ITCareerCoach Training - Coaching » Data Analyst Training http://www.it-career-coach.net How To Take Your Career To The Next Level Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:09:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 How To Get Extensive Hands-on Experience In Information Technology http://www.it-career-coach.net/2012/01/10/how-to-get-extensive-hands-on-experience-in-information-technology/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2012/01/10/how-to-get-extensive-hands-on-experience-in-information-technology/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:36:27 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3375

How To Gain Hands-on Experience in-Information Technology

How To Gain Hands-on Experience in-Information Technology

When it comes to the Information Technology Industry, getting more hands-on experience is one of your most important professional development activities.

In this post, I will explain how information technology workers including business analysts, computer programmers, database developers, data analysts, project managers, software testers and infrastructure / networking professionals can gain extensive, high visibility, career defining hands-on experience!

More Opportunities To Get Hands-on Experience

By far, the number one place to find hands-on project experience in the information technology industry is in web or software development projects!

Now, does that mean that you need to become a software developer?

Absolutely Not!

An enterprise software development project employs a diverse set of software testers, project managers, business analysts, computer programmers, infrastructure specialists, database developers, technical writers, etc.

So, dis-abuse your mind of the notion that software development is primarily a coding or programming effort, because it is not!

Business Analysts / Project Managers

Before a single line of code is written, project managers and business analysts have to gather the specifications and then plan the amount of work that needs to be completed at each phase of the project before handing over the coding to software developers.

Infrastructure Specialists

The Computer Networking / Infrastructure team has to plan or architect the servers, computer networks and workstations that will be used by the entire project team.

They may have to install software testing, development or planning software and they will also have to monitor all the equipment used in building or hosting the software, so that they can guarantee that it is up and running!

Software Testers / Quality Assurance Analysts

After computer programmers finish with their coding, software testers, business analysts or quality assurance specialists have to test the code and assure the client or project sponsor that the software being delivered is reasonably bug free and designed according to specifications.

And while all this is happening, the project managers are busy monitoring the cost and resource usage versus estimates.

With all this mind, here is why software development work provides you with the best opportunities for hands-on experience regardless of your career, industry, domain or background.

Following The Money Trail Works

Better Pay / Compensation

Software development project experience is guaranteed to boost your career options because employers pay more for software development experience regardless of whether the project is outsourced, maintained in-house or developed from scratch.

Software development experience also provides you with better career stability. Since there is so much work available, employers are always looking for or hiring motivated, talented, experienced, skilled workers.

Software development projects are readily available because they cut across all domains and industries!

Highly Portable Experience

Regardless of the industry you work in: healthcare, pharmaceutical (pharma), telecommunications (telco), insurance, banking and finance, securities, utility, customer relationship management (CRM) or sales and marketing, you will find plenty of software development projects.

Software development experience is also highly portable because you can move your experience from one industry or domain to another.

For example, as a business analyst, computer programmer or project manager; you may transition from a web project in the CRM industry to another web development project in the Healthcare / Medical Management industry.

You can significantly improve your chance of getting your foot in through the door even when you don’t have the required domain experience by gaining web / software development experience because that is portable across industries, jobs, careers or domains!

For example, even when you transition from a software development career to a business analyst or project management career, your software development background will still be relevant or useful helpful to your new project or employer.

Why Is There So Much Work In The Software Development Industry?

The software development industry employs professionals from a wide, extensive and varied background.

There is a lot of software development project work available because:

  1. Software development projects cut across the mobile, desktop, web, system development industry
  2. A large number of software development projects fail which means that software development projects last longer than they are expected to
  3. Websites are now integral to the marketing and sales functions of many organizations which means that funding website development is a top priority
  4. Organizations are constantly retooling or upgrading their websites because of competitive forces, marketplace or technological changes

So, if you are looking for a well-paying, portable, cutting-edge career, start building your web / software development project experience now.

When it comes to the information technology industry, your hands-on experience trumps your certifications or post graduate college degrees.

One Good Reason, Why This Won’t Work For You!

Here is one good reason why you may fail to gain hands-on software development experience … looking for a hands-on position without first taking the time to gain the requisite knowledge or skills that will qualify you !

Hear me now, I do not recommend you walk up to an employer and ask for a position for the purpose of gaining hands-on software development experience … except if you are truly qualified to be on the team.

Look, regardless of the position you are interested in: business analysis, computer programming, project management, software testing, etc., you must first take the time to study for the position before you start working on getting hands-on experience.

Why? because without the prerequisite knowledge, you have little or nothing to offer the employer, who therefore, has no incentive to hire you.

Why Is Knowledge A Prerequisite For Hands-on Experience?

When it comes to gaining knowledge, what matters is whether you have the requisite knowledge and not how you did you gain the knowledge; college, coaching, training, self study, articles, professional textbooks, on the job, etc.

Here is why you must gain the requisite knowledge first before you start focusing on building hands-on experience:

  • Can You Perform?: software project teams typical focus on delivering working software and not on mentoring or coaching team members.

    So, without the requisite knowledge, you will be a liability rather than an asset to the team since you won’t be able to keep up with the pace of work.

    Furthermore, you may even slow others down who stop and try to help you or wait upon you to deliver.

  • Return On Investment (ROI): don’t assume that an employer will pay for your hands-on software development experience because most employers want a quick return on their investment (ROI).

    This is because of the costs associated with training information technology (IT) professionals which makes employers picky about who gets to work on their projects.

    You are going to be limited in your ability to gain software development experience, if you do not first take the time to learn your discipline: business analysis, computer programming, project management, etc. so that you are prepared to run when the right opportunity presents itself.

This article is #1 of a 2 article series. The second installation of this article (part 2) may be viewed here …

You may review the references for this article series below.

References

  1. Learn more: The Most Important Thing on Your Resume
  2. Learn more: Which Courses or Certifications Guarantee A Job?
  3. Learn more: Can Certifications Take The Place Of Experience?
  4. Learn more: How To Get Computer Programming Experience
  5. Learn more: Stuck in a College Mindset After Graduation
  6. Learn more: Which Software Development Life Cycle Is Best?
  7. Learn more: Can You Perform? Prove It!
  8. Learn more: This Type Of Hands-On Experience Can JumpStart Your Career!

