Ask HN: Any chance to become a data analyst?

6 points by manuw 8 years ago | 5 comments

tl;dr

No study degree; web developer since 10 years;

ts;wm

I made a training as a software developer for 3 years and work since 10 years as a webdev. I'm very interested in Data Analyses and thought about, how can I take a step in this direction, coming from a webdev without a study background. I can do a Bachelor of Science, but it would take 6 years in part-time for me. I have some experience in python and little experiences with modules like seaborn, pandas, numpy. I just looked for training opportunities like the Nanodegree as a Data Analyst from udacity[1], is this a good start? Can someone give me some advice?

[1] https://de.udacity.com/course/data-analyst-nanodegree--nd002

stocktech 8 years ago |

Where I work, we don't hire people without degrees - even for web dev. So that nanodegree would be a good start, but you'd still get filtered out. You'd have hustle to network, let them know you have this cert and that you want to do analysis work. I've interviewed so many worthless college grads that a little initiative would go a long way to proving your worth.

Even then, data analyst roles are entry level at my company. Not saying that's how it is everywhere, but you'll be taking a pay cut without experience. My recommendation would be to look for business intelligence positions. It varies what the role actually is, but you're bound to find a few BI developer positions that value web development experience. Regardless, the worst case scenario is that it's tangent to data analyst work and best case it overlaps. With the nano degree and your experience, I'd imagine you could see a raise even.

manuw 8 years ago | |

Thanks for this

itamarst 8 years ago |

Some other options:

1. Apply to jobs you're not qualified for, explaining you have some skills that transfer, and you're excited to learn. Some companies are willing to train people, and you can e.g. pitch your front-end visualization skills as giving you a start. Longer version here: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/23/job-with-technology-...

2. Find company that has data analysts, get webdev position working with them, eventually go for internal transfer.

pplonski86 8 years ago |

Anything can be a good start! Hard to say what will be the best for you. For me, I like starting new projects and learn while doing.

For example, you can try to do a competition on kaggle.com or numer.ai. You can think about a project for yourself, for example predicting the stock market.

Online courses are fantastic. I think you should just start, and monitor what you like and keep improving in this direction.

manuw 8 years ago | |

Thanks for your answer.

In the moment, I try to analyze my twitter data and play around with pandas, matplotlib ... I created some simple graphs like Top Hashtags, Top Mentions, How many tweets by day of week, time ...