Success Principles: Discover Your Passion!

Do You Want To Live An Inspired Life?

First, discover your passion and work a job you really love.

Second, turn your passion into a set of excellent skills using practice tests or quizzes.

Third, bring your passion to the market using Push (emailing your branded resumes) or PULL Techniques (Social Media Marketing).

Here is a question for you; Do You Really Love Your Job?

In a study of how exceptional, world-class or, successful people are produced, Daniel Coyle in his book “The Talent Code” says that it takes a combination of concentrated, difficult, skill-building practice, motivation or inspiration and master coaching to achieve success.

Coyle’s point is that if a person is going to invest the amount of time and concentrated, difficult practice that produces a high-level of skill, that person will have to be deeply motivated or passionate about his or her work!

SUCCESS DOES NOT COME BY WORKING A JOB THAT PAYS MORE MONEY BUT BY FOCUSED, SKILL BUILDING PRACTICE.

Deep, Skill Building Practice

Deep practice is something most top athletes add to their training.

Deep practice is where they slow down their practice to unbelievably slow speeds just so that they can wrap their brains around the skill required of them and then practice with as much accuracy as possible.

Their goal is to practice perfect!

Think about it: top football teams study their plays over and over, slowly and in great detail on chalkboards in a classroom for hours on end before hitting the football fields.

And tennis camps in Russia do not allow young beginners to hit an actual tennis ball until they have developed a technically correct tennis swing at slower speeds.

Regardless of how much natural talent an athlete appears to have, most athletes will not reach the top unless they deep practice!

Deep practice is an obsessive, but focused, skill-building technique.

Read more on this post; “Deep Practice Journal”.

Passion, Motivation or Inspiration

In his book, Outliers, Gladwell interviewed Bill Gates, whose unique access to a computer at a time when they were not commonplace helped him succeed.

Gates passion for computing, drove him to access a high school computer in 1968 at the age of 13, and spend 10,000 hours programming on it before he was 23.

Without that access, Gladwell states that Gates would still be “a highly intelligent, driven, charming person and a successful professional”, but that he would not be worth US$50 billion.

The Beatles were so passionate about their craft that they performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964 and by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, ‘they sounded like no one else’.

The lesson to learn here is that:

It is only when you love what you do, that you will consciously try to improve your performance or work very hard at becoming very good.

If you do not love your work, you will not be able to make the type of exceptional, disciplined commitment required to be successful and if you are working just to pay your bills … you will never be exceptional!

The SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL people is that they choose the type of work they are deeply passionate about and they develop or perfect exceptional skills for their job using feedback, guidance or coaching.

For me, success means doing work that I love, developing my skills to the best of my abilities and helping or serving other people with my talent.

What does success mean for you? Here at ITCareerCoach, Success is a three part process that involves discovering your passion, developing your passion and bringing your passion to market.

1. Discover Your Passion: identify and focus more on the type of tasks that give you a sense of fulfillment, joy or happiness and that is also very valuable, useful or helpful to others, so you get paid.

   • Doing what you love maximizes the benefit you get from your working hours. Remember that we spend the majority of our waking hours at some type of work!

   • If you don’t do what you love, you will lack the motivation to perfect your skills.

     You will lack the energy you need to find out of the box solutions, you will not have the motivation you need to stay ahead of the technology or marketplace and you will lack the desire to become exceptional at your job.

     In other words, you will only produce “below average to average” results because you lack the passion for excellence.

   • Read more on this post: “Are You Inspired Enough?”

2. Develop Your Passion: sharpen your skills through continuous practice until you become highly skilled or exceptional at what you do.

   • Develop your skills so that they stand out with in the eyes of your clients, customers or employers.

   • Developing your skills through via deep-skill building practice maximizes your strengths and it allows you deliver valuable results or solutions to your customers or employer.

   • If you don’t develop your skill, someone else will become better than you and eventually take your market, job or business.

   • As an information technology (IT) professional, the primary method for developing or perfecting your skills is through the use of practice tests or quizzes.

   • Read more on this post: “Ace Job Interviews Using Practice Tests!”

3. Bring your Passion To Market: Become a leader by continuously sharing your passion with a community using a blog or a website.

   • Sharing your passion allows you to get real-world feedback on what is valuable to others and what is not.

     Even if when you are highly skilled or knowledgeable, you will lack the customer or real-world interaction that rounds off your knowledge.

   • It also helps you get paid for doing what you love. Sharing your knowledge, expertise, insight, skills or services with an online community allows others to get the maximum benefit from your work and it allows you to get the maximum pay or reward for your work.

   Read more on this post: “Become A Leader And Get The Job You Want!”

This is the internet age and you cannot hide behind mediocrity. If you are mediocre at your work, your boss will replace you with someone that is better skilled.

Or, if you are mediocre and you run a business, your customers will find a more passionate provider on the internet.

So the morale is; don’t be mediocre, be exceptional!

I will leave you with a few quotes from that summarizes this process from our participants.

“There is such a wealth of information out there that it can be overwhelming to someone trying to figure out what they need to know.

I mean, when you look in your local bookstore you will see a huge section of books to help, but what you won’t find is the insider information that will teach you exactly is the most profitable and what techniques you absolutely must know.

You also won’t find any resources that will give you the inside information about how to write a specific resume so you stand out from the crowd.

You also won’t find the inside information about what interview questions to expect and more importantly – how to answer them!

ITCareerCoach provides all this information, structured in such a way that it is easy to learn.

Each step builds on what you learned in the previous step so you never get overwhelmed.

What you will learn above everything else from ITCareerCoach is the sequencing … all life is made up of what, the same 6 proteins but it is the sequence that makes everything work and every animal different.

You will learn how to make your knowledge and skills work … that is the secret, the sequence: what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and for how long, so that it all make sense.

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• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


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Is Learning Sql Online So Hard?

Learning new Information Technology (IT) skills is typically thought of as painful because the Study Textbooks used in the Information Technology (IT) industry are usually written by geeks for a geeky, hard-core, technical audience.

This is why one of the challenges facing professionals today is how to overcome the difficulty, complexity or high learning curves typically associated with learning new Information Technology (IT) skills.

Keeping in mind that Sql or Database skills are useful in any industry including financial, insurance, banking or information technology sectors, wouldn’t it be really helpful if learning Sql or databases was made easy?

Sql Boot Camp is the interactive online training course for SQL beginners, advanced database professionals or managers who want a better or more productive online sql learning environment.

Sql Boot Camps Online Training Courses makes learning SQL Query Writing better and easier and here is why:

Are your Sql Courses for Beginners or Advanced Practitioners?

Our Online Sql Courses cover what you need to know about database design, database development, beginner to advanced SQL query writing.

You do not need previous knowledge of Sql or Databases before you enroll in our Sql Courses because you will be taught the concepts in a step-by-step, easy to understand,beginner to advanced level fashion.

The Sql Courses managed by our online learning management environment (LMS) are presented in such a way that you only learn an advanced-level course after you are taught and tested on the fundamentals of the preceding Sql Courses.

For example, you won’t get to learn subqueries until you have learnt the basics of INNER JOINS / OUTER JOINS and other SQL fundamentals.

And you won’t be tasked with developing a database until you have mastered relational database principles like Normalization, Referential Integrity or Entities.

How Do You Teach Your Online Sql Courses?

However, we teach our Sql Courses using Videos and not textbooks.

Videos are definitely easier to understand keeping in mind that Information Technology (IT) textbooks are typically hard to understand or follow.

After each video lesson is completed, your video is placed in your own private reference libraryso that you can watch it as often as you want on any day.

Another advantage that watching videos has over reading textbooks is that concepts like Sql Query Writing or Database Development can be demonstrated more easily in Video format than by reading about them from a textbook.

So, even if you are watching one of our more advanced Sql Courses and you realize that you have forgotten some of the preceding lessons, you can easily visit your reference library and watch those videos again!

How Do I Learn Sql More Easily or Better?

Our online SQL Courses are designed for working professionals who want a better, faster or easier way of learning SQL Query Writing or Database Development.

Repetition in training is the key to skill mastery.

To master any new skill you need to repeat the same set of tasks multiple times or in different ways, each time testing the underlying concepts, until it sinks in and becomes second nature … and that is exactly what our Sql Courses will do for you!

Lets take a Sql Course like Normalization and work through how you will learn it faster or better.

First, you will be presented with a Database Video on Normalization. You can discuss any concepts after watching the Videos privately with your Course Instructor or publicly with your discussion Database study group members.

Next you may be asked to work on a Handson Database Normalization project based on the principles taught on the Sql Videos.

After you submit your project back to your course instructor using the Assignments tab of the Learning Management System (LMS), you may get additional feedback on the correctness or comprehensiveness of your normalization practices or move on to the next lesson which may be a Practice Test or Quiz on the concepts you learned on the Videos.

You may even receive multiple Sql Videos, practice tests, quizzes or projects for a single Sql topic like Normalization.

Presenting Sql Courses using repetition helps you learn from different angles until you make the internal connections required for comprehension or skill mastery.

Research has shown that practice tests help you to learn new concepts better or more easily.

So, when we present a Sql video course, we also include practice tests that show you the correct answers.

As you review the concepts, you will be given the opportunity to repeat each quiz as many times as you want or until you really understand that topic!

Finally, we also teach our Sql Courses using practical handson-assignments that improve your ability to perform on the job.

Not only do we use Videos and then Quizzes to improve your understanding, we actually give you projects that build on everything that you have learnt so that you actually get it!

There is probably nothing that beats the combination of handson projects, practice tests and Sql videos when it comes to learning Sql online, OK?

Do You Want An Interactive, Advanced Online SQL Training Course?

One of the key distinguishing features of our Sql Courses is the availability of private coaching.

Say that you watch a Sql video on normalization, take all the quizzes and work on the handson assignments and you still don’t get it (which is not likely), you can actually post a private message for your course instructor, who will be able to correspond or walk you through that same material.

This experience is like that of having a private Sql coach and a Sql trainer in one and the same course!

This feature can come in handy when you want to discuss the applications of our Sql Courses to challenges you are facing in your organization without making those details public.

For example, you may be designing a database with a lot of complex relationships (like what obtains with healthcare databases), you may post a question about applying referential integrity rules to our public discussion forums for other like minded database professionals to discuss or post your challenges on your private discussion forum for your course instructor only!