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


Visit our Shopping Cart

]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2012/01/10/how-to-get-extensive-hands-on-experience-in-information-technology/feed/ 0 Oracle Or Microsoft Access, Which Is Better? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/17/oracle-or-ms-access-which-is-better/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/17/oracle-or-ms-access-which-is-better/#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:14:10 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3105

Oracle Or Microsoft Access, Which Is Better For Me?

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.


What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


Visit our Shopping Cart

]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/17/oracle-or-ms-access-which-is-better/feed/ 6 Do You Want to Learn SAS Data Analysis? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/03/do-you-want-to-learn-sas-data-analysis/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/03/do-you-want-to-learn-sas-data-analysis/#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:20:39 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3096

How to Find a Well Paying Job?

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..


What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


Visit our Shopping Cart

]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/03/do-you-want-to-learn-sas-data-analysis/feed/ 2 How to Get a Job in Web Data Analytics? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/02/how-to-get-a-job-in-web-data-analytics/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/02/how-to-get-a-job-in-web-data-analytics/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:38:18 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3092

Web Analyst Jobs

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.


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




    ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


    Visit our Shopping Cart

    ]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2011/02/02/how-to-get-a-job-in-web-data-analytics/feed/ 0 A Day In The Life Of A Data Analyst http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-data-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-data-analyst/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:30:05 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3035

    Data Analysis: Profiting From Numbers

    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!


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




    ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


    Visit our Shopping Cart

    ]]>     http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-data-analyst/feed/ 1     What Are The Required Skills for Entry-Level Data Analyst Jobs? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/09/what-are-the-required-skills-for-entry-level-data-analyst-jobs/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/09/what-are-the-required-skills-for-entry-level-data-analyst-jobs/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:14:18 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=3027

    Entry Level Data Analyst Jobs

    Which Skills Are Required For Entry Level Data Analyst Jobs?

    Are there any required skills for entry-level data analyst job postings knowing that hiring managers are quite creative with their help wanted ads?

    Keeping in mind that there is no “one size fits all” job requirement for data analysts or any information technology (IT) job, here are some of the more common skill requirements:

    • Number crunching, analytical or numerical skills & background

    • Reporting experience using Excel, Microsoft Access, Crystal Reports / Business Objects, SQL Server Reporting Services or any Graphing tool
    • Relational Database Design & Development with tools like MySQL, SQL Server, Microsoft Access or Oracle
    • A passion, interest, aptitude or background in number crunching or analytics

    Many data analysts started out using Microsoft Access because it is a popular and versatile data analysis tool.

    Microsoft Access provides a one-stop relational database, sql querying and reporting environment and it also provides data analysts with the ability to build a powerful graphical user interface (UI) for collecting data.

    Which Data Analysis Tool Is The Best?

    What matters is not the the knowledge of a specific data analysis tool but the what, when, why or how of data analysis!

    In other words, tools will come and go, but the principles or fundamental techniques will stay.

    So focus your efforts on learning data analysis and use the tools as a means to an end.

    Which Data Analysis Tool Is Best For You?

    Understand the fundamentals of data analysis well enough so that you can recommend one tool over the other.

    This is important because your team or employer may have their own preferences but you as an individual should be comfortable with learning any tool you are presented with or recommending another tool that can do a better job … even when you haven’t used that other data analysis tool.

    When To Use A Data Analysis Tool?

    While some data analysis tools have a relational database and sql querying interface (e.g. Microsoft Access), others do not (e.g. Microsoft Excel).

    And while some are good for tasks like data transformation and loading (e.g. Microsoft SQ L Server), others like not quite as good (e.g. Microsoft Access).

    As a data analyst, you must be comfortable with analyzing the needs of your company and recommending the best data analysis tool based on the requirements of your project and your company’s budget!

    How Are Data Analysis Skills Utilized On The Job?

    A statistical degree may have been required for a data analysis job 20 years ago but these days, your database analysis, database development, Sql querying and Sql Reporting skills are even more important!

    Because of the massive amounts of data, information and business insight stored in corporate databases, hiring managers are more concerned about a candidates ability to extract, transform, load or interpret business facts stored in relational databases or data warehouses.

    With this information in mind, here are frequently asked questions and answers about entry level data analyst jobs.

    Hi,

    I’m working in a regional management role in Retail Operations with a total experience of over 6 yrs.

    I’m from a NON IT background (MBA in marketing) and I have been doing lot of data crunching in retail operations using excel.

    I think this field of data analytics fascinates my and i’m considering making a career switch at this juncture.

    Also I hear that data analytics has a good future but now, I am still confused because I’m looking for answers to the questions below:

    1. Would it be a right move?
    2. Would my NON IT background be a hindrance ?
    3. Are there any skills/certifications which i can do. i’ve recently taken a training for SAS base and advance.. what are the other such skills which i need to acquire?
    4. Most importantly.. what about the earning potential? At what level or position would i start and what would be the salary.

    I feel that with my experience in retail operations i can move into the retail analytics domain… what are your comments?

    I’m desperately seeking answers to these queries. I ‘m very hopeful that i would get all of them answered at this forum.

    Are You Passionate About Data Analysis?

    If you are passionate about number crunching and you already are working in some data analysis capacity … then you have every reason in the world to become a data analyst.

    In my experience, being passionate about something and taking the time to get some real world experience along the same lines qualifies you for a real-world job in that industry.

    If you love data analytics and you have a lot of experience in retail, crunching numbers with excel. You have one of the best reasons for switching to a data analysis career namely:

    1. You already have handson experience in the data analysis (retail industry).
    2. You are fascinated by numbers in the context of data analysis.

    One of the best reasons for making a career change is finding a match between your passion and your day job … so yes … yes, don’t be confused, become a data analyst already!

    Are You Qualified To Be A Data Analyst?

    Your NON IT background is not a hindrance to getting a data analysis job.

    But your lack of relational database and and/or SQL Query Writing skills may pose a real challenge because hiring managers want you to be comfortable with querying, researching or reporting directly from their databases instead of relying on a third party.

