Episode 149

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Published on:

25th Feb 2025

149: I Asked DeepSeek How to Become a Data Analyst (It scared me)

I tested DeepSeek-- an emerging AI platform that makes ChatGPT look ancient! I asked it to outline a comprehensive roadmap for becoming a data analyst. What it said scared me (Spoiler: it basically copied my SPN Method)!

Listen to NEXT: My interview with StatQuest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqtQUg4mZ9I

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⌚ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction

01:05 - Skills

01:27 - Do you need a degree? DeepSeek answers

01:59 - Projects and portfolio

02:43 - Networking and job search strategies

04:55 - Interview preparation

10:15 - FindADataJob.com and PremiumDataJobs.com

11:30 - InterviewSimulator.io

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Transcript
Avery:

If you haven't heard of deep seek yet, just wait.

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:

It is a new AI platform that supposedly

is maybe even better than open AI

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:

and chat GPT reasons being number one

is currently free and open source,

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meaning it is a lot more easily

accessible to the entire world.

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:

And number two, it has some

pretty cool thinking properties

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where it actually shows you it's.

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Thought process, and you can see how

the computer algorithm and the AI is

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actually thinking through the problem.

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So I thought, why not ask

DeepSeek on how to become a data

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analyst and see what it tells me.

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So let's go.

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So I'm on DeepSeek's website and

I'm going to turn on the DeepThink

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R1 model, which basically is their

better reasoning model right here.

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And I'm going to ask, I

want to be a data analyst.

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What should I do?

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And hit enter.

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One thing about DeepSeek is it

is a lot slower because it is

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actually going through and thinking

through your process step by step.

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So although OpenAI and ChatGPT may be

faster, DeepSeek is actually taking

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its time to think through the problem.

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And you see those thoughts right here.

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So it says, okay, the user

wants to become a data analyst.

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Let me start breaking

down what that entails.

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First, I need to outline the

essential skills they need.

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Data analysis requires technical skills

like SQL, Excel, maybe Python or R.

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I already love that the maybe is here.

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If you guys have watched any of

my videos or listened to any of my

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podcast episodes, you know that I

am not a fan of learning Python.

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First, and I think SQL and Excel

are a better place to start.

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Visualization tools like Tableau

or Power BI are important too.

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Yes, they should also understand

statistics and data cleaning.

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Next education.

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Do they need a degree, a

background in math stats or CS

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helps, but it's not mandatory.

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So far, I really agree with

what DeepSake is saying.

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Obviously it helps to have those.

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STEM background, some sort

of math or stats or computer

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science, but it's not mandatory.

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Maybe mention online courses and

certificates as alternatives.

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Platforms like Coursera,

edX, Datacamp come to mind.

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Okay.

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Certifications from Google or

Microsoft could also add credibility.

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I'm going to be honest.

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I don't think either of those

add a ton of credibility.

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The Google and the Microsoft certificate

certificates still don't mean anything

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in the data analytics world, but

they don't hurt your credibility.

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So I guess that's fine.

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Projects are crucial for experience.

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Oh my gosh.

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I agree with this.

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That's part of the SPN method, right?

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In order to land the data job,

you have to have the skills.

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You have to build projects and

you have to have a network.

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So projects are crucial for experiences.

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They should work on real world

data sets to build a portfolio.

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I totally agree with that.

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Where can they find data sets?

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Kaggle, government portals,

maybe APIs, suggest projects like

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sales analysis or COVID trends.

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Totally.

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We do sales and marketing analysis

in the accelerator program.

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Uh, and we do some healthcare analytics.

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We don't do COVID because COVID has

been done a bajillion times, but

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we do actually diabetes building

a GitHub portfolio and personal

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website would showcase their work.

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Uh, yes, I would reverse those

where I would do a personal website

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first versus a GitHub portfolio.

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If you're just trying to land the

data analyst job, if you're going for

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a data scientist or data engineer,

that's a little bit different, but

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I liked that it didn't just say Gab.

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I liked that it said personal website,

networking and job search strategies.