Keeping in mind, that the billing rate of a database professional is anywhere from $50/hr. to $75/hr.

The value in this private coaching feature alone can pay for your investment in your Sql course!

How Relevant Is My Online Sql Course To Learning Oracle, Sql Server or Microsoft Access?

Our Sql Courses are based on Sql Server and it will work for you regardless of your version of Sql Server.

1. If you have a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer, you will be given access to a free, fully functional version of SQL Server on your own computer.

2. If you are on a MAC or you cannot afford to buy a Windows Computer, you will be given access to a web-based, private SQL Server database installation.

3. You will also be taught database design from scratch and because of that, you will learn how to design relational databases independent of any vendor or database environment.

Sql Boot Camp is taught using SQL Server because it offers all the relational database features that are in the Microsoft Access database and in-addition, it also offers you the ability to manage your data more reliably and with a higher guaranteed level of performance.

SQL Server is also a professional, enterprise grade database that affords you the ability to write advanced SQL Queries or design databases that support any level of complexity.

Finally Sql Server is unusual as an enterprise grade database because it offers a lower learning curve which means that you will learn an enterprise database in less time or put your skills to work more easily.

Click here to read my review of Learning Enterprise Database Platforms

What Will Learning Sql Do For Your Career?

Here are few of the reasons why you may want to consider learning Sql or Databases.

1. Learning Sql gives you one authentic, recognized, popular enterprise software that you put on your resume.
2. Learning Sql gives you mastery over one database which is relevant to any Information Technology (IT) careers including business analysts, computer programmers, project managers, financial analysts.
3. Mastering a database provides you with the ability to query databases directly without depending on third party departments, vendors or other professionals.
4. Learning a database opens the door to working with other database management systems including Oracle, Microsoft Access, MySQL, IBM DB2, etc.
5. Learning Sql Databases gives you a skill that can help you get your foot in through the door of the Information Technology Industry.
6. Mastering Sql makes you more productive on the job because you will be able to recognize or solve Sql / Database problems quicker, better and more easily or before they bog down your system.

Do you want to learn or master a database regarded by the Information Technology (IT) Industry as enterprise, high-performing, reliable and scalable? If you answered yes, click here to sign-up for Sql Boot Camp

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• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

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Oracle Or Microsoft Access, Which Is Better For Me?

Are you matching your strengths to your opportunities or are you just being ideological … interested only in following your own ideas even when they won’t get you any results?

Here is a situation that illustrates the challenges of being ideological versus being results oriented. It is a situation that illustrates the challenges of learning an enterprise software like Oracle compared to a poor man’s database like Microsoft Access.

Are you wondering about who this situation involves? You are safe my friend because today, I will mainly be talking about me

When I started out in the industry, my first priority was to get my foot into the door.

My goals were:

1. To transition my career without incurring a lot of additional debt
2. To learn a marketable skill so that I could get a job quickly
3. To get myself into a position where I would be in high-demand by delivering excellent results

There were a number of career paths that looked promising and I looked into them all. Here a few of them:

Business Analysis

The business analyst career path was mostly available to systems analysts or management consultants people or poorly defined.

By poorly defined, i mean that it depended on the whims of hiring managers (it was subjective and depended on the employers needs or definitions) and so, there was no very clear or direct path to becoming a business analyst (this was in the ‘90s).

Network Administration

I had worked in network administration in an internship job right after college. My duties entailed helping support a Lotus CC:Mail/ Novell Netware Network

Based on my own first-hand experience, I ruled out computer networking primarily because I realized that I was not passionate about that industry.

Systems Programming

While in college, I had tried to learn C/C++ and I also decided that it wasn’t my thing because it took a long time to develop a fully functional software using C/C++

Based on experience, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to master C/C+ in a few months or get a job easily.

My finding was that it would take a number of years to become really expert or highly skilled at C/C++.

I was also certain, that even when I became highly skilled, I still won’t be able to deliver stellar results based on C/C++.

In case you’re interested, read my thoughts on choosing C/C++ as a programming language here…

Enterprise Database Software

I investigated getting an entry level job in SAP / Oracle / IBM or some other enterprise software since that is where it seemed that the big bucks where being made. In the 90’s, the major database players included IBM, Oracle, Microsoft.

Oracle was very popular in the enterprise database computing circle. However, learning Oracle was no small feat.

I mean that installing Oracle on your own local computer for learning purposes was not an easy proposition even for experienced oracle professionals because companies hired senior / experienced Oracle consultants just to install and setup Oracle correctly on their servers.

In addition to that, Oracle was targeted at the enterprise buyer which meant that purchasing a full-featured Oracle license for an individual like me without corporate sponsorship … was simply beyond my budget!

In addition, even if I raised the money to buy an Oracle License, I would have to spend additional weeks installing Oracle correctly by myself or else hire an Oracle database consultant to install it (Oracle database consultants billed anywhere from $60/hr. to $120/hr.)

And assuming that I overcame the hurdle of buying an Oracle license and then installing Oracle, I would still have to figure out one more thing about Oracle … how to learn Oracle!

You see, Oracle was one of those complex enterprise software application that had a really high learning curve.

The chances that I was going to learn or master Oracle in time enough to get a job was very low because professionals who had been working with Oracle for years where still struggling to understand it … it was that complex!

So, tell me, what will you have done if you were in my shoes?

Did I fixate on learning Oracle … even though I knew professionals that worked with Oracle for years were still struggling to get to a comfort level with it?

Absolutely not! One of the Oracle professionals that I was personally acquainted with had started working with or learning Oracle while we were still in college.

By the time I was evaluating learning Oracle, this professional (a lady based in the United Kingdom) was just getting comfortable with Oracle … and that is after working with it for 8 to 10 years!

So, I decided that the Oracle database and many of the other popular enterprise software applications available at that time had too high a learning curve!

Yes, I know that everyone’s situation is different and yes I understand that “what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander“.

But my situation was that I was married and I had to pay my bills.

Even though my wife was willing to support me, I wasn’t okay with asking her to take care of all the bills while I went on a multi-year learning trip.

Not only that,I had been out of college for a few years and didn’t want to risk taking another 8 to 10 years to learn a new career!

And I definitely didn’t want to start a career that would require such an expensive re-training that I would have to go deeply in debt!

Put yourself in my shoes and tell me what you would have done if faced with my situation keeping in my objectives which were:

• To learn a marketable skill in a short time: I had to learn a marketable skill so that I could easily get a job and get out of unemployment.

• To be prudent or save money: I had to pay my bills and account for all sorts of living expenses, while paying for my own re-training.

• To get into a line of work where I could easily become competent: I needed to learn a skill that I would become an expert at in a reasonable short time.

What will you have done in my shoes … because I choose Microsoft Access!

In those days, a lot of professionals looked down on Microsoft Access as a sort of poor man’s relational database even though Microsoft Access had a lot going for it at that point in time.

Low Cost of Learning

Microsoft Access was available as part of the Microsoft Office family of products.

The cost of a Microsoft Office / Access license was as low as $300. And I budgeted an additional $100 for buying Microsoft Access textbooks from the local seller … Barnes & Noble. I would never forget the price that I paid for my very first Microsoft Access Book … just $49.50.

So, for less than $500, I was guaranteed that I would learn or master Microsoft Access … which was great news for me as an unemployed newbie IT professional!

Low Learning Curve

It took me between 30 and 60 days to study or master Microsoft Access from textbooks. After which I spent my remaining time, taking Microsoft Access practice tests and building relational databases.

In my first job interview test administered by a local staffing agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I scored above 90% and got hired into the systems / data analysis department of a local e-commerce firm with a starting salary of $15/hr.

Accelerated Time To Market

By my third month of working with Microsoft Access, I had completed a project that was estimated to last about 6 weeks in 2 weeks.

Because I could achieve those sorts of results, the IT Manager called a recruiting firm without my knowledge or permission and advised them to find more challenging work for me … which they did!

By my third month, I was billing $76,000/yr. and my billing rate continued to increase with time!

Dear Friend,

What I have learnt is that the only thing that stops us from achieving the results we want is our limiting belief systems or self-imposed mental boundaries.

So, what works and what doesn’t?

1. Don’t hang your career on getting a recognized certificate or diploma

   That is so old school! The only thing that matters is your ability to perform on the job … and no accredited degree or diploma or program can confer that to you.

   In other words, you either learn or know how to get the job done or you don’t.

2. Don’t get stuck learning any vendor’s software

   Because I got my foot in through the door, I have since had the chance to learn or work with Oracle and IBM enterprise databases at the employer’s expense!

   Learning Microsoft Access first actually made it easier for me to learn or work with SQL Server, Oracle and IBM databases later on.

   Remember that you are the one that makes the job work and not the software, vendor or qualification.

   I have seen professionals who want to become business analysts get stuck on learning an enterprise requirement management software like IBM Rational RequisitePro.

   These good folks forget that many employers can’t afford the licensing costs of the same software that they are hung up on and they also forget that requirements management is first and foremost a set of principles or techniques and not a software!.

   If you learn requirements management techniques you can for example document requirements using Microsoft Office or your employer can purchase any of the myriads of requirements management software in the market.

   So why are you so hung up on learning IBM Rational RequisitePro as if that makes you a business analyst?

3. Learn a marketable skill

   One of the biggest challenges facing professionals is the right choice of a career. I know that because I get asked that question every day

   I’ve seen professionals get stuck with programming skills that are not marketable like mainframe programming or C/C++.

   In one instance, a C/C++ programmer with a computer science college degree after being unemployable for 3 years got the very first job he interviewed for … after I coached him on C#, ASP.NET and .NET Framework.

   His mistake that of failing to learn a marketable skill. The good news is that it only cost him a few months to rectify that mistake. And, once he fixed that, his career was back online again!

Here is my last advise to you on this point, make sure that you are pragmatic and not ideological about your career choices.

If it is looking like you are getting stuck on the path you are on, carefully evaluate all the other alternatives available to you.

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• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

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How to Find a Well Paying Job?

What do you do when you apply for a job and realize that you don’t have all the software skills listed on the job posting?

You may decide to stop your job search and get training or certifications in all the software packages listed on the job posting.

But what if these are enterprise software packages costing thousands of dollars to learn, then what?