    Learning SQL is not that hard. There are several free enterprise databases and you may download free versions of Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server directly from the vendors site.

    What Is The Salary Of A Data Analyst?

    The earning potential of a data analyst is as good as $70K+ (USD). Your exact compensation will depend on your negotiation skills and whether you are a full-time data analyst or a data analyst consultant.

    Keep in mind that data-analyst consultants may earn as much as $90K or more because they bear more financial risk and they have traditionally less job security.

    Your earning also depends on the industry you work in, keeping in mind that data analysts can work in a wide variety of jobs including:

    1. Database Marketing Jobs
    2. Report Writing Jobs – (Crystal Reports, Cognos Report writer, MS Access Report writer, SQl Report Writer, etc.)
    3. Data Research Analysts, Data Conversion Analysts, Data Quality Analysts, Data Integration Analysts Jobs
    4. Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) or Data Mining Jobs
    5. Traditional Database, Data Analyst or SQL Developer or Data Warehousing Analyst Jobs

    Having a SAS certification or any certification may or may nor help you, depending on the job requirement …

    But keep in mind that information technology jobs are performance driven … and regardless of your certifications, educational background or lack of it, you have to be good at your job and prove it!

    Also keep in mind, that as far as IT Jobs are concerned, your past performance is the best predictor of your future job performance … so your handson domain knowledge / experience in the retail industry places you at an advantage in the job market!


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




    ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


    Visit our Shopping Cart

    ]]>     http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/12/09/what-are-the-required-skills-for-entry-level-data-analyst-jobs/feed/ 1     The Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/09/health-care-data-analyst-job-description/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/09/health-care-data-analyst-job-description/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:02:59 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2808

    healthcare data analyst job description

    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:


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




    ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


    Visit our Shopping Cart

    ]]>     http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/02/09/health-care-data-analyst-job-description/feed/ 6     How To Write Complicated Or Complex SQL Queries http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/25/how-to-write-complicated-or-complex-sql-queries/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/25/how-to-write-complicated-or-complex-sql-queries/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:34:47 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2769

    Master Complex SQL Queries

    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.


    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



    What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

    Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




    ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


    Visit our Shopping Cart

    ]]>     http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/25/how-to-write-complicated-or-complex-sql-queries/feed/ 0     Giving Effective Feedback to IT Professionals http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/10/giving-effective-feedback-to-it-professionals/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/10/giving-effective-feedback-to-it-professionals/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:06:42 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2756

    We Give Feedback!

    We Give Feedback!

    One of the challenges of self teaching, self learning, CBT courses or traditional class room training is the lack of personalized, one on one performance review or feedback.

    Training courses where both instructors and trainees can post or respond to questions are few and far in between.

    This is the case even when you pay thousands of dollars for traditional class room training!

    This is because training providers typically have an in-flexible curriculum and a set amount of training time to communicate their message!

    • Restricted Training Time: In traditional training courses, you have to learn all the information in a few days.

      Though the trainers may answer a couple of questions daily, they cannot take questions from everyone and also hope to cover their entire training curriculum by the end of the week!

      The good news is: we don’t have the restraints of an inflexible training curriculum or a set training time :-)

      You can login to our Web-Based Learning Management System and post questions or discussions on your own time and our course instructors can answer them on their own time.

      Our course instructors are not trying to rush you through the entire training curriculum in a week, so they can afford to engage your questions on a one to one, personalized basis!

    • College Tutoring: In traditional colleges, instructors get to know their students personally and they review student assignments before assigning grades.

      We have adopted the same learning process in our web-based, online learning management system.

      Each of your hands-on assignments are reviewed by a live, human course instructor before they are graded!

      In our web-based, online learning management system, the instructor may choose to post a discussion, comment or review of your assignment … just for you and not for anyone else.

      • Why Do We Incorporate Feedback In Training?

      So, the question is: knowing that feedback is expensive and time intensive, why do we still choose to include it in our training … at no additional cost?

      • We Make Training Interactive: we believe that more interactive training makes for a better experience.

        We emulate the learning that happens in the real world, where you are always receiving feedback from your bosses, co-workers, customers or friends.

      • We Make Training Effective: we believe that personalized, one on one training makes for better learning … especially in the information technology industry.

        Passive learning like the type you find in a lot of CBT (computer based training) or even information technology text books are usually too boring or tedious to be effective.

      • We Make Training Useful: we believe that IT professionals need more real-world feedback during training … before using their skills on the job!

        It is usually better to receive feedback in training because that is the only time when you are 100% certain that you can ask for feedback and improve or act on it without any adverse consequences!

      This post discusses how we make our online, web-based training more effective, interactive and useful by incorporating one on one personalized feedback or performance reviews.

      If you have any questions about our courses or online training services, be sure to contact us and we will answer it for you!


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2010/01/10/giving-effective-feedback-to-it-professionals/feed/ 0 Career Spotlight on Microsoft Access Database Developers http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/12/15/career-spotlight-on-microsoft-access-database-developers/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/12/15/career-spotlight-on-microsoft-access-database-developers/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:33:02 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2739

      Microsoft Access Developer Career

      Microsoft Access Developer Career

      The Microsoft Access Relational Database has been around for a while and it is used in many businesses, Information Technology (IT) Teams and organizations.

      Microsoft Access is commonly used in building desktop software applications, data analysis programs and corporate databases where the number of records are as few as 2 billion records or the number of users who access the system at any one time are as few as ten concurrent users.

      The ease with which Microsoft access database developers create functional relational databases, add data entry forms, build reports and distribute their database projects to multiple users creates a market for skilled Microsoft Access Relational Database developers.

      However, Microsoft Access database solutions are not well suited for web, distributed, enterprise or large database development projects leading. Because of this, Microsoft Access database developers have to transition their skills to enterprise database development systems like SQL Server and Oracle at some point in their career!

      This series of articles reviews the the merits and demerits of Microsoft Access database development and offers a transition plan or career path for updating Microsoft Access Database Development Skills.

