Career transition to data analytics with irrelevant exp. and degree
It is April, 2021 as I am writing this, and I have been a data analyst for the past 4 years. Now, I am a senior data analyst at a fast growing company’s marketing department.
Because 1. I did not graduate with a degree in computer science or statistics, and 2. I started my career doing administrative work, I often get reached out by aspiring data analysts. They ask how I penetrated the seemingly insurmountable industry of “BS/Master in quantitative field” and “3+ years of experience”. So I am here to write about it.
This blog will not present a magic formula or a radical way to get a data analyst job with no relevant experience or degree. It is, however, sharing my experience in the hopes that it will answer some of the questions that you may have and possibly give you a couple of new things you have not thought about to help you get the position you want. So let’s briefly go over my experience and then talk about the 3 things that will help your career transition to data analytics.
How did I get the very first data analyst job?
My very first data analyst job was handed to me due to the need within the organization I was working at. Someone had to quickly take over the analyst who left, and the director saw something in me and my work that I did not. I am so glad he did – because I finally found what I wanted to do because of it. You may think,”oh, so you were lucky. It was given to you. Of course you could start your data analyst career.” But trust me, it wasn’t like that.
The office I worked at was very small and the data volume and complexity were not high. The only tools I could use were excel and the CRM software where most of the available data was. Most of my responsibilities were about figuring out the CRM software’s reporting system, and working on pre-defined reports, not analysis. Although the title was “data analyst”, I was a data monkey: pulling data, cleaning the data, and presenting the data in a very specific manner on demand. Bottom line, even though it was how I technically got the first data analyst job title, in reality, it was how I found my passion in data, not how I penetrated the industry. The real challenge was afterward, when I decided I wanted to grow as a data analyst, automating recurring reports and pulling actionable insights from data using SQL, Power BI, Snowflake, and so on, without actual experience or education in any of them. I wish I had known the 3 things to help career transition to data analytics that I will present in this blog back then.
How did I get the position I wanted to get actual experience in sql and visualization?
Long story short, I kept on studying while applying for different associate data analyst positions until one of the employers was willing to let me go to the test round with other candidates with more work experience and relevant degrees. To everyone’s surprise, I produced the result that was what the employer was looking for and I got an offer.
Although now I can look back and have an organized thought on this, I want to start with how agonizing the entire process was. I will present 3 things that will definitely help your career transition to data analytics here, but when I started looking for a data analyst job years ago, there was no one thing I was thinking about and everything felt chaotic. So if you feel that way, you are not alone – I was there.
Depending on the job you apply, the job may require the skills you may not have – which happens. But even when you can do the job, people without relevant degrees or experience could not get through the process and get to the test round to showcase that we can actually do the work – all because of how recruiters or hiring managers filter out resumes. So finally, let’s get into the 3 things to help your career transition to data analytics: two things that helped me get to the door, and one thing that I wish I put more weight on at that time.
3 Things that Will help your career transition to data analytics
1. Continuous Learning
The most important one out of the three is this – continuous learning. Of course, as an aspiring data analyst without a relevant degree, you are probably already doing this with passion. So I am not going into “how to” do this, “why” you should do this, or “what” you should study. Rather, I want to talk about how this will help you as a data analyst and therefore, how you can sell this in resumes and interviews.
Continued Education section in resume
How have you been studying by yourself? Did you take a course online? Did you get certifications? Even if you do not have a degree from it, you can still write your continued education section within your resume. This is important because, first, this will get your resume in the game because you will have the keywords recruiters look for, and two, this will also show that you are continually learning. If you have enough space, put the month and year of the course taken or certification earned to show the relevancy (if it’s recent) and continual learning (if you have earned throughout the year or last few years).
If you are like me when I started this process, then you will not have relevant experience or a degree to emphasize. Then, start your resume with the continued education before you start listing your less relevant degree and job experience.