And what if you are talking about not just one but multiple software packages?

Responding to job postings requiring multiple software skills, some of which are expensive to learn, is one of the more difficult challenges facing IT Professionals.

In this post, I will discuss real-life, practical strategies for finding jobs requiring expensive, enterprise software skills or background.

What Is The Cost of SAS Training?

One of my readers living in Australia, wants to learn SAS in preparation for the Data Analyst / Statistical Job Market. And here is my answer to that.

SAS is an enterprise statistical / data analysis software package. Keep in mind that while SAS Data Analysts or Programmers are well paid, learning SAS is much more expensive than learning other frequently used data analysis tools like Microsoft Excel, SQL or even open-source software packages like WEKA.

So start by doing a cost-benefit analysis so that you can be sure that investing in SAS training is the best option for your career.

To help you with this cost-benefit analysis, here is some interesting information on SAS training costs. SAS Training costs ranges from $2595 (USD) for SAS Base Programming Certification Training to $3270 (USD) for SAS Advanced Programming Certification Training.

In addition to these two (2) SAS Certification Exam Training costs, you will need to get your hands on licensed SAS Software, which is priced at about $1000 for a SAS Learning Edition Software License to $7000 for a one (1) user Enterprise License with a yearly renewable license.

And finally, factor in the cost of purchasing SAS textbooks. So learning SAS will cost you anywhere from $7000 to $14000!

With this pricing information in mind, I would like to help you review some of the more affordable options for finding data analyst jobs before you spend $7000 to $14000 on SAS Training.

Broaden your Data Analyst Job Search

Approach the data analyst job market with a broad or ore open mindset. Do not start by assuming that SAS software skills is required for every data analyst job.

Rather, start by remembering that you are a statistician / data analyst and as such, you don’t need the endorsement of a specific statistical software vendor … especially when that vendor’s training is expensive.

Open up your mind and see the opportunities available to you. Many statistical / data analysis jobs would hire data analysts skilled in more affordable statistical stools like Excel and SQL.

Remember that you still have the right to apply for any data analysis job regardless of the software skills listed on the job posting.

So, apply for jobs that require SAS software skills and sell yourself at the job interview by drawing attention to your core statistical / data analysis background.

What I am saying is that you should be solution minded and not vendor minded.

If the cost of learning any enterprise software package (not just SAS) is prohibitive, pitch that vendor’s software and learn a more affordable alternative so that you don’t get stalled in your job search.

Teach Yourself SAS Data Analysis / Programming.

Don’t forget that you also have the option of buying the SAS Learning / Limited Edition Software which is about $1000, purchasing SAS textbooks and learning SAS by yourself at home without!

As a principle, you can learn an enterprise software package through their limited edition, trial licenses and textbooks.

With the knowledge you glean from studying SAS textbooks, you can apply to SAS jobs and sell yourself to hiring managers as a data analyst or statistician who is passionate about learning SAS.

And if you have a good personality and you come out as being knowledgeable at the job interview, you will either make a favorable impression or get hired.

Keep in mind that some employers are going to be interested in hiring you because the cost of employing SAS professionals is much higher than the cost of hiring someone like yourself who is still learning SAS and then training you on the job.

How To Learn Any Enterprise Software Package

I have been talking about the cost of SAS training and the options for learning SAS. However the challenges that you will face with learning SAS are similar to that of learning many other enterprise software packages!

Enterprise software packages are typically expensive for the individual trying to learn them without an employer paying for the training.

The cost of software licenses and vendor sponsored training for some enterprise software packages is so high that some employers cannot afford to run their businesses on these software products or pay for their training or consulting costs.

Another reason why enterprise software training is not for everyone is the difficulty or complexity involved in installing or learning them.

These software packages have a high learning curve, meaning that you may not be able to master them quickly enough for use on your job search.

Having said that, here are some principles for finding jobs that require enterprise software skills and training.

1. Become Solution Minded and not Vendor Minded:

   Focus on selling your knowledge of data analysis at the job interview and explain to hiring managers that you can learn any specialized software packages on the job.

2. Broaden Your Job Search:

   Don’t fixate on SAS as if it is the only data analysis software. Knowledge of Excel, SQL and other data analysis packages especially open-source pacakages like WEKA will also help you.

3. Refine your Job Search:

   Learn how to use other job search terms that would trigger the profiles of other employers interested in hiring statisticians / data analysts (and not just SAS employers).

   Widen your job search using phrases like: “excel data analyst“, “SQL Data Analyst“, “Data Analyst“, instead of “SAS Analyst”, so that you will reach employers interested in hiring non-SAS Data Analysts.

4. Learn by Yourself:

   If are determined to be a SAS Programmer / Analyst, invest in buying the best SAS textbooks on Amazon.com based on their customer reviews.

   You can learn SAS or any enterprise software package at home or by yourself using the same techniques that we practice and use at our bootcamps. Click here for more information..

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ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

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Do You Want A Web Analytics Job?

With the ever-increasing focus on setting up an online presence or the increasing competitiveness of online businesses, there is a need for web data analysts who can help web-based business succeed or thrive online.

A web data analyst researches the activities of users as they interact with a website, identifies the measures critical to the survival of the web business and recommends actions in the form of web analytics reports for web managers, online marketing teams or business owners.

In this new global, digital, web-based economy, organizations of all types including non-profits, small businesses or Fortune 500 corporations are increasingly turning to the web for new opportunities, leads, prospects, customers, clients, sales, growth, income or profit.

This drive to put businesses on the web, is one of the most significant business trends of the past ten to fifteen years.

Since putting a business successfully on the web is a competitive, knowledge-based, skill intensive, high-visibility effort, a diverse team of web professionals including web designers, web business analysts, web developers, project managers and web data analysts is critical for success.

So, in this post, I will discuss the skills, qualifications, training and job opportunities of web data analysts in the context of an online or internet-based business.

Who Is A Web Data Analyst?

The web data analyst career is a relatively new profession and the job outlook of web data analysts is for all practical purposes tied to that of the web development or web marketing industry.

In other words, whenever organizations spend more advertising or marketing revenue on their websites or invest in more web development projects, you end up needing more web analysts.

There are three (3) primary qualifications for becoming a web data analyst:

1. Knowledge of Web Data Analysis Principles

   You need to have a strong understanding of how web user activity data is generated.

   Anytime a user visits a website, detailed information about that user’s interaction with the pages on that website is generated by the web servers hosting the website.

   Web user activity data which is also known as weblogs or clickstream data, can be recorded, analyzed or measured using a number of web analytics tools or techniques.

2. Handson Web Traffic Tool Experience

   A large quantity of user activity or clickstream data is generated whenever users browse the pages on a website.

   For larger, highly-trafficked websites, the amount of clickstream data generated can quickly become staggering.

   There are two (2) primary tools or techniques for analyzing the data generated by a users interactions with websites:

   1. Web analytics tools may be used to import and analyze the text files generated from users activities on the website.
   2. Web-based javascript files embedded on a web page can be used to transmit users activity data over to third-party services.

   The tools commonly used for analyzing web traffic data include Google Analytics, Omniture, Web Trends and Relational SQL Databases!

   Some organizations prefer to import web traffic data logs into a relational database like SQL Server so that they can write custom Sql Queries against the imported web traffic data.

   One of the reasons why some organizations may prefer to import their web user activity data into a database and analyze it using SQL, is that they want total flexibility or control over which reports are generated or how the reports are calculated.

   Organizations like this, don’t want to be confined to the set of canned reports typically presented by 3rd. party web analytics vendors.

3. Basic Statistical Knowledge

   If you have basic statistical skills and you are strong at data analysis, you can help marketing managers find out why they are not getting enough sales on their websites based on your own data analysis.

   This type of information is worth a lot of money to internet retailers because if they act on your advice or recommendation and increase their conversion rates or reduce their bounce rates, they can increase sales and make their shareholders or upper management team really happy

   In addition, web analytics reports in most tools are calculated using basic arithmetical measures or statistical calculations.

   For example, the Daily Visitor Report tells web or marketing managers; how many unique human visitors visited their website.

   So, a solid understanding of how each web analytics report is calculated or generated can help your usage of that report in any specific tool (Sql Server, Google Analytics, etc.)

Some of the more frequently used web analytics reports include:

• Unique Visitors Report – shows the number of new visitors or returning visitors. It also measures the amount of web traffic to a website.
• Conversion Rate / Bounce Rate Reports – how successful web pages are at selling products/service or leaking the traffic to a website.
• Bandwidth Utilization Reports – helpful for keeping within web hosting guidelines for bandwidth usage
• Internal Referrers or External Referrers – top internal or external links referring visitors to the website
• TOP Visited Pages – pages generating e.g., 80% of the site visits
• Http Error Codes – for checking the health of your website.

Like I mentioned before, what matters is that you understand the purpose of a report and how or why a report is generated.

Based on this understanding, you can generate the right report for your web development team (who may want to checkup on the health of the website) or the marketing team (who may want to identify the pages that are leaking visitors to the website).

How Do You Become A Web Data Analyst?

Regardless of how you generate web analytics reports, the underlying principles are fairly straightforward.

Once you really understand how web traffic reports are generated, you can generate them either using a custom Sql query or a 3rd. party web analytics tools and still answer fundamental questions about the numbers presented on the report!

Here a few important web data analysis principles::

• Most web analytics tools either use the web visitors IP address or a browser-based cookie or both to track the user’s clickstream activity.
• Web user activity is measured in sessions. A session is an arbitrary number that determines the length or duration of a user’s visit in minutes.
• Before you generate any web traffic report, you have to remove or filter out activities from spiders, bots or other non-humans. These activities may be segregated into another set of reports.
• Before you generate any web traffic report, you also have to remove or filter out data generated by objects like pictures, javascript objects, flash or media files on the web page.

Which Web Analytics Tool Is The Best?

Questions like which web analytics tool is the best is often asked by tool-minded professionals.

Why knowledge of a tool is good, what is highly desirable, preferred or best is a strong understanding of the concepts or principles behind the usage of the tool … in other words, understanding the science or art of web analytics is much more important.

With a solution-oriented mindset, you can learn any tool presented by an employer or sell yourself confidently at a job interview even when you don’t have a required tool listed on your resume!

A web analysis career offers opportunities to business analysts or data analysts interested in a full-time job or a consulting position within a web development or web marketing group.

