Welcome!

Hi there everyone,

I finally took the plunge and decided to begin blogging about data analytics. My hope is that I can share my experiences from my career working for various companies and pass along any knowledge for those wishing to learn more about data. As many of you know, I have extensive experience serving as a data analytics consultant, a mentor, and holding various data related positions within companies. To kick off my blog, I thought I would talk about a commonly overlooked tool in the world of data…Microsoft excel. In my experience, most new analysts want to hop on the trend wagon and dive right into Tableau or Python not because the amazing analysis and power of leverage you gain but simply because they want to be cool. Don’t get me wrong, being a Tableau jedi or a Python sith is absolutely amazing but you need to remember that majority of businesses are just simply not data ready. Most of the companies that I have worked for either as a full-time employee or as a consultant have some of the worst data structures and systems I have ever seen. We’re talking billions in revenue running off of excel spreadsheets. Most of you young analysts are going to be shocked when you start your first analyst job to see that companies don’t have perfect data like you studied with back in school or your data bootcamp classes. You won’t be able to connect Tableau to some pristine SQL table and start graphing…it just isn’t that simple in most companies. The ability to use excel on a proficient level will make you a better analyst for 2 main reasons. 1) Speed – Majority of the requests brought to you for analysis will be ad hoc, if you can export to csv and quickly pivot and generate some graphs and data tables, you will be miles ahead and quicker than most analysts. 2) Ease of manipulation – Not all data sets are clean. You will be surprised how much of your time will be spent just simply trying to understand the data. In my experience, having this data in excel and being able to view the row granularity and ask the question “What happens in the business that drives this specific row of data to be recorded?” will greatly enhance your understanding of data and the business you are working in. Do not be afraid to learn excel. This doesn’t make you dumb or make you take steps back in the world of technology, in fact understanding the basics and the tools of the past will only make you better. Lastly, when you are working with data analytics you need to understand that you will be questioned on absolutely everything you do. This is not because you are a poor analyst, this is because the businesspeople you are speaking to do not understand and you need to relay the information on their terms. If the end user cannot absorb the analysis, then your analysis sucks. It’s that simple. Most businesspeople are VERY comfortable with excel. When you present data in a simple data table, example total sales by business region in a few distinct rows, you will communicate the analysis much clearer than trying to visualize something complex. Understanding excel and being nimble with data analysis will be a great start to your data career. Once you have mastered this, it will be much easier for you to learn more complex tools and more importantly understand how to communicate the analysis you have completed back to your audience.

Happy analyzing,

Christopher Doidge

Owner – UI Consulting