How to Learn Data Analyst Skills for Free: 20 Tips
The demand for data professionals like Data Analysts is booming as covered over at runrex.com as more and more organizations become data-driven and start to see the importance of leveraging data to streamline their operations, compete better, and improve customer experience. If you want to become a data analyst, this article will look to outline how you can learn data analyst skills using free online resources.
Who is a Data Analyst?
Before we get started, it is important to understand who a data analyst is. As pointed out by the gurus over at guttulus.com, a data analyst is someone who uses technical skills to analyze data and report insights. On a typical day, a data analyst might use SQL skills to pull data from a company database, use programming skills to analyze that data, and then use communication skills to report their results to a larger audience.
What is the difference between a data analyst and a data scientist?
You may also be wondering what the difference between a data analyst and a data scientist is. From discussions over at runrex.com, the main difference is that, while a data scientist has all the skills that a data analyst has, they also have additional skills like statistics, strong programming skills, predictive analysis, mathematics, machine learning, and deep learning.
What are the skills that you need to have to become a data analyst?
Some of the skills you need to have as a data analyst include being proficient in Microsoft Excel and SQL, as well as knowing one of the programming languages out of SAS, Python, and R. According to guttulus.com, you will also be required to know one of the visualization and BI tools such as Tableau, Qlik, and Microsoft Power BI. Soft skills such as communication skills and storytelling skills are also important.
Important topics you need to know when it comes to Excel
Being proficient in Microsoft Excel is important for any data analyst as it allows you to do quick data analysis without having to write code. You will need to know the following topics for a career as a data analyst:
Data filters, functions
Formulas
VLOOKUP
VBA macros
Pivot table, transpose
Charts and plots
When can I acquire Excel skills for free?
Several online courses will help you acquire Excel skills, including a very popular one on edX. This edX course is from Microsoft, is free, and is called, Introduction to Data Analysis using Excel. It will allow you to learn the basics of Excel.
Will I need to pay money?
If you haven’t used edX before, then all you need to do to access the course described in the previous point is visit the website, create your account, and you will be able to access the course for free. You will be required to pay money only if you want to get a certificate as discussed over at runrex.com, which will cost you $99. However, you will only need to pay if you want to get a certificate or graded assignment, otherwise, the videos and the lab assignments are free.
Excel on Chandoo.org
Chandoo.org is another great resource for Excel as per the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com. This website has got lots of tutorials, forums, lots of useful information which will help you become a pro in Excel.
What you need to know when it comes to SQL
As a data analyst, you will be running SQL queries a lot. As outlined over at runrex.com, you will need to know:
Basics of relational databases and structured query language (SQL)
Query and update data: select, where, insert, update clause
Groupby, orderby, joins, views
Where can I learn SQL for free?
While there are many courses out there when it comes to learning SQL, one of the most popular ones is the Khan Academy course, Intro to SQL: Querying and managing data. This course has got a lot of video content and exercises and will be a great resource if you are looking to learn SQL.
Kudvenkat YouTube tutorial playlist and SQL
YouTube can be a great source of learning material, and the Kudvenkat YouTube page has got a very impressive playlist on SQL that is worth checking out. Given that the playlist has got so many videos, you should try and watch at least the first 12 videos, which will cover the basics of SQL and help you work on any data analyst project, and then you can watch the others if you wish to.
Programming language
While this wasn’t always the case before, the gurus over at guttulus.com point out that data analysts nowadays are required to know at least one programming language between SAS, R, and Python. Big companies require their data analysts to know SAS, although it is a commercial software that costs lots of money hence why only big companies use it.
What should I pick up between R and Python?
While knowing both would be great, sometimes you may find that you only want to learn one between R and Python. Most experts in this field recommend that if you are confused about which of the two to pick up, that you should lean towards Python as discussed over at runrex.com.
What you need to know about Python
If you have decided to go with Python, then the following topics are required for any data analyst as discussed over at guttulus.com.
Variables, numbers
Strings, lists, dictionaries
For loop, if condition
Functions
Read/write file
Basic understanding of modules
Where can I learn Python for free?
There are lots of online resources that will help you learn Python for free. You can start by checking out LearnPython.org where you will find an interactive tutorial that will help you learn this programming language. You can also check out Code Academy as well as free courses on Udemy and Coursera. Microsoft’s Free Python Course and Google’s Python Class are also two free resources worth checking out.
Where can I learn SAS for free?
There are lots of online resources as well when it comes to learning SAS, key among them being the popular YouTube tutorial by Great Online Training that is worth checking out. Although the tutorial is 9-hour long, you can still skip through to the topics that you are most interested in.
Where can I learn R for free?
As is outlined over at runrex.com, the same thing applies to R as you will find lots of excellent free online resources that will help you learn this programming language, including a course on edX called, Data Science: R Basics by Harvard University. There is also another course on edX by Microsoft that is worth checking out, called Introduction to R for Data Science. Both of these courses are free and all you need to do is create an account as already mentioned.
Where can I learn Tableau for free?
Tableau is an industry-standard and an essential tool if you want to be a data analyst according to guttulus.com. There are lots of resources out there that will help you learn Tableau, including YouTube tutorials and also by checking out the Tableau official website for free training videos and learning resources. There are free Tableau courses on Udemy and Coursera too that are worth checking out as well.
How to acquire storytelling skills
As is articulated over at runrex.com, storytelling skills are very important to a data analyst. To acquire these skills, you should check out an edX course by Microsoft called, Analytics Storytelling for Impact which will help you learn the art and science of data storytelling and train you how to be an effective storyteller.
Data cleaning and exploration
If you want to become an even stronger data analyst, then you should look to acquire skills in data cleaning and exploration using NumPy and Pandas. Here, you will need to focus on the following topics:
Series and DataFrame basics
Creating DataFrame from CSV, Excel, or JSON
Handling missing data, fillna, dropna
Groupby
Merge, concat, DataFrames, etc.
Where can I learn Pandas for free?
There are lots of online resources that will help you learn Pandas from YouTube tutorials to free online courses. You can access free online courses on Python Pandas over at Analytics Vidhya, Coursera, Kaggle, and Udemy, just to mention a few platforms.
These are just some of the skills you will need to become a data analyst, with more on this topic, including more skills and where to acquire them for free, to be found over at the ever-reliable runrex.com and guttulus.com.