A web analyst with strong business analysis skills can also help customers or employers identify the key metrics that will be useful to the management or marketing team, document and validate these reports or improve the quality of their web traffic analysis efforts.

At the Data Analyst Boot Camp, you can also learn more about how to analyze Web Traffic Data or write Web Analytics Reports using custom SQL Server queries.

The Data Analyst Boot Camp as part of our overall career development strategy can help you hit the ground running with practical, relevant, real-world knowledge, skills and experience.

Take advantage of our relevant career-focused training today and take your career to the next level using our unique learning management system.

Click here to learn more about how the online, web-based, hands-on data analyst training assignments or practical skill-based data analysis tests will help you keep the edge on your career.




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What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Compliments of the Season and Merry Christmas To You. What is the toughest challenge facing your career right now?

Post a detailed question regarding your challenges right now, and I will help you take care of them, once and for all!

How To Discover Your Passion?

Perhaps, your toughest challenge is …

• How to choose the right career or
• How to make a career change or
• How to get an entry level job that is inline with your career goals

Regardless of the type of challenge facing your career, go ahead and post a detailed question regarding your challenge and I will answer it for you


How To Do The Work You Love?

Perhaps, your toughest challenge is …

• How to become highly skilled at your job or
• How to get suitable hands-on experience or
• How to transition from a beginner or junior position to a senior-level job

Leave a detailed comment about your challenging career situation using the form below and I will answer it for you!


How To Take Your Passion To The Market?

Perhaps, the most challenging situation facing your career is …

• How to rewrite your resume and/or cover letter, so you can get the job you want or
• How to distinguish yourself from others in your industry, so that you can standout or get hired or
• How to ace your job / technical interviews so that you can get jobs more easily …

Whatever your challenge, just go ahead and ask a question using the “comment form” below and I will answer it for you.

I may answer by writing a new article that addresses your concerns or by posting a comprehensive reply to your comment below.

The concern or challenge facing you is important to me, so go right away and post it as a comment on this page.

The sooner you ask that question, the sooner I can take care of it for you. So, let’s get started




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Data Analysis: Profiting From Numbers

Data Analysts have the opportunity to work in several different domains or sectors, for example as banking data analysts, retail data analysts, telecommunications data analysts and as marketing data analysts.

The marketing data analyst role is one of the more common ones and a marketing analyst may be found analyzing databases of prospects, leads and customers for the marketing department.

In this post, we will take a peak into the day of a marketing data analyst…

First – Collect and Store Data

Your first challenge may be to collect and store your data so that you can analyze it. However, if you are lucky, your Information Technology (IT) Department will collect the data for you in a database.

If that is not the case, you may be able to get them to build you a data entry form otherwise, you will have to enter the data yourself or perhaps build a desktop client for collecting data using Microsoft Access or a web-based database data-entry form using a software development environment like ASP.NET and SQL Server

Second – Analyze Data

Perhaps your marketing department just finished a campaign where they advertised on three different channels (Billboards, Direct Mail, Radio and Internet Blogs). You may be tasked with finding out how each of your segments responded.

To accomplish this, you may use a relational database like SQL Server or a spreadsheet like Excel to find the top performing marketing groups, for example, your best customers may have been referred from blogs that are based in Western Europe.

Third – Report Data

You typically have to present your findings to your manager or marketing department in a form that they can digest easily.

This will usually be in the form of a report but bear in mind that your reports must be customized for the target audience and that there is no one-size fits all solution.

For example, your marketing department may prefer tracking statistics in the form of ratios or as pie charts / bar charts or they may prefer that you compare one group to another or one time period to another.

Regardless of their preferences, go over your results and make sure that they are accurate. Ensure that you understand what is causing the results or trends and make sure that your recommendations are as actionable as possible.

Last – Execute or Take Action

Finally, you may summarize your analysis and make clear recommendations or calls for action. Granted that not all your findings are actionable but after a while, if no-one is taking action then something may be wrong.

Either your organization is paying for insight which they are unwilling or incapable of executing or no-one believes you or your calls for action are not clear enough.

However, if you are detail oriented, you like to working with numbers and you have logical /critical thinking skills required, it may not be long before you have the ears of management and a good ride to the top!




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healthcare data analyst job description

Data Analysts interested in learning about the right tools, techniques or skills for their job, should read this.

I am going to address the challenges facing a data analyst” starting a healthcare data analyst job.“

If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask for help by posting a comment because I will answer it fully … just like I am answering this data analyst’s questions below!

How To Start A Healthcare Data Analyst Job?

Here is the challenging data analyst career situation:

I am working in a hospital and I have finished two years of college.

What’s the first step I need to do if I want to start out with a data analysts job in health care?

Thank you.

How To Start A Healthcare Data Analyst Job

• Multiple Career Paths for Data Analysts

  You can choose to start in healthcare, marketing, pharma, etc. Or you may specialize in data analysis with SAS, SPSS, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, SQL Server.

  But regardless of the tool, data analyst career path or skill you choose, resist the temptation to master every single data analysis tool out there … as this would be futile.

• The Data Analyst Job Description

  You need to start by getting a good understanding of the data analyst’s roles, duties, tasks and responsibilities or the techniques and principles commonly employed in the healthcare data analysis domain.

  So, let’s start by reviewing the healthcare data analyst job description.

• The Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description

  The healthcare data analysts’ job description includes importing, cleaning, transforming, validating or modeling healthcare data with the purpose of understanding or making inferences for decision or management purposes.

  The job description also includes presenting data in charts, graphs or tables, designing and developing relational databases for collecting data or building and designing data input or data collection screens.

  Finally, the healthcare data analyst may have to write Data Definition Language or Data Manipulation Language SQL commands, be responsible for improving data quality or designing and presenting inferences made by analyzing data using statistical techniques within Microsoft Excel, SAS, SQL Server, SPSS

• Are you Tool or Technique Minded

  Keep in mind that data analysts tend to work in diverse domains including healthcare, social sciences, pharmaceutical, marketing and sales.

  For example, some data analysts have backgrounds in technology, information management, relational database design and development, business intelligence, data mining or statistics.

  That is why data analysts sometimes have a tough time convincing hiring managers that they are suited for the job.

  Hiring managers typically have a specific view of what a new data analyst hire would look like and your job is to fit into that mold!

  Here is where I would like to offer a tip …. don’t be a tool minded data analyst.

  By that I mean don’t seek to be a data analyst who is fixated on a specific data analysis tool like SAS or SPSS!

  What is important is not any specific data analysis tool like SAS or SPSS but the investigative mindset or technique that you bring to the table.

  For example, if you understand how to analyze data, you can setup a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel or a database like Microsoft Access or even an enterprise database like SQL Server to run your analysis!

• How To Ace Data Analyst Job Interviews

  I have been talking about the data analyst’s skill set, background and technique. Now, let me address how you can get into a healthcare data analyst job.

  Strive to convey mastery of data analysis concepts at the job interview, so you can direct your technical interviewers to a favorable conclusion.

  For example, let’s say that a healthcare data analyst job description stresses SQL Server Reporting Services and you only have knowledge of Microsoft Access Reporting.

  What you may do, is let the technical interviewer know that you have strong relational databases skills and because of that, will be comfortable working in a SQL Server Reporting Services environment.

  Next, you can support your claims, by talking about the data analysis knowledge areas you’re skilled in (data validation, data modeling, data transformation, etc) .

  Be sure to support your claims with concrete examples of related hands-on experience.

  You can support your claims by mentioning that you also know how to analyze large healthcare datasets similar to the volume of data you will be working with using an enterprise database like SQL Server.

  Finally, you may emphasize the strengths or advantages of your data analysis background or training and present to the hiring manager, specific examples of how you will benefit the company when you hired!

How To Start A Healthcare Data Analyst Job

So, start by getting a solid understand of the healthcare data analyst job description, get some strong data analysis training and then learn how to market yourself to healthcare employers !

FYI: The Data Analysts Boot Camp is an Online, Web-Based, Hands-On, Beginner to Advanced Data Analyst Video Training that covers that provides you with the background required for data analyst jobs.

And: “For a limited time, you may take advantage of the convenient, online data analyst training available at a fraction of traditional costs.

Click here to get started now:




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• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









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Master Complex SQL Queries

Many database professionals have a hard time writing complex, complicated or advanced SQL queries for the following reasons.

In a healthcare database project that I consulted on, I had to write fairly complicated and efficient SQL queries for physicians at several practices because of their specialized reporting requirements.

The real problem was not the complexity of the physicians database but it’s poor suitability to the physicians reporting needs.

Based on experience gathered from consulting on several database or data analysis projects, I have observed that writing complex or complicated SQL queries, may prove challenging because of the following:

• Quick and Dirty Database Design: you inherited a bad relational database design and because of that, it takes a number of complex or fairly complicated SQL queries to get answers out of your data.

  For some reason, the database was developed without sufficient thought or planning, limiting the organization’s ability to access its data!

• Over Normalized Database: you created a perfectly normalized textbook database but now, you need a large number of table joins to access the operational data needed by your organization on a regular basis.

• Changing Reporting Requirements: the data reporting needs of your organization has grown but your database design has not changed.

  For some reason, you cannot update your database design, so you resort to tasking your database with complex or complicated SQL query statements in a bid to extract answers that it’s not originally designed to report.

• Complex Data Reporting Requirements: The data reporting requirements of your organization are truly complex and it will typically take a complex amount of SQL query statements to get at your data regardless of how well one designs the relational database.

• Poor Reporting Requirements: In some cases, complicated SQL queries are written because the data is not well known or understood.

  This is fairly common when SQL queries are written against a large relational data model without understanding the data or relationships between tables in the data model.

  This may also happen when a database developer joins several tables in complex subqueries without realizing that the information could be retrieved from a smaller set of tables.

• Basic SQL Writing Skills: database developers unaware of the limitations of their SQL query writing skills, may attempt to write SQL queries beyond their skill level.

  This may happen when you are tasked with writing complicated SQL queries without adequate training.

  For example, business analysts, computer programmers or reporting analysts write SQL queries even though that may not be part of their primary functions!

Writing SQL Queries can get complex or complicated if you don’t fully understand what you are dealing with.

To succeed, you need a good understanding of your data, good requirements, strong relational database design as well as strong SQL query writing skills.