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Yes.

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That's the end part of the SPN method.

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I like DeepSeek so far.

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LinkedIn is important, it sure is, as

well as attending meetups or conferences,

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tailoring resumes to highlight relevant

skills and projects, applying to

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entry level positions like junior data

analyst or business analyst, maybe

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internships if they're just starting out.

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Continuous learning is key in this field.

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That is so true.

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Encourage joining communities,

following blogs, podcasts.

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Hey, shout out to, uh, podcasts.

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If you want to follow a podcast,

check out the Data Career Podcast.

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Staying updated with trends

like AI and machine learning.

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Also, soft skills like

communication and problem solving

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are often overlooked, but vital.

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So far, so good.

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I really agree with

what DeepSeek is saying.

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Wait, did I miss anything?

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Okay.

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It's so weird to have.

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A, an AI model say something like that.

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Oh, maybe the tools in more detail.

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Excel for basic SQL for databases.

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Python slash R for advanced analysis.

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Visualization tools like Tableau,

Power BI, maybe even Looker.

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Cloud platforms are becoming more

relevant too, like AWS and Google Cloud.

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Also the importance of understanding

the industry they want to work in.

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Man, 100 percent I agree with that.

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Domain knowledge can set them apart.

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Yes, it can.

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Like if you're trying to break into data,

whatever previous experience, whatever

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previous job, whatever previous education

you've had, that's, what's like going

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to be your in, into the world because

data analysis is in every industry.

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So it's like, that is

where you need to focus on.

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Uh, so I liked that.

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I got that.

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Domain knowledge can set them apart.

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Maybe healthcare, finance,

e commerce, et cetera.

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Tailoring projects to specific

industries might help.

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Once again, a hundred percent correct.

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This is why in the accelerator.

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We do nine different projects

in nine different industries.

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So no matter what industry you're

interested in, we have a project that you

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can pitch to a hiring manager recruiter.

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Hey, look, I have, I've done something

very similar to what your job requirement

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is asking you to do, asking me to do.

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Here's my evidence that I can do this.

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Should I mention freelancing or

volunteer work as a way to get experience

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that could be useful for building a

resume, maybe suggest platforms like

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Upwork or volunteering for nonprofits.

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I love the volunteering for nonprofits.

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I think that's great.

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I think most people do.

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Who try to go the freelancing route.

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It's pretty difficult because

freelancing is basically, you have

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to be good at whatever you're doing.

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So in this case, data analysis, but

you have to be good at data as well.

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I mean, you're just starting out

to be perfectly Frank, unless you

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have freelancing experience some

other way, you're bad at both.

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So it's not my favorite place.

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To start if I was you, but it didn't, it

just said, maybe we can consider them.

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What about interview preparation?

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They might need to practice SQL queries,

case studies, and presenting their

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projects, behavioral interviews as well.

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Resources like sleek code for

SQL practice or mock interviews.

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Let me structure this step by step

start with learning technical skills,

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then education and certificates,

building projects, networking, job

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applications, and continuous learning.

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Make sure each section is clear

and actionable avoid jargon.

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So it's accessible.

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Maybe include resources

and examples for each step.

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Becoming data analyst involves building

technical skills, getting practical

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experience and showcasing your abilities.

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Here's a step by step guide

to help you get started.

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All right.

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Just like the thinking was very good.

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And obviously that's not something

you get with open AI and chat GPT.

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So I loved hearing how it was thinking.

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And that way I can kind of

interpret the context of the

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results with what it was thinking.

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Uh, let's go ahead and take a look

at what it officially suggests.

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Build foundational skills, technical

skills, Excel, master pivot tables,

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VLOOKUP and data visualization.

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That is super simple.

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I like that a lot.

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SQL.

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Learn to query databases.

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Join aggregations.

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Resources.

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Mode.

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Analytics.

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SQL tutorial.

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Kaggle.

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Learn SQL.

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Both two great resources for learning SQL.

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Python slash R.

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Focus on libraries like pandas,

NumPy, and visualization tools.

