Data analytics has become a key operation at organizations of all stripes, making professionals versed in extracting value from data hot commodities on the job market. While most of the buzz surrounds the data scientist role, data analysts remain a vital and growing segment of today’s growing analytics operations.
Data analysts must understand how to collect, organize and interpret data — and how to effectively communicate vital information to key stakeholders, clients and executives. As businesses collect more data every year, data analysts will remain vital players in the enterprise, surfacing the most useful data points and reducing the clutter that comes with data collection.
The job not only requires hard skills such as SQL, SharePoint and Excel, but you’ll also need the communication skills to design data visualization reports that business leaders and clients will understand. Here are 10 online data analysis bootcamps that can help you brush up on your data analyst skills or launch a new career.
Online learning platform Coursera offers a wide variety of Data Analysis courses and specializations, which are offered through major colleges and universities. Specializations are multi-course series on a specific topic that culminate with an exam or capstone project, after which students receive a certificate of completion. Examples of specializations include Business Analytics from the University of Pennsylvania, Data Mining from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Data Analysis and Interpretation from Wesleyan University. Stand-alone courses include Managing Data Analysis and Getting and Cleaning Data from John Hopkins University. There are courses for all skill levels, so you should be able to find the right course to match your skill level and goals.
Dataquest has a specific program for those looking to become a data analyst. The online bootcamp includes working with real-life data sets, writing code and getting personalized feedback on your work. It’s designed to help you develop a strong portfolio that you can use to impress potential employers and vet your skills. You can subscribe to Dataquest with a free membership to get access to free missions, challenges and projects to build your portfolio. Paid membership options give you access to more programs and allow you to download content and access the member community or on-call data science professionals.
Datacamp offers tailored programs based on where you want to take your career in data. You can choose the Data Analyst with Python or Data Analyst with R track, or the Quantitative Analyst with R program. There are also career tracks for R programmers, Python programmers, and data scientists with R or Python skills. You can choose from these tailored programs to gain specific skills to help you launch or advance your data analysis career.
Data Society offers two programs, one aimed at executives and another for analysts or data scientists. The Data Science for Leaders program is for executives and leaders who want to understand how to leverage data science in their organization, with a strong focus on how to build a successful data science team. The Data Science for Analysts track doesn’t require any background in data science, math or programming. Data Society promises to teach you everything you will need to know to have a successful career as a data analyst.