      The Case for Microsoft Access Developer Careers

      1. Easy of Use – Microsoft Access is one of the easiest relational database platforms used in business because of it’s intuitive graphical user interface (GUI).

      2. Office User – Microsoft Access is also popular with business or power users. It is relatively easy to install, configure and use on a desktop, laptop or home computer which makes it a winner for many.

      3. Low Support Costs – Unlike enterprise databases like Oracle or IBM DB2, Microsoft Access databases do not need dedicated database administrators.

        The Microsoft Access developer (you) in this case is also the Microsoft Access Database Administrator unlike enterprise databases where there tends to be a split between the duties of the database administrator and the database developer.

      4. Data Entry Forms – Microsoft Access is a unique database for office environments because it comes with a set of forms for building data entry (entering, editing, deleting, updating) forms.

        This feature eliminates the costs and complexity associated with typical software development projects based on Oracle, IBM DB2 and other enterprise databases.

      5. In-Built Reporting Capability – Microsoft Access also incorporates the ability to generate simple or complex, customized reports.

        However, the Microsoft Access Reporting feature is not a full fledged reporting tool like Crystal Reports or SQL Server Reporting Services.

        The ease or simplicity of designing and building reports in Microsoft Access eliminates some of the complexity or costs associated with building external reports using enterprise reporting tools.

      6. In-Built Application Development Environment – Microsoft Access is a flexible database software that allows you to customize or write full-blown software programs using the popular and easy to learn programming language known as VBA or Visual Basic for Applications.

        Many database developers actually use the VBA feature of Microsoft Access to jump start their programming careers by learning VBA and then transitioning to other programming languages like Visual Basic!

      7. Graphical SQL Query Building – Writing SQL is made easy in Microsoft Access because of it’s Graphical Query Designer which allows you to join tables and add filters or clauses to them.

        You can also see or modify the generated SQL query using a a flavor of SQL known as Access SQL or Microsoft Access’s in-built Query Wizards.

      8. Data Analysis Tool – because Microsoft Access allows you to build tables, data entry forms and reports quite easily, it is commonly used as a Data Analysis tool.

        Using Microsoft Office Access, you can for example, design a survey, create a table to store the data, build a simple data entry form, build a report and then give multiple users access to your reports or application.

      9. External Database Access – database developers who are unfamiliar with enterprise databases like Oracle or SQL Server access them through a Microsoft Access database

        This is partly because the Microsoft Access database developer can connect, query or modify the data in an enterprise database without having to leave the safety and comfort of the familiar Microsoft Access environment!

      10. Multi User Access - Microsoft Office Access supports a limited number of users accessing or modifying it’s data at the same time.

        It is sometimes seen as a better choice for data analysis projects where multiple users have to update, edit, delete or work with the same information while retaining each individual’s ability to rapidly prototype, build or extend it using forms.

      As you can see, there are many reasons why the Microsoft Access Database Development tool is common, popular and frequently used in all sorts of database development, reporting, data analysis and software development projects.

      To get started, there are many situations that Microsoft Access is not suited for.

      Microsoft Access database developers are sometimes not comfortable with enforcing proper database design practices or writing complex subqueries, complex joins within Microsoft Access.

      That is why database developers frequently resort to taking strong SQL Query Writing + Database Development Classes (like at the Data Analyst Boot Camp) after first falling in love with Microsoft Access.

      Microsoft Access still limits database developers despite it’s powerful, and flexible relational database engine.

      Hence the need to upgrade or transition to enterprise relational databases.

      In the next article, I will discuss both the limitations of Microsoft Access as database development tool and the reasons for upgrading to an enterprise database like SQL Server.

      If you are interested in becoming a better database developer by mastering relational database and SQL query writing, you can enroll Online at the DataAnalystBootCamp.Com


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/12/15/career-spotlight-on-microsoft-access-database-developers/feed/ 7       Why Data Analysts Use Microsoft Excel? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/11/20/why-data-analysts-use-microsoft-excel/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/11/20/why-data-analysts-use-microsoft-excel/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:38:12 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2709

      The Data Analysts Career Path

      The Data Analysts Career Path


      Microsoft Excel is commonly used for data analysis because it’s part of the popular Microsoft Office Suite and it even comes pre-installed on some computers!

      Unlike statistical analysis packages like, SAS and SPSS, Excel is relatively inexpensive and widely accessible to small businesses and mid-sized businesses in a variety of industries including healthcare, finance, sales and marketing etc.

      Microsoft Excel is used in organizing and analyzing data, performing complex calculations as well as creating graphical displays.

      Microsoft Excel’s user-friendly interface makes data entry convenient and it also comes loaded with a wide array of mathematical, statistical, financial functions and a Data Analysis ToolPak.

      In the hands of a well-trained and creative Data Analyst, Excel can be used for real-world business data modeling and decision making including cost/benefit analysis, sales forecasting, time series analysis and product demand curves.

      So how do you become that expert Data Analyst in whose hands Microsoft Excel becomes a well-tuned instrument?

      Let’s take a look at a question posted by a reader:

      My toughest challenge is trying to understand techniques to analyze data in Excel.

      I am trying to get a data analyst role but find it hard to analyze data in excel for the interview tests.

      How do you think I can improve my skills?

      How To Become an Expert Microsot Excel Data Analyst:

      1. Become an Expert Microsoft Excel User

        Before you can use Microsoft Excel effectively, you will need to thoroughly familiarize yourself with everything it has to offer.

        For example, one of the handy features of Excel is the ability to record macros and perform frequently repeated tasks with just on or two keystrokes.

        It is the knowledge of techniques like these that can make you an effective Microsoft Excel user on the long-run.

        Learn how to organize data in Excel with feature such as worksheet or workbook links for handling large amounts of frequently updated data.

        Take an Excel training class, thoroughly study a good book on Microsoft Excel using the IT Career Coach Process described in this ebook and practice.

      2. Gain a Foundation in Statistical Analysis

        Without a good understanding of statistical analysis, Excel will remain an empty shell with which you can do nothing.

        Excel can crunch your numbers, but you have to choose the functions that apply to your situation.

