I started off learning about data analysis through Googles Data Analytics Certificate program on Coursera. I felt like it gave me a pretty solid foundation but knew I would have to build on it, and that it wouldn’t alone get me a job. Since then I’ve done a few case studies, some just taking clean data and analyzing and visualizing it, and some starting by gathering the data and cleaning it myself. I have experience with Tableau, Excel, Sheets, SQL, Python, R, and feel pretty comfortable using all of these. I have a portfolio showcasing what I can do for work. I have six years of experience working in healthcare and a bachelor’s degree, but I can’t land a job in data analysis.
So far I’ve only had one interview, and it was for a pretty low paying position, but most of the interview questions were about machine learning algorithms (which I know nothing about). I am unsure if this is par for the course (I figure it’s not and they were trying to get a data scientist for the price of an underpaid junior data analyst).
I don’t know where to go from here. I’ve been doing the courses on Kaggle to learn about machine learning, although I do understand they do not cover the theory behind machine learning and more the implementation of it. I am not sure where to go from here in my learning journey, and don’t know why I am having such a hard time with landing an interview. Any advice of what to do would be greatly appreciated because I definitely feel a bit lost.
I am going to give you a plan that will be you absolute best shot at getting a Data Analyst job.
For background, I went from Data Analyst to Senior Data Analyst to Data Scientist in just under 3 years. I have also helped a few other people close to me get into the industry.
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STOP working on the machine learning course. It is absolutely useless to you. You don't yet have the qualifications to be a data scientist and 99% of data analyst don't use those skills. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
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FOCUS on getting to advanced or Expert level SQL skills. Can you use Window Functions, correlated subqueries, etc. While many courses teach things out of order, any course the covers that is almost certain to cover everything else you need with SQL. SQL is the most important skill a data analyst can have.
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DEVELOP decent to strong Tableau skills. I generally tell people to get good at either Tableau or Power BI, since those are the two most popular Reporting/Visualization tools in corporate America.
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GET a Tableau certification. You can either get the Desktop Specialist or the new Tableau Data Analyst certification. It doesn't matter. This is just to get you past the HR screener. I am sorry to say that your Google certificate probably doesn't mean much (REGARDLESSS of what YouTube influencers say) because a recruiter in Human Resources has probably never heard of it. Get certified in the tools that the job requires.
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LOOK primarily (maybe even ONLY) at healthcare related companies and positions. Here you are leveraging your healthcare experience. Look especially at HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. That is where I worked. They are some of the largest healthcare companies and hire ton of data analysts since they have a ton of data. Get a list of the 15 largest healthcare companies in the country, the 15 largest heath insurance companies in the country, and the largest healthcare companies locally. Go directly to the "careers" section of their website
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SEARCH for jobs based on skills rather than title. Tons of people have data analyst positions that aren't actually called data analysts. Instead of searching for "data Analyst" search for "SQL Tableau Healthcare". My former company employed HUNDREDS of data analysts, but maybe 4 had the actual name "data analyst."
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CUSTOMIZE your resume to the position. Reading that you applied to 150-200 jobs (and only got one interview) tells me that you 1) are just applying to anything and everything that is a data analyst position and 2) are not customizing your resume.
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EMPHASIZE your experience in healthcare, in your summary statement you could say something like "SQL and Tableau expert with 6 years healthcare experience, transitioning to a data focused role in the healthcare industry...."
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APPLY directly on the company's website whenever possible. If you can avoid applying on LinkedIn or Indeed, or through a contracting company, then go directly to the company. However, if you have to apply through a third party, then do it.
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BUILD a portfolio project with real data. This is more for the interview with the hiring manager, although you can have it listed in the projects section of your resume. What would be a good project? how about one that is healthcare related. Where do you get the data? The Affordable Care Act resulted in a TON of health insurance information being publicly available. Did you know that the premium and deductible rates for every health insurance plan, at every age range, is available online at a government website? That is just one idea. When you talk to the hiring manager, talk about how you managed problems with real data (misspellings, missing data, etc.).
I really hope this helps. Healthcare is one of the most data intensive industries around. You can leverage your prior experience to get your foot in the door.
I have experience with Tableau, Excel, Sheets, SQL, Python, R, and feel pretty comfortable using all of these. I have a portfolio showcasing what I can do for work. I have six years of experience working in healthcare
Have you been looking for/applying to data jobs in public health and/or healthcare-related companies? I'm talking about government agencies (e.g., state health department) but also nonprofits, startups, etc. that work with healthcare data or that do work on public health policy.
Data analyst career path for the next 5/10/20 years considering the rise of automated/abstracted data science processes
what has the best career prospects data analyst, data science, data engineer, marketing analytics?
Is Career in Data Analytics still feasible or the industry is already overwhelmed with data analysts.
Is pursuing a Data Analyst career even worth it?
Is Data Analysis an IT job?
How is a Data Analyst role different from a Data Engineer?
Is Data Analysis a good career choice?
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I'm around one year into my career as a data analyst. What I've been noticing so far is that there are more and more products that can automate the tasks that we do. For example, libraries that reduces the need of writing statistical models from scratch to Google's AutoML that goes further by selecting a model for us automatically. We may not even need to write SQL queries anymore in the next few years.
What would be the most prospective path for a data analyst given these circumstances? Do we need to pivot in the coming years? How can the current data analyst professionals retain their edge?