During Screening and Interviews
Express how excited you are to study by yourself, learn from others, and help others in the same way. Instead of writing this down or saying these exact words though, show this to them. You can do so by talking about how much you have enjoyed the learning environment from organization X, what you studied most recently that you feel passionate about, or by asking questions with humility and curiosity when an interviewer asks your experience with a software X or concept that you are not familiar with.
If the employer is asking about your work experience with the software X that you studied but have no work experience with, talk about your learning experience (dropping a few words specific to the software is also great) and how excited you are to have the opportunity to put your knowledge to work. Do not stop at “I studied but have no work experience,” but sell yourself. You studied when nobody told you to do so – you should be proud of it.
Lastly, when you feel like the interview did not go well, ask for advice. It will show your character to the employer and it will be helpful to you even if you don’t get the job. The types of advice you ask should depend on how the interview went and what the interviewer is like. When an interviewer thought I was not experienced enough, I asked what I could do to showcase my skills. When an interviewer told me he wished I had more experience with X, I asked him if I get the job, what he would recommend me looking into first within X. Realistically, sometimes the advice will not be helpful, but it will show the employers that you are serious about learning and that you are curious. Other times, you will get an idea how to showcase your skills better in the next interview.
2. Relevant Work: Focus on Tasks
How do you want me to sell relevant work, when I literally have no relevant work experience, you ask? I say pick and choose! For instance, the reason the director thought I would make a great data analyst was not because I had relevant job titles or degrees. It was because when the former data analyst was busy, I used to help out the director with minor data related tasks on excel. Even though I was not even close to a data analyst at that time, the director saw it as relevant work. So whatever you have done so far, there was some sort of exposure that got you into data analytics. There is some excel, google sheet, or other reporting experience you have even if it’s basic. Or, even if it is not strictly data related, you may have done something related to any IT industry. For instance, when I was an event coordinator, I managed a website for a year for a specific event. It only came down to updating a few links and words, but I could still write down in the resume saying I managed the website. So think about the tasks rather than the title.
Then you can look into building something out of nothing. Although it’s rare, there are some data analytics volunteer work that is available. If you know someone who owns business, ask to help out by building a dashboard for them. If you have time, then seek an internship. If there is a data analyst at your current work, ask the person to be your mentor and ask for minor tasks you can help with. If none of these work, go online, download a public dataset and build something. You can easily upload your work online and put a link to your Linked In or resume.
While we are talking about relevant work, I want to point out that you should not list dozens of jobs that are not relevant in your resume. No employer wants to receive 2+ pages or resume listing jobs that they do not care about, especially when they have to go through hundreds of resumes. Then what do you do? Pick a few jobs that you want the employer to notice – the ones with either the data related tasks or the soft skills that will distinguish you from other data analysts. On that note, let’s go to the last topic: soft skills.
3. Soft Skills: Communication and Project Management
Soft skills is what I wish I emphasized more when I was looking for a data analyst job. I did not realize how important and sought after they were until I became a data analyst. There are so many competent data analysts out there that lack soft skills such as communication and project management. They may write impeccable codes, but they struggle to explain the data or logic to others, to create user friendly dashboards, and to properly prioritize the tasks at hand. This is where we can shine, folks! With non-data analyst jobs in the past, you are likely to have work experience that required great communication and project management skills. Also with the non-data analytic background, you can better understand the business stakeholders’ point of views and explain the data and logic to them. So use this — highlight the jobs that display your soft skills in your resume. Talk about how you can break down a big project into steps (which also exhibits your analytical skills) and communicate the findings to the stakeholders during an interview.
Final Thoughts
This blog post in no way provides a magic formula or radical method to get a data analyst job. The 3 things I shared to help your career transition to data analytics does, however, show how I got to where I am from a seemingly bleak situation and what I have learned along the way. Everyone’s journey is different and there is no bulletproof career map. Bottom line, the most important essence when changing a career path is to not easily give up but to keep an open mind and stay curious. Also, remember that every organization has a different definition and responsibility for “data analyst”. Your skillset will inevitably fit better for a certain organization than the others, so do not take a rejection as the blanket statement that you don’t qualify to become a data analyst. I hope you gained something from my experience. Best of luck to you!
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