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Resources.

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Data camp.

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Free code camp.

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NumPy.

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I mean, it's a, it's fine to learn pandas

is the big one in visualization tools.

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NumPy actually pandas is built on NumPy.

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So by knowing pandas, you kind of can

do a lot of the stuff that NumPy can.

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There are some things that you need to

use NumPy for alone, but there's not

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that many data visualization, learn

tools like Tableau, Power BI or Looker

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Tableau, public Tableau training.

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Great.

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Statistics, grasp basics like hypothesis,

testing distributions, and regression

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Khan Academy, StatQuest YouTube channel.

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Shout out StatQuest and Josh Starmer.

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I've done a video with Josh in the past.

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Uh, we'll have that in

the show notes down below.

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I also love that it did statistics

last out of all of these, because

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often people are like, don't you have

to know statistics to become data

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analyst and you do, but it's maybe

less important than you realize.

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For instance, you can do a VLOOKUP

really without doing any sort of.

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Tons of statistics.

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There are aggregations there like sums

and averages, mins and maxes, but the

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chances are you've probably learned that

in high school or college at some point.

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So something more complicated like

hypothesis testing or regression,

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those are important too, but not as

important as knowing how to do a VLOOKUP.

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I love that it's including

soft skills here too.

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Soft skills, storytelling,

present insights clearly

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to non technical audiences.

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Problem solving breakdown, complex

questions into data driven solutions.

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A lot of the times, and honestly, like if

you go look at the platforms, it suggests

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like data camp and free code camp,

they really miss on the storytelling.

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And it's really important because

we had cool math, like on the

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podcast recently, and she's like,

people don't take you seriously.

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If you're unable to communicate

your story and your work.

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Effectively.

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So it's often overlooked.

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One of the things we do inside the

accelerator is one, we post our stories

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on LinkedIn in our about section.

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And we try to post on LinkedIn

often, but also we post our projects

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on there with a written writeup.

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Um, and that written form of

communication, we actually will teach you

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how to do video communication as well.

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Like if you like recorded yourself with

a Google slide presentation or with

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your dashboard, but those types of.

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Communication and storytelling

opportunities are really what can set

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you apart as an aspiring data analyst.

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Next section, formal

education and certificates.

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So degrees optional.

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Love that it says optional.

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That is very friendly.

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I appreciate that.

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I'd agree in math, statistics, CS, or

economics is helpful, but not mandatory.

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I agree.

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Online certificates, Google data

analytics certificate, and the

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Microsoft data analyst associate

power BI plus Excel and the IBM data

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analyst professional certificate.

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Obviously those are all good and fine.

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Gain practical experience.

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I love that it's saying this.

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This is awesome.

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Projects, analyze data from Kaggle

UCI learning machine learning

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repository or government portals, data.

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gov.

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I think that is a hundred percent correct.

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Example projects, sales trend analysis,

COVID 19 impact dashboard, customer

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segmentation, obviously not a whole

lot of like, this is just an intro.

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Right.

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So it's not really giving us any more

information on these, but that's great.

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Portfolio share code on GitHub and

create visualizations in Tableau public.

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Build a personal website using GitHub

pages or WordPress to showcase projects.

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Love that it got GitHub pages.

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That is something that

a lot of people miss.

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Now I need to make a different

video on this, but GitHub pages

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is very separate from GitHub.

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It is like it's from GitHub, but

it's like a separate product.

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It's free, but it's basically like the

ability to build personal websites.

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And I love that it got it.

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I personally recommend card now.

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We'll have a link in the show notes.

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To to check out card thing is

the best and easiest place to

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start building your portfolio.

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Freelance slash volunteer offer

services on Upwork or nonprofits.

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I like helping nonprofits more

because I think they could offer more

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support and like a more formal role.

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Once again, I think freelancing

on Upwork, especially if you've

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never freelanced before, it's not

going to lead very far because.

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Freelancing requires a ton

of business experience.

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You have to know how to market yourself.

