How to Become a Data Analyst

CMy Data Analyst Journey

January

In January 2022 I was burnt out. I had six months of unpaid internships ahead of me, but since I was no longer a full‐time graduate student and part‐ or full‐time nanny, I had more time on my hands than I was used to. So, I started delivering for Instacart to help keep some cash flowing in—I was lucky to make $20 an hour on a good day.

I'd seen a lot of TikToks about side hustles and how lucrative the tech industry could be. I got the idea that if I could find a tech field that I could teach myself in a short amount of time, and do it remotely, I could replace Instacart with something I could do from home, at any time of day.

In the last week of January, I researched different jobs in tech and discovered data analytics. It seemed to me like part of data analytics was analyzing spreadsheets, and I saw some jobs on Indeed like “research assistant,” which just involved analyzing their research spreadsheets. I had enough savings and free time that I decided to do an experiment and see if I could pick up a side hustle analyzing spreadsheets.

I Googled “how to become a data analyst” and the Google Certificates course in Data Analytics came up. They promised to teach you all the skills you need to become a data analyst, and you'd even get a certification at the end. I had heard enough to give it a shot, and I signed up for the free trial.

February

February was consumed with taking the course. When the weeklong free trial ended, I upgraded to the ...