Don’t settle for anything less than a clear understanding of your challenge and a strong set of skills for dealing with it!

If you are facing the challenge of writing complex or complicated sql queries, consider a SQL Training Program like the SQLBootCamp where you are taken step by step through the entire SQL Query Writing process … starting from creating a normalized relational databases to writing basic or advanced sql queries!

Just so, you know, SQLBootCamp Online Training can help you Get Started Writing Complex Or Efficient SQL Queries.




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Competing on Analytics




Microsoft NET Developers are well compensated IT professionals because the workplace demand for skilled Microsoft.NET programmers outstrips the supply.

On the other hand, being a Microsoft .NET programmer can be tough because of the constant pressure to keep up with new technology!

So, this post addresses the challenges facing a Microsoft .NET Developer moving to Business Intelligence (BI) / Data Warehousing (DW):

Considering a Career Move from .NET Development to Business Intelligence (BI)?

I am currently working as a .net Developer (for the last 4 years mostly on contracting jobs).

The biggest problem I am facing is not being able to keep up with new .net components coming out everyday.

On my last project I developed in .net 2.0. Now for new positions, everyone is asking for .NET 3.5 (while 4.0 is looming on ahead).

I have a friend who is working as a Business Objects Consultant, and I am thinking of switching toward Datawarehousing / BI.

Would that be a good career move from my side. I think they get paid more and also do not need to keep reading like crazy.

However I am not sure of how will be the future of Business Objects and is there any chance beyond a report developer.

Hopefully, when the economy is better, I will be able to get a fulltime job and settled in one place.

The Career Outlook for Business Intelligence (BI) / Data Warehousing (DW)

1. High Demand: The demand for Microsoft .NET Programmers is driven by Microsoft’s sheer marketing muscle and corporations customizing various Microsoft software products (like SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Office) for Collaboration, Marketing and Sales. etc.

2. Steep Learning Curve: Microsoft .NET development has a steep learning curve, so you are not alone in feeling overwhelmed.

   .NET programmers have to keep up with multiple versions including .NET 1.0, .NET 1.1, .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, .NET 3.5, .NET 4.0 in the works … and perhaps another sequel to .NET 4.0 in some secret Microsoft lab!

   As a Microsoft .NET programmer, you are also expected to keep up with multiple related technologies including HTML, XHTML, CSS, SQL SERVER, JAVASCRIPT, XML and more!

So, what is one to do? On one hand, you have a well compensated .NET programming career and on the other hand, you feel enslaved to the technology because you always have to be learning!

Considering all these, making a career change from Microsoft .NET Development to Business Intelligence / Data Warehousing may be in your long-term interests.

So, the question is, what are the career prospects or job outlook for business intelligence and data warehousing professionals like?

1. Competing on Data: Organizations facing increasing marketplace pressures are turning to business intelligence (BI) projects for solutions.

   Better data and better analytics are needed for faster, more-informed decision making and that is where business intelligence and data warehousing professionals step in to help!

2. Job Outlook for Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Warehousing Professionals: Leading industry analysts including Gartner and Forrester Research rank Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Warehousing (DW) as top technology priorities for Chief Information Officers (CIOs).

3. In plain words, there is gold in business intelligence and data warehousing careers and you can tap into it!

4. How to become a Business Intelligence (BI) or Data Warehousing (DW) professional: Changing careers from Microsoft .NET Development to Business Intelligence shouldn’t be too hard for you.

   Data Warehousing is built on the backbone of strong relational database design, database development and SQL skills and Business Intelligence integrates analytics, database technology and yes, some Microsoft .NET programming.

5. Leverage existing skills; If you decide on a Microsoft BI / DW Career Path, you can still build customized BI and DW projects using your familiar Microsoft .NET Programming and SQL Server Database Development skills and if you go with other vendors, you can learn their particular Business Intelligence (BI) programming / scripting tools and their database technology, too!

The good news for you, is that you can leverage or reuse your Microsoft .NET Programming background and your SQL Server database development skills in the BI / DW Market.

I recommend that you stop looking at business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) as a reporting job because it is more than that … get a copy of the book titled Competing on Analytics, ok?



Competing on Analytics

This post answers a challenge facing a .NET Developer changing careers to business intelligence and data warehousing.

If you have a question or a challenge facing your career, post it as a comment on this page and I will answer it for you!




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Learn Data Analysis - The Easy Way!




Data Analyst Training Courses Are Usually Not Cheap …

But Now, By Using The Latest Advances In Technology …

Data Analysts May Get Trained At Home Or Office …

For A Fraction Of The Traditional Cost!

Full + Comprehensive Suite Of Data Analyst Courses In One Training Package!

• Statistical Principles Course

• Central Tendency & Dispersion Course

• Goodness Of Fit Class

• Curve Fitting Course

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• Time Series Analysis Course

• SQL Data Analysis Courses

• Database Classes …

• … And More!

The Data Analyst Boot Camp Is …



This Is How To Achieve!

• Location Independent! You may enroll for a course from Tokyo, Japan or Calgary, Alberta, Canada or New York City, USA Or from your city without having to travel.

• “Affordable” … Data Analyst classes are expensive.
  You pay for Hotel + Food + Travel + Course Fees! A combined Statistics Class + Data Analysis Course + Database class quickly adds up to more than 5,000 dollars. The Data Analysts Boot Camp is less than a fraction of that cost!

• Convenient You don’t have to be out-of-office, miss deadlines or fall behind at work. You can take your training during office breaks or in the evening hours at home! Whatever is convenient for you, works for us as well!

• Career-Focused …the Data Analyst training courses match the tasks, assignments or projects you perform for employers on the job guaranteeing that the new skills you gain after training are immediately relevant to your career or employer!

“No Barriers” to Data Analyst Training!

• There are no barriers, no distance and no obstacles to your Data Analyst training!

• We have simplified the learning of Data analysis … so we can guarantee … it will not be intimidating for you!

• You can stop forking-over thousands of hard-earned dollars to pay for expensive training … Data Analyst Boot Camp provides the big return on investment (ROI).

• Here at last … the convenient, flexible, affordable Data Analyst training program that delivers on career success.

Is The Data Analyst Boot Camp For You?



Become A Data Analyst

The Data Analyst boot camp is for Data Analysts, Data Analysts, Database Developers, Business Analysts, Quality Assurance (QA) Professionals, Business Managers or IT professionals interested in learning Data Analysis online.

It covers the entry level to senior Data Analyst’s training requirements including Statistics classes, SQL classes, Database courses, Data Analysis classes and more …

“It couldn’t be simpler, easier, more flexible, more convenient or more affordable!” And with the low, affordable training price … you have the GO-AHEAD to BEGIN your training!

What Happens When You Sign-Up?

• Private Access: You get a secure, private login … which you use for accessing your Data analysis courses.

• Instructor Led: A Data Analyst trainer or course instructor is assigned to you … for the duration of your training.

• Progress Feedback / Report Card: You can measure or monitor your progress … with in-built practice tests or quizzes or exams. Your personal report card which is available 24/7 shows your grades or maps your progress.

• Ongoing Private Mentoring: You may post questions or discussions on the Data Analyst training videos, assignments or quizzes and get one-on-one feedback, help, coaching or mentoring from your Data Analyst Course Instructor.

• Hands-On Lab Training: You are assigned real-world, practical, hands-on Data analysis projects …. allowing your to put your knowledge to work! Your learning is immediately beneficial to you … because it is transformed into real-world practical skills or experience!

• Live Or Online Video-Based Training: You do not have to pay extra for the Data Analyst Boot Camp’s step-by-step training videos, study guide or presentations! You may watch the video sessions at your convenience … or as often as you want!

• Guaranteed Completion Certificate: As you take your training … the online report card creates a detailed transcript from your quizzes, practice tests, assignments or lab-work … the results are mailed to you along with your certificate … at the end of the Data Analysts training program!

Here at last … the affordable, convenient, effective training that delivers on career success for Data Analysts. Sign-up now to get started.


Sign-Up For More Information On The Data Analysts Boot Camp …


The Data Analysts Boot Camp – How Does It Work?



Learn Data Analysis Online

• Anywhere, Anytime, Web-based Learning Management System (LMS)

  • You take your data analyst training from any location because it is always available online using a web-based learning management system (LMS) and real, human course instructors

• Cutting Edge Learning Management System (LMS)

  • Your training schedule is managed by a learning management system (LMS) which sends personalized links to data analyst videos, hands-on projects and practice tests

  • The LMS assigns time to each training video, practice test or hands-on project and you may finish at a different time, based on your own schedule

  • You submit back hands-on projects for review, grading or feedback to live course instructors using a feature of the LMS

  • The LMS boosts your data analysis skills using quizzes and displays your grades in real-time using a secure, private, online report card

  • The LMS constantly monitors or improves your understanding of course material using multiple learning opportunities!

• Yes, You Retain Access Rights After Course Completion!

  • The LMS provides you with FULL and PERMANENT access to ALL training videos after course completion

  • You can watch your training videos on the “Resources” feature of the LMS during or after your training

• Flexible + Convenient + Affordable Training For Data Analysts

  • Yes, you are given ample time to complete each data analyst training videos, practice tests or hands on projects

  • Yes, you can login for training at any time

  • Yes, you may pause training any time because of work or life commitments without any penalty

  • Yes, you may resume training at any time without any penalty

  • Yes, you are not required to login at a specific time or at the same time as someone else

  • Yes, your data analyst training is a “go at your own pace“, anytime, anywhere, anypace training.

  • Yes, you may take some of your training at work (during lunchtime) or at home (after dinner) or on the road (from your laptop)!

• Data Analyst Training For IT Professionals

  • Your course instructors take you step by step from utter beginner to senior level topics

  • You can start immediately (without paying for entrance examinations or additional pre-requisite courses) because all preparatory, foundational or pre-requisite topics are in-built and included

  • You learn by simply watching course instructors using hands-on instructional videos

  • The Data Analysts Boot Camp covers the requirements for data analyst careers!

• Yes, You Set The Pace For Your Data Analyst Training

  • Yes, you accelerate or speed-up your data analyst training or customize your learning to your own study time

  • Yes, you may finish training at a faster or slower pace than estimated

  • Yes, you don’t have to start or finish at the same time as everyone else

• Yes, Your Browser Is Good Enough!

