Getting to the Fun Part

Starting Position: Course 5 (Analyze Data to Answer Questions) 0%

Ending Position: Course 6 (Share Data Through the Art of Visualization) 30%

Well, I'm Back! I got through more than 1 course this week, which is my general goal. Work has slowed down a bit and I haven't had to put in extra hours.

I was pretty excited for course 5, Analyze Data to Answer Questions, as I expected it to be the real meat of the certification in general. It's the part of the process for which the whole process is named: Analysis. However, It was actually one of the shorter courses and I felt it really only covered basics of spreadsheet functions and some of the most common types of operations and functions an analyst is likely to use. After thinking about it, though, I suppose this is a fundamental course, and I already have a good deal of experience with using spreadsheets to summarize data, it's what got me interested in pursuing this type of work to begin with.

The following course is all about data visualization, and I'm pretty excited for this one too. It focuses on Tableau as the main visualization tool, and I know this is one of the top, if not the number one, most sought after visualization tools employers are wanting analysts to be experienced in. I have created my Tableau account and am starting to explore what this platform has to offer.

My lovely wife is about to head off to a conference for business, and my wonderful in-laws will be watching Charlie while she is out of town. So I'm about to have several days where it will be just me in the house. I'm going to miss both Lindsay and Charlie incredibly, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about all I may be able to get done with this time. I certainly expect to finish this certification course in the next two weeks, and hopefully I'll also be able to whip up some portfolio projects to showcase the skills I've acquired!