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You have to know how to

ask a lot of questions.

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There's no one checking your work.

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So I would lean on the volunteer

side versus the freelance, but

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I don't mind them mentioning it.

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Okay.

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Number four, network and apply for jobs.

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LinkedIn optimize your profile

with keywords like data analysts

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and connect with professionals.

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You guys, I can't tell you how

important this first line is.

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And it really, if you just read it,

you're like, okay, that makes sense.

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What does that actually mean?

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You guys, this is one thing we

talk about in the accelerator.

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The more you put the term data analyst

on your LinkedIn profile and your

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resume, the better you'll be off.

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ATS is the LinkedIn

recruiting algorithm is dumb.

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One of the ways it actually like checks

to see how relevant you are to, for

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instance, if you're applying to a data

analyst role is how many times do they

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have the word data analyst on their.

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LinkedIn page.

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And that phrase can be anywhere that

could be in your headline that can

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be in your about section that can

be in your experience section that

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can be in your education section.

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For instance, if you just put aspiring

data analyst in your experience section,

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that actually almost works as good to a

computer as putting the term data analyst.

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So that is really key job platforms,

entry level roles, junior data analyst,

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business analyst, reporting analyst.

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Those are all goods search on

LinkedIn indeed, or specialized

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sites like well found.

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Yeah.

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Well found angels lists.

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I'm a fan of, but not really

for entry level roles.

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They're more senior roles there.

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Instead, I would try

something like findadatajob.

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com or premiumdatajobs.

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com.

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Those are two job boards that I run where

we try to be more entry level friendly.

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Meetups, attend events, data science

meetup, Pi data or virtual webinars.

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I think that's great.

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That's a form of networking

and obviously a great option.

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Okay.

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Number five, ACE interviews, technical

prep, practice SQL on leak code or hacker

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rank review, statistical concepts and

case studies, behavioral questions.

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Use the star method to answer

questions about teamwork and problem

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solving and portfolio walkthrough.

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Be ready to explain your projects,

goals, process, and impact.

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Once again.

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This feels really good because most

people are all about the technical prep

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and the technical prep is important,

but I would say, honestly, at least half

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of my students who land jobs through

the accelerator program, never really

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even have a formal technical interview.

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The other 50 percent definitely do.

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And it's good to be prepared using

things like leak code or hacker.

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I prefer things like strata scratch,

data lemur or analyst builder.

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Instead of these, they're just

more data oriented instead of like.

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Computer science and stuff like that, I

think, but I just want to point off that

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most people ignore behavioral questions.

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And that's one of the things I try not

to ignore with interview simulator.

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If you guys go to interview simulator.

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io, this is my interview

platform where you can practice

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your behavioral questions.

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And then I love that it has the portfolio

walkthrough as well and being able to

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talk about your projects because really,

if you can get an interview and you

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can say, Hey, I have this portfolio.

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I've done this project that's similar

to what I would be doing on the job.

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I think that is an opportunity for you to.

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Try to take the interview kind of

by the reins and flip it on them.

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And they ask you questions about

your project versus just like

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asking random statistical concepts.

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So that's going to make you

feel more comfortable and

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make you look better as well.

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Number six, keep learning, stay

updated, follow blogs like towards data

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science and podcasts like data skeptic.

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Those are both great.

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I would add data career podcast to the

podcast, but if you're listening to this,

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you're probably already following our

podcast, advanced skills, explore machine

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learning, scikit learn, cloud tools, AWS.

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Google Big Query or A B testing.

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I think those are, I mean, that's fine.

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You're always going to be learning in this

world, but it didn't really talk about job

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applications and applying like you don't

want to just like go to advanced skills

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without job hunting a ton because you can

get paid to learn machine learning and

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cloud tools and A B testing on the job.

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Most entry level roles, even maybe

middle roles don't even require that.

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Uh, example, learning path, Excel,

SQL, Tableau month, one to two months,

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three to four Python and statistics and

month five to six build three or four

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portfolio projects and apply for jobs.