  • All necessary software features are prebuilt into our LMS … so, you won’t be messing around with troublesome software installations

  • And yes that means you won’t be worrying about browser requirements either!

• Advance Your Career Online AT “The Data Analysts Boot Camp”

  • We pioneer online training for Data Analysts using a scheduling, tracking and monitoring LMS.

  • Enhance your career now on the Data Analysts Boot Camp … this is how to achieve!

  • Learn Data Analysis Online … The Easy Way … Request More Information




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Ask a Burning Question

In reply to a question by a Statistician transitioning to a data analyst career, I posted the article Are Statistics Or SQL Skills Required In Data Analyst Careers?

My reply also included a Skills Gap Analysis for Statisticians or Mathematicians who want to become data analysts.

I got a comment from another Mathematician / Statistician which I have posted below.

Let me know if you have a comment or opinion or feedback on this issue … here is my reader’s comment:

Jonathan’s Opinion:

I just read through the article entitled ARE STATISTICS OR SQL SKILLS REQUIRED IN DATA ANALYST CAREERS?

Kingsley was really to the point in this article. I have a Bsc. in Mathematics with statistics myself. In most if not all organizations data is kept in relational databases. Even in a research based organizations like National Statistical Offices where surveys are done using statistical packages like SAS,SPSS,CSPRO etc, Data is best kept in a relational database especially if one is to analyse the data across many surveys.

In short Databases are the best Data storage tools while Statistical packages and spreadsheets are best at number crunching.

To be effective with Databases you need to know SQL So, a combination of Databases skills and Statistical skills makes a good Data Analyst.

I would therefore encourage all Statisticians, Monitoring and Evaluation Officers, planning officers, Economists etc to learn Databases and SQL.

What I really like about Jonathan’s opinion is his statement that databases are best at data storage while statistical packages and spreadsheets like SAS, SPSS, CSPRO, EXCEL are best at number crunching.

Your Opinion Counts … Speak Up!

What about you …

• do you agree or disagree with my opinion or Jonathan’s opinion or with the rest of the article?

• do you have a different take on the issue?

• do you have another question that I can answer for you?




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• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


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Are Statistics or Sql Skills Required For Data Analyst Jobs?

This post answers a question about the educational training requirements for a Data Analyst Career.

If you have a Burning Question or a Challenge that you need help with, Click Here To Ask Your Question and I will answer it fully just as I am answering the question below!

Is Statistics / Sql Required For Data Analyst Jobs?

I have a degree in Statistics and I am finding it hard to get a data analyst job even though people from other backgrounds are able to get data analyst jobs.

If you have not studied statistics or you do not have a mathematical background, how could you analyze data accurately?

I know that there is a difference between presenting data in charts and graphs interpreting data

I have seen that firms employ data analysts who do not have statistical or data mining training … so how can they make the critical decisions needed?

In college I learnt how people without statistical training make errors when they attempt data analysis. However, in the “real world” I see database developers making those same mistakes!

Do I have to become a database developer to become a data analyst?

Here is my Answer to the Career Question:

Yes, your observation is right. There is a difference between learning statistical data analysis in college and becoming a data analyst!

To understand why this difference exists, you need to look at the data analyst hiring process from the Employers’ point of view and not from a “Statistician Looking For Work” point of view!

From the employers’ point of view, your statistical skills may not be adequate for the work at hand because the data you will be analyzing resides in relational database management systems (RDBMS) which you may not be skilled in querying even though you have a statistical college degree!

You actually have to be comfortable with accessing or manipulating data stored in relational database management systems without asking for help from sql developers or database administrators!

The Gap Between Data Analyst College Education and Data Analyst Careers

Sometimes there is a gap between the statistical courses taught in colleges and the real-world data analysis job descriptions posted by hiring managers.

In college, data analysts are often trained to rely on tools like SAS, Excel or Statistical Data Analysis skills only.

In the real world, employers are looking for a combination of data collection skills, relational database design and development skills, data quality skills, data standardization skills, sql data manipulation skills and sql data definition skills and data analysis skills.

The statistical data analysis part is needed along with strong relational database software system skills

The Gap Between College Education And Real-World IT Careers

In the Information Technology (IT) Industry, there are usually gaps or differences between college courses and real-world IT Career Job Postings.

For example there is a gap between:

1. Getting an MBA and Becoming a Business Analyst

2. Getting a Computer Science Degree and Becoming a Computer Programmer

3. Getting a Statistics Degree and Becoming a Data Analyst

Getting a Statistics Degree in college does not necessarily give you an advantage over someone who directly transitions into the data analysis career by first getting the database development skills or hands-on sql programming experience required for careers in data analysis!

So, even with your background in statistics, you still need to get the additional database skills, sql skills skills and hands-on data analysis experience required by hiring managers for data analyst careers.

The Direct Path to Becoming a Data Analyst

The direct path to becoming a data analyst includes getting a combination of statistical skills, data analysis skills and database skills.

So, the requirements for a data analyst career include:

1. Database Development Skills

2. SQL Programming Skills

3. Statistical Skills

4. Data Analysis Skills

If you only have statistical skills and you don’t have relational database management skills, you may not be qualified for an Information Technology (IT) data analyst job!

So, my recommendation is that you get strong database development skills and strong SQL skills because these are both required in data analyst job postings along with Statistics Data Analysis skills

NOTE:

The of hiring Data Analysts is usually done by IT Managers are more familiar with the value of database development skills or SQL programming skills than they are with Statistical tools.

So, if you really want to get hired as a data analyst, I suggest that you get as comfortable with databases and SQL as you are with Statistics!

References

I suggest that you read these articles to get additional background information:

1. How to Become a Data Analyst

2. How to Become a Data Analyst or a Report Writer or a Database Developer

3. The Data Analyst Job Role

This post answers the question “Are Statistics Or SQL Skills Required In Data Analyst Careers?”.

If you have a Question about your career, Post IT as a comment on this page and I will be sure to answer it for you!




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Have you noticed the increasing demand for business analysts with stronger software skills or a wider range of skill sets?

Because this is a top hiring trend, business analysts have expressed concern about the range of skillsets requested for on job postings.

Some of these strong concerns are often worded as:

• What software skills do business analysts need?

• Should business analysts be made to learn computer programming?

• Which software programs are required for business analysis jobs?

Along the same lines, one of the concerns expressed is; should business analysts have in depth knowledge of SQL, Access, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and Reporting writing software?

This article provides the needed guidance for the questions bordering on “what software skills are required for business analyst jobs“.

And while you are reading this, you may also want to read this article on why IT Managers are looking for business analysts with a wider range of skill sets.

Are Software Skills Required For Business Analysis Jobs?

The answer to the question: are software skills required for business analyst jobs … is yes and no.

Some companies hire only for the core business analyst competencies, while others include a wider range of software skills in their job description.

The core business analyst skill sets does not include knowledge of specific software skills. However, in the current job market, IT Managers are cutting costs by hiring business analysts with a broader range of software skills.,/p>

Traditionally, business analysts have had to learn the specific software used by a business after they get hired. Now, IT Managers are changing track by making some of these software skills required for hiring!

Which Software Skills Are Required For Business Analyst Jobs?

I will divide the software skills needed for business analyst jobs into three groups.

The first (A) group refers to the software skills required for ALL business analyst jobs.

The second (B) group includes the software skills that are a nice to have or frequently asked for.

The third (C) group represents the software skills that are not usually required.

1. Software Skills Required For ALL Business Analyst Jobs (A List):

   These include office productivity software tools like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and Outlook.

   These software tools are frequently used in the day to day tasks of a Business Analyst.

   These software tools are also required for a business analyst position whether they are stated clearly on the job description or not.

2. Nice To Have Software Skills For Business Analyst Jobs (B List):

   The nice to have software skills include Relational Database Skills, SQL skills, Data Analysis skills and Report Writing skills.

   Next to office productivity software skills, database software skills are in-demand for business analyst positions.

   Organizations looking to cut costs or reduce It staff may combine the business analyst job role with the data analyst job role or report writer as the IT Manager or Director sees fit! When this happens the IT department will post business analyst job descriptions listing software packages traditionally required for data analyst or report writer type jobs.

3. Highly Specialized Software Skills Needed For Business Analyst Jobs (C List):

   IT Managers are also hiring business analysts with the specific skills needed for custom or specialized software packages!

   The list of software skills in this list is infinite as it depends on the personal decision or needs of the hiring manager.

   An example is the IT director who wants to hire business analysts with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software skills or computer programming skills!

   Now, it is impractical to worry about or focus on this list when preparing for the business analyst job market because the expectations and needs are diverse, wide and unpredictable.

   If you are a business analyst with a specialized software skill wanted by a hiring manager, you should highlight that in your resume. If you don’t already have a specialized software skill, you are better of working on the business analysis skills in the nice to have software skills (B List)!

Should IT Managers Hire Business Analysts with Highly Specialized Software Skills?

Since only office productivity software skills are required for all business analyst jobs, why do IT Managers then include specialized software skills in business analyst job descriptions?

1. IT Managers are looking to cut costs by combining the job descriptions for business analysts, data analysts, software developers and report writers.

   With this in mind, business analysts need to be flexible in their approach to the job market.

2. IT Managers and staffing specialists may write up business analyst job descriptions based on an imperfect knowledge of the core business analyst roles and responsibilities.

   If your boss writes up an imperfect business analyst job description based on misconceptions, about the roles and responsibilities of business analysts, you may providing some guidance by sending your IT Manager or Director the business analyst professional development curriculum downloadable here.

Who Are The Business Analysts With A Broad Range Of Software Skills?

Some business analysts really want to stay out of computer programming or data analysis or report writing or learning specialized software programs.

If a business analyst with that mindset is hired for a role that requires learning or working with a broad range of software skill sets, that business analyst will under-perform.

If you are an employer hiring for business analysts with software skills, you may want to first hire for business analysts with SQL or Relational Databases or Data Analysis skills and then train the new business analyst hire on the list of highly specialized software skills needed by your company.

More Information On How To Improve Business Analysis Skills

The Business Analyst Boot Camp training is a practical, job-focused, web-based, instructor-led, video-based training program for business analysts.

The Business Analyst Boot Camp training is a complete, end to end training program that covers both beginner and advanced business analysis courses including requirements analysis training, UML training, Use Case training.