        You will also need to understand statistical analysis concepts like linear regression, standard deviation, variance, etc.

      3. Gain the Mindset of a Data Analyst

        Data analysts think in a certain way. For example, they have trained their minds to ask “What If” questions or to see trends, patterns or even anomalies in data!

        When a business manager asks “What are our sales numbers for the XYZ product for the month of November?” the Microsoft Excel data analyst has to load and interprete that in an Excel sheet and then present a shiny “manager-speak‘ report.

        As a data analyst, you will have to understand your company’s data, how and where it is stored and how to access it correctly using Microsoft Excel.

        You will also need to ask the right questions and use mathematical or statistical functions in solving data problems.

        There’s no easy way to get the mindset of a data analyst. You either learn it on the job or you get it through mentorship and internships.

      4. Learn to Customize Excel for Advanced Uses

        Once you know how to use the general functions in Microsoft Excel, you need to take your skills up a notch by learning to create custom data analysis programs for your company.

        Eventually, you will find out the tasks you perform repeatedly, can be customized or automated, freeing up more time!

        This will also involve learning how to develop Microsoft Office Excel programs using Excel’s built-in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

        This VBA feature of Excel allows you to create complex macros and programs for large or sophisticated amounts of data crunching.

      If you are interested in learning more about Using Microsoft Excel in Data Analysis, contact us or go here to read about Data Analysis careers.


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/11/20/why-data-analysts-use-microsoft-excel/feed/ 0       How Do I Transition Microsoft Access or Excel Data Analyst Skills? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/16/how-do-i-transition-microsoft-access-or-excel-data-analyst-skills/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/16/how-do-i-transition-microsoft-access-or-excel-data-analyst-skills/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:34:45 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2500

      The Data Analysts Career Path

      The Data Analysts Career Path

      This question was posted by a Microsoft Office Data Analyst who wants to know “How to Upgrade Microsoft Access or Excel Data Analysis skills!“

      If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this questions now!

      Please, send this post to your friends using the “Tell a Friend” Button button below. You earn points or cash each time you refer an article to your friends using the Tell a Friend Button.

      The Challenge Facing A Microsoft Access or Excel Office Data Analyst

      My toughest challenge I face today with my career is I am itching for a move within the company I work for.

      However, don’t know which direction to go and what course to take that will help to enhance my skill knowledge.

      Currently, part of my roles and responsibilities include weekly data pulling (raw) and manipulating the data to build personalized reports for upper management.

      I use Access (where i pull the data from), and Excel (where I transfer the data to and use multiple worksheets to compile the required reports needed for management).

      Now my interest is becoming a Data Analysts, but I do not know what applications I need to focus my attention on, and possibly register for the courses (in class) to either know or advance my current knowledge and skills by December 31, 2009.

      Your response is greatly appreciated!

      How To Upgrade Microsoft Access Or Excel Data Analysis Skills

      You’re thinking right because it’s better to upgrade your skills before changes in the workplace make them obsolete!

      Information Technology (IT) Data Analysts collect or analyze data. They research, identify or report patterns, trends and insights back to stakeholders, decision makes or management … so you’re a data analyst because that’s what you do!

      Employers collect and track data on their business operations including their client’s, support incidents, inventory or merchandise, orders and even their employees!

      Employers who start out collecting, storing or analyzing data in Microsoft Access or Excel discover that they’re not up to the task of handling larger corporate data needs!

      In addition, the Information Technology (IT) industry views Microsoft Access or Excel professionals as junior or entry-level IT professionals … which creates barriers or closes doors for MS Access or Excel Data Analysts!

      Which then leads to the question … “What is the Best Upward Mobility Path for Microsoft Access or Excel Data Analysts?”

      How To Upgrade A Microsoft Office Data Analyst Career

      1. Learn an Enterprise Relational Database Management System (RDBMS):

        The IT Industry now considers Microsoft Access to be a junior or entry level database professional tool.

        You need to move up in your career path by learning an enterprise relational database like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle.

        Enterprise databases are reliable, secure, high-performance databases that can handle the day to day or most demand tasks of an enterprise!

      2. Learn an Enterprise Reporting Tool:

        Microsoft Access’s in-built reporting tool is handy for generating reports for very small business units.

        Because Microsoft Access is designed for really small business needs, you’ve got to migrate your skills towards an enterprise reporting tool like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or Crystal Reports.

        An enterprise reporting tool like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting services can be customized using an integrated programming environnment for complex report customization needs or requirements.

        Enterprise Reporting tools like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services also allow sending of reports by e-mail or distribution of reports in various formats including: HTML, XML, CSV, Word, and even Microsoft Excel!

      3. Learn How to Build Web-based Forms

        Microsoft Access has an in-built Form Wizard for building data collection forms. However these Ms Access forms are for desktop applications and not for use over the web!

        However employers would like the option of collecting both offline and online data and prefer to store their data in a reliable, enterprise database.

        So, you need to learn just enough programming to build web-based intranet or internet forms for your data collection needs or projects!

        Learning a web programming languages is easier than you think … especially if you understand relational database design and development!

      4. Learn How to Analyze Data Using Statistics

        Some of the fastest growing professions for data analysts include web analysis, web usability and marketing optimization!

        These web 2.0 type professions require hands-on experience gained by solving real-world problems!

        For example, there are specialized tools used by data analysts for identifying, analyzing or reporting on website usage like the free and popular Google Analytics tool or the popular Google Website Optimizer!

        Getting hands-on experience with these types of tools will open even more doors for your career!

      In this post, I answered the question of how to upgrade or transition Microsoft Access or Excel Data Analyst skills.

      If you have a question, concern or challenge, click here to post it and I will answer it for you!


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/16/how-do-i-transition-microsoft-access-or-excel-data-analyst-skills/feed/ 4       How To Answer Data Analyst Interview Questions Correctly http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/02/how-to-answer-data-analyst-interview-questions-correctly/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/02/how-to-answer-data-analyst-interview-questions-correctly/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:24:18 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2361

      Data Analyst Interview

      Ace your Data Analyst Interview


      If you are looking for a scientific way to boost your data analysis skills or ace your Data Analyst job interviews, start using practice tests.