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Now, if you've listened to any of my

episodes previously, you know, that I

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think that most people, um, if they're

willing to put in, you know, 10 to

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20 hours a week can cut this in half.

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And there's like certain things that we

can do where it's like, we're not going to

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spend an entire month learning statistics,

an entire month learning Python.

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You just don't need to, when you're

landing your first day at a job.

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And also like why wait till month

five and six to build your portfolio

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projects and apply for jobs.

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In the accelerator, you'll have a project

built within your first 10 days, your

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first project built 10 days guaranteed.

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Like if you just put it in the hours,

like done, we'll have your first project.

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Build and then we want to start

applying for jobs, you know, well,

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before we hit the six month mark,

we're probably talking to the two

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month mark, if I'm being honest,

because applying for jobs isn't art and

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you'll get better at it as you go on.

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But overall, I don't hate this

plan at all by combining skills,

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projects, and networking.

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Holy crap.

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Did they steal that from me?

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Skills, projects, and networking.

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That's the SPN method.

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I came up with the SPN method.

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I'm the only one who's ever put those

things right next to each other.

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Skills, projects, and networking.

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Call it the SPN method.

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I built it myself.

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I have a notebook somewhere over

here where like, I just, I wrote

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down my whole like framework and like

tried to figure out what to call it.

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And we ended up landing on SPN.

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Wow.

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You'll position yourself

strongly for a data analyst role.

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Stay smart, stay consistent

and iterate based on feedback.

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Overall, you guys, like, I feel

like this was a pretty good roadmap.

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Right here.

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Like I'm pretty impressed by this and, uh,

it's not the worst thing on planet earth.

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Like it, it did a better job

almost in the instructions.

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I think of like the Python where it was

like maybe Python and R somewhere up here.

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Right.

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And, but I think it did great on

mentioning the behavioral questions.

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I think it did really good on

the networking and the, and

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the projects and the portfolio.

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I thought I did great talking

about GitHub pages overall.

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I think if you followed

this plan, you would be.

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Pretty well off.

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I mean, this plan is basically what

I outlined in my previous episodes.

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It's basically following the SPN method.

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I mean, literally it says by

combining skills, projects, and

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networking, you'll position yourself

strongly for a data analyst role.

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And I agree like that, the SPN

method will set you up exactly.

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This way.

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So, uh, I really like this from deep seek.

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I'm going to play around with this more.

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If you guys want to follow the

SPN method, please consider

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joining the accelerator program.

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This is basically a coaching led and

group cohort learning style where

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you're basically going to do all

of these things, but we're going to

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give it to you exactly step by step.

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You're not going to have to go figure

out like, you know, how do I learn

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:

data visualization and Tableau public?

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Or like what courses should I take?

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We'll give you the exact roadmap.

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We'll teach you the exact projects.

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We'll give you the exact data to

build your projects, to learn the

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skills and to grow your network.

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We'll show you exactly

how to actually optimize.

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Like what does it actually mean

to optimize your profile with

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keywords like data analyst?

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So that's of interest to you.

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We'll have a link in the show notes

down below and let me know what

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you guys want me to do next with

deep seek down in the comments.

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Should I try to analyze data?

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Should we compare it to

something like chat GPT?

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Let me know in the comments down below.

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About the Podcast

Data Career Podcast: Helping You Land a Data Analyst Job FAST
The Data Career Podcast: helping you break into data analytics, build your data career, and develop a personal brand

About your host

Profile picture for Avery Smith

Avery Smith

Avery Smith is the host of The Data Career Podcast & founder of Data Career Jumpstart, an online platform dedicated to helping individuals transition into and advance within the data analytics field. After studying chemical engineering in college, Avery pivoted his career into data, and later earned a Masters in Data Analytics from Georgia Tech. He’s worked as a data analyst, data engineer, and data scientist for companies like Vaporsens, ExxonMobil, Harley Davidson, MIT, and the Utah Jazz. Avery lives in the mountains of Utah where he enjoys running, skiing, & hiking with his wife, dog, and new born baby.