Data and coding are buzzwords at the moment: skills people tell you you’re supposed to have without explaining how and why they would be useful. However, even if you have zero interest in coding chances are that knowing a bit more about data analysis will help you in your role. If nothing else, you may find it interesting.

Why Bother?

Whatever your job, you’re probably processing data already. You may be updating Excel spreadsheets, monitor systems, or provide customer service. Understanding data and what they mean will help you identify trends, work smarter, and spot issues and work towards a solution.

Where to Start?

The internet is full of courses, many of them expensive, and some more helpful than others. Developers are a helpful lot and will happily share advice on sites like Github, but if this seems a bit daunting try starting with one of the many free resources out there. Even a basic Excel or data visualization course will help. Codecademy has some excellent free data courses and I always point people towards Kevin Stradvert’s Youtube channel if they’re looking for Excel tutorials.

What Will I Get out of This?

You will learn to think differently. Rather than taking data at face value you will learn to ask basic questions to understand how it has been gathered, what it means, and how it can be useful to you. You will also learn to consider what data you need to answer your own questions, where you can find it, whether it is clean, and how best to visualize it.

The takeaway: you don’t need to learn SQL or Python (unless you really want to, which you may do, it’s a lot of fun). But in a world increasingly dominated by scary stories about how AI will soon make us all redundant, it will help to have an understanding of what technology and information can do for you.

Image my own @thecococatani