      Research has shown that practice tests or quizzes improve retention, recall or understanding.

      Research has also proven that workers who study and take quizzes have better long-term recall than their colleagues who study without taking quizzes.

      Don’t use practice tests only in preparation for certification exams because they are useful for much more than that!

      Practice tests or quizzes are effective for improving Data Analyst skills, retention or recall which helps you ace your Data Analyst job interviews!

      Let’s go ahead and review how you may used practice tests to improve your skills or advance your Data Analyst Career or get a Data Analyst job.

      Use Quizzes to Ace Data Analyst Job Interviews

      Quizzes or practice tests are effective because they mimic the question and answer format of Data Analyst job interviews.

      In Practice Tests, the Quiz software usually presents random questions to you, rates your answers as correct or incorrect and then displays correct answers for your benefit!

      Practice Tests simulate Data Analyst job interviews by presenting the different types of questions interviewers ask including Single Choice, Multiple Choice or Open-ended interview questions.

      In a Data Analyst job interview, the potential employer will ask a question and then review your answers for correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness.

      Lack of correctness (wrong answers), promptness (slow responses) and comprehensiveness (not enough details) may cause you to lose your Data Analyst job interview or give you a bad rating!

      So, how would you prepare for your next job interview using this new information?

      Start by using practice tests which can;

      • Present potential Data Analyst job interview questions in random order

      • Rate answers to single-choice, multiple-choice and open-ended interview questions … so you get used to answering them in interviews

      • Present the correct Data Analyst job interview answer with additional explanations so you familiarize yourself with the correct answers

      Use Quizzes to Sharpen Your Data Analyst Job Interviewing Skills

      Practice tests actually improve your ability to remember or recall correct answers in your interviews.

      Use them extensively to prepare for your interviews weeks or months before you need a job!

      Practice tests are effective because you answer a set of questions multiple times until they sink in and become second nature!

      How Sharp Are Your Data Analyst Skills?

      During your Data Analyst interviews, you are evaluated based on the correctness, promptness of reply and comprehensiveness of your answers.

      Correctness:

      Your answers are evaluated based on how precise or correct they are. Even when the Data Analyst interview questions are open ended, your answers are still evaluated as correct or incorrect.

      You impress your interviewer when you can answer most or all of the questions you’re asked correctly. Not getting your facts straight or not knowing your material will certainly cost you the interview!

      Promptness:

      You are evaluated based on how quickly you respond to Data Analyst interview questions.

      The quicker you are in responding to Data Analyst interview questions, the sharper your skills are perceived to be.

      So, you lose points when you take too long to answer a Data Analyst question and you gain points or credibility, when your answers are quick or instinctive.

      Comprehensiveness:

      Your interviewer evaluates your Data analysis level of knowledge when you answer a Data Analyst question.

      So, a comprehensive, detailed or factual answer will score more points than a sketchy, skimpy answer.

      When you are asked a Data Analyst question, you really need to wow your interviewer by demonstrating that you have more than a superficial understanding of the topic.

      You need to do this by giving the correct answer promptly and comprehensively (with as much detail as the time you are given permits).

      How To Answer Data Analyst Interview Questions Correctly

      Data Analyst Testing Software programs present a list of Data Analyst interview questions and then evaluates your answer to each question as either true of false … which helps you identify the correct answers.

      You need to study each answer’s explanation, understand why it is correct and why the other answers are not correct.

      You also need to attempt the same question several times until your answers are consistently correct.

      Practicing with Data Analyst Testing Software will help you respond back promptly, correctly, comprehensively in a live Data Analyst interview.

      How to Answer Data Analyst Interview Questions Promptly

      Because practice questions are presented in a quiz software, you have a reliable way of recording, tracking or monitoring your training sessions and improvement.

      Your ability to answer Data Analyst interview questions promptly is a function of your familiarity with the question or topic.

      As your level of familiarity with Data Analyst questions increases, your promptness in answering also increases. So, practice taking data analyst interviews using Data Analysis Testing software

      In this article, we discussed how to boost your skills and ace your Data job interview using a proven scientific technique.

      Sign-up for our Data Analysts Newsletter to get more information Like This


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/09/02/how-to-answer-data-analyst-interview-questions-correctly/feed/ 0       The Job Outlook for Data Analysts http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/30/the-job-outlook-for-data-analysts/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/30/the-job-outlook-for-data-analysts/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:14:17 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2349

      There's Gold In Them Thar' Data

      There's Gold In Them Thar' Data


      According to projections by IDC (a well-known research firm), the amount of computing, web and digital data will increase fivefold by 2012 as a result of an upsurge in sensor signals, surveillance tapes, social network chatter, public records and more.

      The increases in availability and storage of corporate transactional data within the last decade has left companies scrambling for data analysts trained in interpreting or making inferences based on data.

      With the help of data analysts, companies can improve the speed and quality of their business decisions, manage risks better, predict the likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes or provide their management team with improved predictive business intelligence.

      Competing On Data

      Hiring data analysts helps companies compete favorably using insights, trends or patterns gleaned from their corporate data. This is part of a global trend towards competing on data analytics.

      For example, in 2009, IBM announced plans to hire or train 4,000 more data analysts!

      According to Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM’s chairman, president and chief executive officer,

      “Advanced analytics are increasingly essential to help companies and organizations confronted with vast amounts of data and systemic change, and who are looking to build smarter business systems.”

      “All organizations today need to sort through myriad choices, make smarter decisions quickly and accurately, and act decisively”

      Organizations looking for ways to leverage mountains of corporate data want to improve marketing effectiveness, customer relationship management (CRM) process, website usage, reduce costs or capitalize on opportunities and trends before their competitors.

      According to Michael Maoz, vice president and distinguished analyst, Gartner Inc.

      “As a result of the economic slowdown, business leaders are focusing on the central role of customer service to simultaneously lower costs and build customer loyalty.

      The loss of a profitable customer, or a potentially profitable customer, is expensive and preventable.”

