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This is actually a very timely article to pop up for me. I'm currently a Sales Analyst at a big Telco in Canada. I landed the job with no previous analyst exper

This is actually a very timely article to pop up for me. I'm currently a Sales Analyst at a big Telco in Canada. I landed the job with no previous analyst experience, but years of programming behind me. I never had any formal programming experience, and everything I know is from years of experience. Because of this, I'm fairly confident that I can get anything done, but I have no schooling to support me. Don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself a highly skilled or knowledgeable programmer, but I know how to break down complex tasks and produce results. I've been writing functional PHP my whole life since I'm unable to focus on learning a new language long enough to actually do so (and because of this, I have lots of self doubt that I'd actually be able to learn a new one if I wanted to). I consider my 'Sales Analyst' role an intro to data science. Essentially, we're collecting all types of data from different sources and producing reports on them. How many products were sold? From what channels? From which sales persons on which team? How many customers did they talk to? How many of their booked installations failed? Were successes? Whats our market penetration like? Where are we seeing trends in disconnections or connections? Why? We're dealing with millions of records, from half a dozen data sources, often with no unique key matching the data up. It's a very interesting job, but without any previous experience in the field it's all been self taught. I've looked into a few data science programs and books, but I've felt that everything I see and read is so far above me that I can't even get started on the books or courses. My math skills are pretty basic, but that's never stopped me before as I've always been able to find the results that I'm looking for. I know that with the proper knowledge and experience I'd be able to land a data science job and get a 30-50K raise at the same time, but just don't have anything on my resume to qualify me. Nor do I know what an -actual- data scientist does, so I lack the confidence in even pursuing any openings I see around. I'm getting married next year, have a seven year old daughter, and bills to pay like anybody else, the job security I have in my current role definitely acts as a deterrent from taking a leap into the unknown as well.

rahimnathwani 12y ago
I consider my 'Sales Analyst' role an intro to data science. Essentially, we're collecting all types of data from different sources and producing reports on them. I know ... I'd be able to land a data science job ... but just don't have anything on my resume to qualify me. Who uses the reports you produce? What decisions do they make as a result? How often do they make these decisions? What is the impact? If you want to build on your current role as a way to become a data scientist, in your current company or elsewhere, perhaps you can look at ways to: - Generate recommendations based on the reports you've designed - Automate some decisions that are being made manually now - Figure out a way to influence additional teams who could/should use the data you're analysing In short: figure out a way to generate additional $$$ impact, or improve/automate an existing process which requires manual effort, so that those people can focus on stuff which cannot easily be automated.

rahimnathwani 12y ago

I consider my 'Sales Analyst' role an intro to data science. Essentially, we're collecting all types of data from different sources and producing reports on them. I know ... I'd be able to land a data science job ... but just don't have anything on my resume to qualify me. Who uses the reports you produce? What decisions do they make as a result? How often do they make these decisions? What is the impact? If you want to build on your current role as a way to become a data scientist, in your current company or elsewhere, perhaps you can look at ways to: - Generate recommendations based on the reports you've designed - Automate some decisions that are being made manually now - Figure out a way to influence additional teams who could/should use the data you're analysing In short: figure out a way to generate additional $$$ impact, or improve/automate an existing process which requires manual effort, so that those people can focus on stuff which cannot easily be automated.