The Business Analyst training program is designed for the practicing Business Analyst who wants to learn or master business analysis skills for the day-to-day job requirements.

The Business Analyst training program has an in-built diagnostics, testing and certification process and an online reporting tool that features your grades or scores as you (the Business Analyst) work your way through practical business analysis activities or watch the various business analyst training videos.

The Business Analyst training provides real savings and return on investment (ROI) for individuals or corporations looking to manage business analyst training costs.

The cost of business analyst training is easily $5,000 or more for a series of business analysis courses that only covers one core skill or business analyst competency (e.g. UML Training).

Therefore, an IT Manager or business analyst looking for business analyst training that covers all the core business analysis competencies will have to invest in excess of ten thousand dollars.

That is why, we are only guaranteeing the current price of the Business Analyst Boot Camp for a limited time!

Right now, you can get the complete, end to end, beginner to advanced training across all business analyst competences in the Business Analyst Boot Camp for a discounted price.

We also have a discount program for corporations sending 2 or more business analysts for training. Click here to learn more.

For a limited-time, we are running a special for Business Analysts who want to broaden their skill sets or learn more software skills. For example, with the current special, you can register for both the Business Analyst Boot Camp and SQL Boot Camp for close to the price of one (2-for-1 special). A number of people like yourself are now taking advantage of this offer so, click here to get more information




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If you are interested in registering for Business Analyst Boot Camp, you need to consider the following information:

Business Analyst Career Roadmap Or Career Planning

BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP is for business analysts, data analysts, software developers, managers or IT professionals who want to master the core business analyst skills including:

a. UML

b. Requirements Gathering and Analysis

c. Use Cases

d. How to define Business Cases

e. How to define Project Vision and Scope

f. How to plan the Business Analysis Work

g. The Requirements Process, Definition and Documentation

h. Work Flow Modeling

i. Quality Assurance and Testing

j. … and more

Real World, Hands-On, Skill Based Business Analyst Job Training

The best way to master the business analyst role is to establish the tasks business analysts perform for employers in the real world and perform the same tasks in a training program with guidance, progress monitoring or feedback.

The study guides used for the BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP match the tasks, assignments or projects you perform for employers on the job guaranteeing that the skills you gain after training are immediately useful to your employer.

For a limited time, you may enroll with the discount code:
EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to enroll now:

Business Analysts …. Learn By Doing

The more effective way to master Requirements Elicitation or UML or any of the core business analysis skills is by working on real-world assignments as you learn, because your brain is wired to retain and remember 80% of what you do or practice versus 20% of what you read or hear.

This is why the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP includes practical tasks, assignments and hands-on learning activities that will help you understand the business analysis skills you are learning, faster, better and easier.

You May Register for Business Analyst Training with the discount code:

EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

Interactive Business Analysis Study Guides or Courseware

We developed the study guides used in the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP based on the tasks, responsibilities or competencies employers expect you to demonstrate on the job!

Our study guides and hands on exercises are constantly updated, improved and perfected using feedback on the skills, experience and competencies employers want to see you demonstrate on your resume, job interview or after you are hired.

Finally, you are guided through an intense, hands-on practical training curriculum that dramatically improves your understanding and retention, competency, self confidence and your ability to perform on the job.

The outcome of the BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is that you easily demonstrate to employers or hiring managers the technical mastery or competence needed to excel in business analyst roles.

Jump Start your Business Analyst Training with the discount code:

EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

Business Analysts … Learn On Your Own Time … At Your Own Pace

One of the core benefits of the online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is that the business analyst course schedules are guaranteed to match your work or life schedule and not the other way round.

Here is the reason why:

You may enroll and participate in your online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP courses in the morning, evening, weekend or any time of the week that best fits your schedule.

You are not forced to adopt a schedule that doesn’t work for you and you are always guaranteed that the classes are flexible or adaptable enough to match your work and personal time commitments.

For a limited time, you may enroll for training with the discount code:

EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

Business Analyst Training At Home Or In Your Office

The BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP training is location independent.

You may register for a business analyst class from London, UK or Tokyo, Japan or Manhattan, New York or Toronto / Ottawa / Ontario, Canada.

Here is why this works better for you:

You can schedule 3 times a week to watch the Business Analyst class videos or work on a class assignment. Or you may prefer to drive home and log-in for your class in the evening hours after attending to your family or working out at the gym!

Whatever your schedule or situation or location, we will accommodate you!

Remember … For a limited time only, you may enroll with the discount code:

EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to register for business analyst training now:

Business Analyst Training Is So … Not Cheap!

Business Analyst courses are usually expensive. Typically you have to pay more than $1,000 for a UML course or a Use Case class or Requirements Analysis course.

You also have to pay for a 2 to 5 day hotel stay + travel expenses + meals, while missing your work. So, if you had to attend a UML + Use Case + Requirements training, you or your employer will have to fork over $5,000 or more!

However for a limited time … you can get trained on the core business analyst competencies for a fraction of the total cost!

So, why register for multiple business analyst courses, when the Business Analyst Boot Camp class says it all?

Make a substantial saving with the discount code:

EarlyBirdCoupon

Click here to begin your business analyst training now:

The Next BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP Class Begins Now … all you have to do is take a minute to invest in your career, your skills and your future by taking your training:

Click here to register for business analyst training now:

To Your Career,

The BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP Team

Click here to enroll with the discount code: EarlyBirdCoupon

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How you value knowledge tells me a lot about who you are … because knowledge capital is the most important resource in any organization.

In the digital age, what makes one employee more valuable than the next employee is simply stated … the amount of knowledge, skill, expertise, training and learning they have managed to acquire and put to use.

Now, managers are not interested in employees that know it all … only in employees that constantly put their knowledge capital to work by solving corporate problems or challenges … those employees are the gold mines in any organization.

Now, think about it for a moment, if you are a trained, knowledgeable, competent, skilled Information Technology (IT) professional, your resume would display your accomplishments, success stories, skills, training and technical mastery. And because you have all these, you can send your resume anywhere in the the world … and be instantly hired! … just because you are very good at why you do … and you can prove it!

The singular reason why you, as an IT professional may feel undervalued or wasted in your career is that for some unknown reason … you have made the unconscious mistake of not investing enough of your personal time in improving your skills!

Here is why technology or software development professionals lag behind in their career:

Managers Have A “Show Me Proof” Mindset:

Managers tend to follow a show me proof strategy .. .simply put, you have to demonstrate that you have acquired or mastered a new skill … before you will get a break or the next promotion on the job. So, your manager will pay you more money when you show tangible proof that you have learnt a new skill, you have attended a new training or course, you have mastered a new technology or software development process like UML, Use Cases, Requirements Analysis or Object Oriented Software Development.

Without tangible proof that you are constantly improving or learning … you may not only be bypassed for new or important opportunities, you will also be more likely than others to be back-burned or fired in a recession.

Adult To Adult Relationship:

Several years ago, I was hired first after college into a Fortune 500 company as a Process & Technology manager. During the employee training sessions, I heard a great word that has stuck with me throughout my career … that word is “Adult – To – Adult Relationship“.

What that word really means, is that your employer wants to forge a new relationship with you, where you are treated as partner or co-business owner even though on paper .. you are just an employee. In the light of this, your employer wants you to take personal responsibility for your career, personal development, initiative or the contribution only you can make to the company … and that is where you may miss the boat!

Taking personal responsibility for your career means that you need to sit down and draw up a career roadmap of where you want to go in the next 1 year, make a detailed career plan for achieving your career roadmap … and then follow through.

You need to specify how long it will take you to master each skill or competency needed to perform your job 1 year from now and then personally ensure that you acquire the knowledge, expertise, skills, training or experience needed.

Some employees fall off the grid at this point by making the mistake of waiting on their manager to take personal responsibility for their IT Training and skills development.

You Are Only As Valuable As What You Know:

In today’s competitive digital economy, nobody gets ahead based on their good looks or their family connections or the type of college they attended! Even if you manage to get your foot in the door by “repeating the name of your alma mater three times” at the interview or getting your dad or mum to pull some favors for you … you will only last as long as the next round of corporate cost reduction / cost cutting a.k.a downsizing / layoffs.

So, there is no getting around it, you simply have to know what you are doing or strive to be the best on your job or just simply play the sorry, loser on your team … the butt of off-handed, not so subtle remarks on the need to shape up or shape out.

So, what is a knowledge worker to do?

The Attitude Of A Knowledge Worker:

Start by recognizing that knowledge is one of the core prerequisites for wealth, personal empowerment and career advancement. Tell yourself this “without knowledge I bring nothing to the table , no usefulness to my team or manager and therefore I may not have a job … and you will being to get the big picture.

To Be The Best:

Accept the challenge to be the best … you simply must accept the challenge to be the best at what you do, whether you are a business analyst, a computer programmer, a project manager, database developer or you wear a myriad of hats on the job!

The problem with individuals who do not accept the challenge to be the best on the job is that, they constantly allow themselves to under-perform because they don’t hold themselves to a high-standard! This may be due to a poor self-image or a feeling of incompetency or a “I could never be that good” mindset.

Unfortunately, this has a way of proving itself right. If you lower the bar for yourself, you will fulfill the expectations set for under-performers or inevitably shoot yourself in the foot. The saddest part of it is that you cheat yourself by losing out on the opportunity to discover that you are in your own unique way, a gem, a virtuoso, a top performer … who can achieve just like anyone else!

Take Your Training:

You have heard it all … you are only as valuable as the knowledge you bring to your team or manager … take personal responsibility for your career development … accept the challenge to be the best at what you do … so, what next?

No one ever achieved anything much without the help of other people … that is why I’m referring you to these great resources for becoming the best, the most competent professional, the top dog and not the under dog on the job!

We are now accepting registrations for the next batch of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BOOT CAMPs … Early Bird Registration Discounts Are Available … Register Now And Use This Discount Code: EarlyBirdCoupon For A Special Discount

To Register for the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training … Click Here:
To Register For SQL BOOT CAMP Training (Database Developers, Data Analysts Or SQL Programmers) … Click Here
To Register For Software Developer Boot Camp Training … Click Here.

In addition, if you haven’t already done so, read How To Learn Or Master Computer Programming Fast – Book OR How To Learn Or Master Business Analysis Fast – Book.