      Data Analysts are positioned to help businesses improve their customer relationship management (CRM) systems using their analytical, statistical and predictive skills.

      Job Outlook for Data Analysts

      Data Analysts are employed in a number of industries, careers or domains include:

      1. Web Data Analysts: Web sites produce enormous quantities data (website log files, site polls or survey results, web usage reports) which is interpreted by web data analysts or web developers with statistical data analysis training

      2. CRM Data Analysts: Data analysts discover the gold in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. CRM data analysts help sales and marketing departments spot under-served markets, identify best customers, fine-tune advertising campaigns or predict new markets!

      3. Marketing / Sales Data Analysts: Marketing data analysts work with marketing data stored in databases. They also import, validate, analyze or report on marketing data for their sales team.

      According to Hal Varian (Google’s chief economist):

      “More than ten years into the widespread business adoption of the Web, some managers still fail to grasp the economic implications of cheap and ubiquitous information on and about their business.”

      Hal Varian makes the point that with data in huge supply and data analysts in short supply, Data Analysts have a favorable career outlook!


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/30/the-job-outlook-for-data-analysts/feed/ 10       Learn Data Analysis Online – The Easy Way! http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/20/learn-data-analysis-online-the-easy-way/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/20/learn-data-analysis-online-the-easy-way/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:32:45 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=2291


      Learn Data Analysis The Easy Way!

      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

      • Control Charting Class

      • Time Series Analysis Course

      • SQL Data Analysis Courses

      • Database Classes …

      • … And More!

      The Data Analyst Boot Camp Is …

      How To Boost IT Skills Rapidly Or Get Hired Fast

      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?

      Top Paying Skills in High Demand

      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

      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”


      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



      What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

      Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




      ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


      Visit our Shopping Cart

      ]]>       http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/08/20/learn-data-analysis-online-the-easy-way/feed/ 0       Your Opinion Counts – What Makes A Good Data Analyst? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/06/01/your-opinion-counts-what-makes-a-good-data-analyst/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/06/01/your-opinion-counts-what-makes-a-good-data-analyst/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:09:37 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1547

      Ask a Burning Question

      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?


        • What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

        Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




        ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


        Visit our Shopping Cart

        ]]> http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/06/01/your-opinion-counts-what-makes-a-good-data-analyst/feed/ 2 Are Statistics Or SQL Skills Required In Data Analyst Careers? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/05/26/are-statistics-or-sql-skills-required-in-data-analyst-careers/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/05/26/are-statistics-or-sql-skills-required-in-data-analyst-careers/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 19:13:13 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1499

        Are Statistics or Sql Skills Required For Data Analyst Jobs?

        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!


        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

        Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




        ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


        Visit our Shopping Cart

        ]]>         http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/05/26/are-statistics-or-sql-skills-required-in-data-analyst-careers/feed/ 4         What Software Skills Do Business Analysts Need? http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/03/25/what-software-skills-do-business-analysts-need/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/03/25/what-software-skills-do-business-analysts-need/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:29:43 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=1292

        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


        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

        Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




        ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


        Visit our Shopping Cart

        ]]>         http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/03/25/what-software-skills-do-business-analysts-need/feed/ 19         How To Become A Rockstar In Your Industry http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-become-a-rockstar-in-your-industry/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-become-a-rockstar-in-your-industry/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:57 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=498

        How To Become A Rockstar In Your Industry

        How To Become A Rockstar in Your Industry

        Top performers, rockstars or successful professionals have a mindset or a way of thinking.

        They practice a code or follow a set of principles that helps them achieve the best results in their industry.

        Read the rest of this post to learn more about their philosophy and other actionable strategies for becoming the best at what you do.

        Always Be Learning

        According to the Japanese Kaizen philosophy, consistence and commitment to studying, getting more information or improving your skills is better than sudden bursts of efforts.

        So become a lifelong learner and not someone who learns solely to get a job or or achieve some other short term professional goal.

        Read this post titled: “Always Be Learning”.

        Become An Expert In Your Industry

        Acquiring knowledge is not enough. You must strive to become the best that you can be by sharpening your skills.

        Improve your skills or become an expert by using practice tests to remember, learn more effectively or understand new material.

        Keep taking practice tests until you become highly skilled and then gain a lot of handson experience by solving the problems or challenges facing others in your industry.

        Remember that you can get experience outside the boundaries of an 8 to 5 job and note that becoming an expert does not mean that you know everything or that you have become the smartest person!

        Read this post on How To Become A Technical Expert.

        Become Inspired

        There are skills or attitudes that can’t be passed along to you except by working with more experienced professionals.

        So go find a mentor or coach who believes in you and is willing or able to work with you one-on-one towards your professional goals.

        Make a habit of reading the blog posts or books of written by those that inspire you.

        Read this post on How To Become Inspired.

        Read Professional Books In Your Industry

        Audio coaching is good and Video training is even better but books are still the most universal and widely accepted format for passing information across.

        So, supplement all your video training with some good, old-fashioned textbooks!

        Though many technical textbooks are boring or hard to understand, they are an indispensable part of your career development.

        And do not hesitate to spend a lot of money on professional textbooks because the best investment that you can make is in yourself.

        A long time ago, I formed a habit of spending Saturday evenings in Borders or Barnes & Noble Bookshop. While my kids are playing, I would survey or read the latest books in my industry and buy those that presented new or interesting information.

        I would spend as much as 200 hundred dollars in one visit and I reckon that I made back the investment by getting top paying jobs usually offered to those that stay ahead of developments in their industry!

        Read this post titled: How To Self Study Effectively.

        Stay Ahead of Developments In Your Industry

        Don’t bury your head in the daily grind of your 8 to 5 existence and become extinct like the Dodo!

        The world around you and your industry is constantly changing, so you have to change too!

        Be the first to learn new skills, processes, technology or tools and you will never lack a dull moment in your career!

        Read this post on How To Stay Ahead of the Technology Curve.

        Experience Is King!

        In the Information Technology (IT) world, hands-on experience is King!

        Experience counts more than certifications or college diplomas and degrees because experience is the currency of the Industry.

        Experience matters because hiring managers are of the mindset that your past performance on previous jobs is the best predictor of your future performance (if hired for the job).

