing data analysis, that means when I was working with Excel, I didn’t know that I had completed many tasks that were a field of data analysis.
Later, when I started learning about data analysis and when I started knowing that future analysis could be a very big opportunity, I started mastering the skills of data analysis. I started learning different tools based on the scope of work. If you are a newbie in the data analysis field, then what tools or things do you need to learn first? Today, I will give you a clear idea of how to learn data analysis skills easily.
Well, first of all, we don’t know that there are many processes in the world to learn data analysis and in what ways you can master data analysis skills. With this, I will share my practical experience of how I learned data analysis.
How Many Paths Are There to Learn Data Analysis?
Generally, the first thing that comes to our mind for learning something is to get a degree. So no doubt, we can get a degree in Data Analysis. We can get a degree in three to four years in any institution. I can master the skill of analysis by participating in various online or offline boot camps. And nowadays, the easiest way is to learn from online. This means you can master data analysis skills at home by taking an online course.
The easiest and free of charge way you can learn data analysis is by watching YouTube or various blogs.
Then, we got to know that there are a few ways in the world through which you can master the skills of data analysis:
- College Degree
- Bootcamp
- Online Course
- YouTube / Blog
Well, we have come to know these ways that we can master the skills of data analysis by adopting these ways. Let me tell you from my practical experience, which path I took and how I learned my data analysis skills easily.
If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you’d have an idea about me that I’m not a tech major. When I was first working part-time for a business company, I was working there with Excel. Later, I started data analysis when I realized that I had a good desire to learn data analysis. That’s why I didn’t attend any college degree to learn data analysis.
Then, we discussed boot camp. I attended a few boot camps on data analysis, in which I could get the basic idea about data analysis. Therefore, I will also tell you that you can attend as many free online boot camps as possible to get new updates and knowledge.
The next learning method is online courses. I learned most of the data analysis skills from online courses. As I was new to this field and had no prior experience in data analysis, I attended online courses from where I started learning and practicing all the fundamentals of data analysis.
In this current technology-dependent time, I would suggest that if you want to learn data analysis skill very easily, then an online course can be a better option for you.
YouTube or blog posts can be good mediums for you to learn data analysis skills, but if you know about the fundamentals or basics of data analysis, then YouTube and blog posts can help you. However, if you are totally new, then don’t expect much from YouTube. Sometimes, what you need to learn and why you need to learn these types of things are not well covered on YouTube. Simply put, YouTube or blog posts cannot give you the right mentorship.
Should I Learn a Programming Language before Data Analysis?
I personally know a lot of people or my friends have had such a case that they started learning programming as soon as they entered the data analysis field. I disagree on this point. Because if you learn the fundamentals of data analysis or the structure of analysis and work on a few projects, then you will know about the fundamentals of data analysis. Then if you learn programming, then you can directly implement the coding knowledge.
That’s why I would always tell you that if you are new to the field of data analysis or want to master data analysis skills easily, you should finish learning Excel, Power BI, and Google Looker Studio and do some projects using these tools in which you will use your Master the fundamentals of data analysis.
Once you are done learning these tools, you can start programming. I suggest you start with Python because you can learn Python very easily and you can work with real data very easily with Python.
Like I first started doing data analysis with Excel, then I learned Power BI and completed several projects with Power BI. Then, I came to know that learning programming is important for me now because I will now start working with large datasets. For this, I started learning Python.
How Can You Get Projects or Jobs while Learning?
Let me tell you in simple terms, no matter how well you master the skills, you will never become a good data analyst if you don’t start working in real life. That’s why you should start doing projects by learning Excel and Power BI first. For this, you may start doing freelance projects or work in a company so that you can progress very easily.
For example, after learning Excel and Power BI, I used to take projects from freelance marketplaces and complete them. Among the popular freelancing marketplaces currently, Fiverr and Upwork are very popular. The biggest motivation is money. Once you do a few projects and the money starts rolling in, you will be more interested in learning.
Conclusion
Well, if you think about it now, in this whole article, I tried to tell you a lot with my practical experience. I think in this data analysis journey what you need to do first, what tools to learn, how you can do well in your journey, you know all the things. If you have any questions, you can comment. Thank you.