Starting the Climb

Starting Position: Course 1 (Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere) 41%

Ending Position: Course 2 (Ask Questions to Make Data-Driven Decisions) 100%

What a week! Work has been crazy so I didn't get as much study time as I would have liked during the workweek. Thankfully, I was able to get some hours in over the weekend, and I did not put them to waste! I finished courses 1 and 2 (of 8 total) this week, placing me about 25% through this Google Data Analysis certification program as a whole.

I've been going a fast pace, and here's what I've done to allow me to move through so quickly: I watch the videos, do the readings, go through some of the linked external supplemental resources, and take all the quizzes to check my understanding, but I don't do the other (optional) assignments such as learning logs, self reflections, or discussion posts. These first couple courses have been very knowledge-based, without much skill training. The skills they have started training are things for which I am already quite proficient, such as spreadsheets and pivot tables. The ROI on my time just isn't there to do reflective assignments that don't add to the knowledge already presented at this point. Once we get into more skill development and material that is new to me, I'll need to spend time in practice and study. I also play the videos at 1.75 speed, which I find is a significant reduction in viewing time, while still providing no difficulty in understanding the speakers.

Looking forward to the progress I'll be making this week!