If you enjoyed reading this post, you may Click Here To Follow Me On Twitter: when I make the next blog post.




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• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









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The database developer job, data analyst job or report writer job are related job roles that may be performed by the same person depending on how the size of the organization.

In most organizations, the business analyst or software developer starts out performing all three types of jobs. As demand multiplies and the individual begins to feel overwhelmed, the jobs are split … and as time goes … into the three (3) different type of jobs.

For this reason, anyone performing the duties of a business analyst, software developer, database analyst, report writer or database developer needs to have a strong understanding of each of these job responsibilities as well as the areas of overlap.

Here is a summary of the responsibilities of each role:

1. The data analyst gathers, analyzes or models data with the goal of identifying useful information, trends and patterns which may be directly used by management, decision makers or stakeholders.The data analyst works extensively with SQL within the context of the relational database system (RDBMS).

2. The database developer creates the logical data model comprising of entities and relationships or implements the physical model using the tables, views, queries, stored procedures or relationships needed by the relational database model.

3. The report writer develops reports used in presenting information queried from one or more tables or databases. They report writers report development is achieved using SQL, relational database development skills and tools like SQL Reporting Services, Crystal Reports, Business Objects or HTML for Intranet / Extranet Online Reporting Solutions.

The rest of this post presents the tasks or activities typically performed by database developers, database analysts or report writers.

• click here to read about the data analyst job role
• click here to read about the database developer job role
• click here to read about the report writer job role




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• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









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If you are interested in registering for an online training class, here is some additional information that you need to consider before you sign up for the ongoing SQL BOOT CAMP or BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP or SOFTWARE DEVELOPER BOOT CAMP.

Career Roadmap and Career Planning

1. The online SQL BOOT CAMP class is for database developers, data analysts, report writers / developers, business analysts or software developers who want to learn or master two (2) core or fundamental programming skills:

a. Relational database design and database development

b. SQL query writing and SQL programming

2. The online BUSINESS ANALYST BOOT CAMP class is for data analysts, system analysts or business analysts who want to learn or master the core business analyst skills including:

1. UML

2. Use Cases

3. Requirements Elicitation or Requirements Analysis

The online SOFTWARE DEVELOPER BOOT CAMP class is for computer programmers, software developers or web developers who want to learn or master the core software development skills including:

1. Database Development and SQL Programming

2. Object Oriented Web Programming Languages

3. Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Real World, Practical, Skill Based Job Training

The best way to learn business analysis or computer programming or database development or any technical skill is to establish the tasks you will be performing for your employer in the real world and then perform those tasks in our training program with guidance, progress monitoring and feedback.

The study guides used in our online training boot camps match the types of tasks, assignments and projects you perform for employers on the job guaranteeing that the skills you gain are immediately useful to you and your employer.

Learning By Doing

The more effective way to master business analysis, data analysis or computer programming skills is by doing or performing the skills you are learning because your brain is wired to retain and remember 80% of what you do or practice versus 20% of what you read or hear.

This is why the online training boot camps includes practical tasks, assignments and hands on learning activities that will help you understand the technical skills you are learning, faster, better and easier.

Study Guides or Courseware

We developed the study guides used in our online technical training boot camps based on the tasks, responsibilities or competencies employers expect you to demonstrate on the job!

Our study guides and hands on exercises are constantly updated, improved and perfected using feedback on the skills, experience and training employers want to see you demonstrate on your resume, job interviews or after you are hired.

Finally, you are guided through an intense, hands on practical training curriculum that dramatically improves your understanding and retention, competency, self confidence and finally your ability to perform on the job.

The outcome of your training is that you will begin to demonstrate the technical mastery or competence needed to excel on the job easily to your employers.

Learning On Your Own Time

One of the core benefits of the database developer, business analyst or computer programmer online training boot camps is that our course schedules are guaranteed to match your work and life schedule and not the other way round.

Here is the reason why

You may enroll and take your online courses in the morning, evening, weekend or any time of the week that best fits your schedule.

You will also not be forced to adopt a schedule that doesn’t work for you and you are always guaranteed that our courses are always flexible or adaptable enough to match your work and personal time commitments.

You Need To Take Action Now

All I am asking you to do, is to invest in your career, your skills and your future by taking a minute to sign up for an online training boot camp or contact me with a question, comment or request for more information.

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring and personal development of software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development consultants or training, click here to get in touch with me.




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ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES




• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









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The training courses at target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp is for data analysts, report
writers, SQL developers, business analysts, computer programmers and database
developers who want to improve their SQL or database skills .

Hands-On Training

The SQL training courses are a combination of hands-on, practical training
combined with real world projects.

Step By Step Training Courses

You study step by step the concepts you need to master to design efficient,
enterprise scalable relational databases at your own pace, schedule
and time and from the comfort of your home or office.

Database Design Training Curriculum

Here are some of the topics covered in the database design training class:

How to use Keys and Indexes in relational databases.

How to establish Foreign Keys, Alternate Keys, Primary Keys, Candidate Keys and
Composite Keys.

How to use Tables, Records, Columns and Views.

How to use One-to-One Relationships, One-to-Many Relationships and Many-to-Many
Relationships.

How to establish Referential Integrity, Cascade Update Rules and Cascade Delete
rules or constraints.

How to use the First Normal Form, Second Normal Form or Third Normal Form in a
database design session.

How to use or follow Field Naming Guidelines.

How to resolve Multivalue Fields or Multipart Fields during the database design
process.

How to identify the Domains, Entities, Data or Relationships in a database
design session.

How to establish Domain Integrity, Entity Integrity, Data Integrity or
Referential Integrity in a database design session.

Please note that presently, the training courses at
target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp include SQL Development
Courses, Database Design Courses and Database Development Courses.
This topics listed above are taken from the database design course only.

If you are interested in improving your SQL programming, SQL querying, database
design, database development, data analysis, business analysis or software
development technical skills, register for a class on
target="_blank"
title="SQL Boot Camp">SQL Boot Camp

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis,
Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring
and personal development of software development professionals including
business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web
designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other
information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for
clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore,
Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development
consultants or training, target="_blank"
title="contact the author">click here to get in touch with me.




What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?








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ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES




• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









Visit our Shopping Cart

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How To Become A Data Analyst

The data analyst career is one of the popular Information Technology (IT) career tracks available today.

The term data analyst is loosely associated with business data analysts, systems analysts, database analysts, reporting specialists, data researchers, statistical data analysts or marketing data analysts!

However, in this article, I will explain who a data analyst really is and provide a career roadmap or plan for becoming a data analyst.

Who Is A Data Analyst?

The term data analyst refers to someone who works with data or makes sense of the information buried in raw data or draws inferences and conclusions from it.

A data analyst is someone who performs queries or mines data for information or nuggets of insight and information.

According to Wikipedia, data analysis is the process of looking at or summarizing data with the intent of extracting useful information and developing conclusions.

What Is The Job Outlook For Data Analysts?

There is an increasing need to aggregate information in databases and analyze, research or query it for meaning, clues, trends or insight that will help organizations do better or become more competitive in their marketplace.

This trend to store and analyze vast quantities of data at every level of business has spawned the “Analytics” industry.

For example, when you visit a website at Amazon.com or NetFlix or Ebay, your visit history is stored and analyzed by a group of people known as web analysts who specialize in analyzing web visitor data.

The data analyst is growing in importance because of the trend towards storing and analyzing increasing amounts of data, so that organizations can compete based on insight, information and intelligence gleaned from their databases.

Data Analyst Roles and Responsibilities

If you are looking for a data analyst job or position, make sure you can demonstrate the skills listed below on your resume when you apply for a data analyst position:

1. You must demonstrate the ability to analyze large data sets
2. You must show an expert ability to analyze, research or query data using SQL
3. You must have the ability to report on data using enterprise, industry standard reporting tools like SQL Server Reporting Services, Crystal Reports and Business Objects
4. You must have logical, problem solving skills.
5. You must have strong analytical skills
6. You must be able to present, interpret, discuss or write about the conclusions, inferences and results gained from researching data
7. You must be able to analyze data in Excel, prepare Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentation to explain your results.
8. You must be able to research concepts and issues on the Internet using search engines and other web based research tools

Data Analyst Job Interviews

Job interviews typically address all the positions on your resume.

So, if you present a data analyst resume to an employer, you must be able to talk intelligently about all the positions, skills and responsibilities listed on that resume.

In addition, you may expect a data analyst job interview to include database design interview questions, database development interview questions, and SQL interview questions.

So you will must have SQL coding and Database Development skills.

You also need to have a strong mastery of a variant of SQL like T-SQL and database development on a specific enterprise database platform like Microsoft SQL Server.

Here is a link you can use to get all the data analyst education (statistical data analysis), relational database training and SQL query writing training you will need to fulfill your data analyst roles and responsibilities. Click here for more information on online data analyst training.

Finally, you need to understand trend analysis . For example, given a SQL Server marketing database, you need to be able to search for patterns or identify trends using SQL queries or T-SQL queries to be exact.

How Do Data Analyst Jobs Compare To Business Analyst Jobs Or Computer Programmer Jobs?

1. How does a data analyst job compare to a business analyst job?

One way of comparing the data analyst’s job to the business analyst’s job is to say that the data analyst majors on database analysis or data analysis while the business analyst focuses on business process analysis.

The data analyst is expected to be an expert at querying databases using SQL, writing reports in Crystal Reports, Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or Business Objects and analyzing or presenting data in Microsoft Excel.

On the other hand, the business analyst focuses on requirements analysis, UML, Use Cases and business process improvement.

2. How does a data analyst job compare to a computer programmer job?

Computer programmers focus more on the design and development of database applications and software applications.

Computer programmers need to master all aspects of the software development life cycle, database design, database development, web and windows application development and data reporting.

Data analysts focus on database analysis, database design, data preparation, data quality and data reporting.

Online Data Analyst Training Opportunities

One of the technical skills that is most in demand for data analyst positions is the ability to research data stored in relational databases like Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft Access (MS Access), Microsoft SQL Server using SQL.

The beginner to advanced online data analyst training offered on Data Analysts Boot Camp covers the training requirements for data analyst positions.

Be sure to register at Data Analysts Boot Camp for more information on data analyst online training opportunities.




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ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES




• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!









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