        So, trying to convince a hiring manager of your suitability for a job without providing the experience to back it up is doing things backwards.

        Give hiring managers what they want by getting handson experience with your current employer or building experience outside your 9 to 5 existence through working on leadership projects.

        Read this post on How To Get Handson Experience At Your Current Employer.

        Connect With Other Professionals on Social Media

        Don’t look inwards until you implode into nothingness … Network with other professionals online!

        There are tools like LinkedIn, Twitter or FaceBook that make it easy for you to create completely new relationships with total strangers, so get to know other people!

        The success of LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook proves that we are transitioning to a world where new jobs, opportunities or clients will be increasingly referred to us by our Social Media Network.

        You may start by connecting with me on Twitter.

        Success Comes By Helping Others

        You will never know a skill like you should, until you teach it to someone else.

        The questions that you have to answer and the extra research you do to be sure of your facts, will in the end help you as much as it helps the person you are mentoring.

        Besides, when you help others, some of the them will reciprocate by referring opportunities that you won’t have gotten by keeping your knowledge to yourself!

        Becoming a leader by helping others improves your standing, value or reputation in an increasingly networked online community as a leader which means that you will find it easier to get full-time jobs or consulting offers.

        Read this post On How To Become A Leader In Your Industry.

        Work On Projects Beyond Your Comfort Zone

        Accept responsibilities, projects or tasks that stretch you beyond your comfort zone.

        There is really no safety in the comfort zone because that is not how life works.

        Cultivate a mind that is willing to try new ways of doing things and you will never have to be afraid of the unknown!

        In your Quest For Knowledge, Get Certified

        Get some professional certifications. The process of getting a certification will improve your skills and stretch you beyond your comfort zone.

        It will also ground you in the facts you need to know for your job. However don’t be like those who desire to get certified so much that … they are willing to cheat their way to through.

        The true goal of certification is to make you a smarter, better, more knowledgeable person, so if you cheat your way to a certification, you have gained nothing!

        In your Quest for Knowledge, Take Practice Tests

        Use practice tests to boost your skills or get to your knowledge to expert level quickly.

        Repetition in training is the key to skill mastery. So, to master any new skill just repeat the same set of tasks multiple times until it sinks in and becomes second nature to you!

        And guess what? That is the same conclusion reached by “Daniel Coyle in Talent Code” and “Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers” in their ground-breaking, best-selling books!

        These authors discovered that the top performers in any industry put in hours of practice into sharpening their skills and that constant skill-sharpening, passionate practice is essential for world class performance.

        Read this post On How To Boost Your Skills Using Practice Tests.

        Do it NOW!

        The real purpose of knowledge is action.So take a pen and write down on paper, actions that you will take based on the information I have given you in this post.

        Then, DO IT NOW!

        I wish you the best in your career.


        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

        Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




        ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


        Visit our Shopping Cart

        ]]>         http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/15/how-to-become-a-rockstar-in-your-industry/feed/ 0         Beginner To Advanced SQL Skills In Hot Demand http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/07/beginner-to-advanced-sql-skills-in-hot-demand/ http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/07/beginner-to-advanced-sql-skills-in-hot-demand/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:30:44 +0000 ITCareerCoach http://www.it-career-coach.net/?p=357

        California Gold Rush Of 1949

        California Gold Rush Of 1949

        Beginner to Advanced SQL Skills are among the top-paying, hottest, in-demand tech skills.

        The demand for SQL skills is strongest across the breadth of Information Technology careers that includes the business analyst, web developer, data analyst, report writer, computer programmer or IT manager.

        This article explains the reason why IT professionals at different stages in their careers (beginners, intermediate or senior) experience a consistently high demand for beginner to advanced SQL Query Writing skills.

        Why Are Beginner Or Advanced SQL Skills in Hot Demand?

        • High Demand For Web Applications: Just about every commercial website or web application stores transactional or business data in a relational database management system (RDBMS). The rush to build web applications for business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) transactions rivals that of the California Gold Rush of 1848

        • Competing On Data: Businesses are preserving more of their corporate data so they can discover profitable trends or patterns and compete better in the market place. The increasing drive towards storing data on every customer interaction or transaction is also driving up the demand for data analysts, database developers, report writers who are beginning to use or have mastered SQL database development, SQL query writing or SQL programming.

        Why Learning SQL Matters

        • SQL Is Easier For Beginners To Learn Or Master: SQL is an easier or faster skill for beginners to learn or master compared to programming languages like Java, C++, PHP or C#.

        • SQL Is Standardized: Businesses tend to prefer one programming language or the other. For example, a business may standardize on Java and ignore C# skills or vice versa. However, SQL Programmers have a wider acceptance in the industry because the majority of SQL implementations derive from a standard, well-known form of SQL known as ANSI SQL.

        If you are interested in improving your SQL skills, consider taking a Beginner to Advanced SQL Course. Here is some brief information about the SQL Training Curriculum

        Study Guide For Beginner SQL Skills

        If you are just beginning to learning SQL, conisder starting with the following courses:

        • Relational Database Design Course: Study both the logical and physical database design process

        • SQL SELECT Queries Course: Study how to write simple SQL SELECT statements using the FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING Clauses

        Study Guide For Advanced SQL Skills?

        If you are not new to SQL and would like to advance SQL skills, considering studying the following SQL courses:

        • Complex SQL Queries Course: Study how to write complex SQL statements using Subqueries, UNION, JOINS, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT statements

        • Stored Procedure Course: Study how to write stored procedures, functions, triggers

        • Database Optimization Course: Study how to optimize your database stored procedures, indexes and queries

        Download The Comprehensive Beginner To Advanced SQL Curriculum

        If you are interested in improving your SQL skills, you may click here to download the detailed SQL Training Curriculum or click here to contact the SQL Boot Camp team and schedule for the next Beginner to Advanced SQL Training Class.


        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?



        What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

        Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here




        ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES


        Visit our Shopping Cart

        ]]>         http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/01/07/beginner-to-advanced-sql-skills-in-hot-demand/feed/ 8