 Hello, I'm your host Alex Friedberg and this is the Alexa Analyst Show. Thank you so much for joining me today. We are going to be looking at completely realistic jobs. Last week, we looked at completely unrealistic jobs and basically everyone agreed that those jobs were ridiculous. But a lot of people were asking, well, what is a really good job description look like? What are things that we should look for in a job description that we know that that's a good job? And so that's what we're going to look at today. Before we get started, before we jump into that and we start looking at my screen and start walking through someone that I really thought were good examples of what a good job description is and a good job is, I want to say that if you didn't notice, there is a bobblehead right here. I'm going to bring him forward really quick because I already can tell that you can't really see who it is. This is my Dwight True bobblehead. It was voted on by the wonderful, amazing, fantastic people who support this channel over at Patreon and they wanted this bobblehead in this episode. And so I am absolutely going to do that. He has a bit of a wonky head. It's because I've moved with him many times and the spring that makes this head bobble is very wonky. So anyways, thank you for voting on that and for being part of that. Let's jump into it really quick. I'm going to share my screen with you and we're going to jump right into it and let's get started. So let's jump over here really quick. So this is of course my fake account. Now you can tell that there are people trying to message me on here. There are people trying to be my friend on here. This is not my real account. So if you were sending me messages on here or trying to connect with me on here, I'm not actually using this account. So if you want to, you can find my real account on my YouTube page, I guess. I'm just like, click on my channel. There's a link that you can find me on LinkedIn, my actual one, and follow me on there. And I would love to connect with you. So just don't follow this one. One other thing before we get started, this is coffee. I told you guys last week that I might do it, decide to do it because why not? I released this in the mornings. I am currently, this is very late at night. So I currently am drinking it to stay awake, but you might be drinking it to wake up in the morning because I post these videos in the morning. So if you want to join me, feel free. You do not have to, but I will be drinking coffee throughout because that's just the kind of show this is. It's a relaxed chill show. So with that being said, let's jump into our very first job right over here. Let's take a look at this one. I will say that I've looked through all these already. I really liked this one and how they described everything and kind of how they put into the description exactly what they're going to be doing. So let's look at this really quick. The summary is something that I just really liked. It says the data analysts will own the following, extract data from APIs to equal databases and other sources, manipulate and clean the data and then turn the data into insights. I mean that is basically what I, you know, that's what I think of a data analyst. That's what I think a data analyst is in a nutshell. They're extracting the data, they're taking the data, they're cleaning the data and then they're turning it into insights through dashboards or reports or however you're going to do that. And so right then and there, I already liked this job description because they kind of understand what the role of a data analyst is. They're not just giving you random things that you're going to work on. Some of the things that you're going to be needing to know are some advanced SQL and you're going to need to know things like business intelligence tools like Power BI, Tableau, things like that. You may also need to know Python, some ETL frameworks, you might need to know SAS, Excel, RStudio if you're using ARM. And then two years of experience. Now this is just a regular data analyst job. I have other jobs in here that are entry level jobs that we're going to look at because last week when we were looking at these jobs, I was primarily focused on entry level jobs because that's what a lot of people, a lot of my subscribers are looking for. But I wanted to show you what a good data analyst job looks like. To me, this is one where if I was looking for a job right now, which I am not, if I was looking for a job right now, I'd be like, this looks very clean, very simple, and is exactly what I think a data analyst job should look like. So I like this one a lot. Let's move on to the next one. I believe this one is a junior data analyst position right off the bat. I think the pay is good 25 to 27 an hour. And then once you become full-time, you can make $70,000 for your salary, which to me is really, really good, especially for a junior data analyst position. That's fantastic. I really hope that you cannot hear me sip on this coffee and if you can, I'm so sorry. That is not intentional in any way. Maybe I'll move over to the side when I drink it. It is helping me tonight, I promise you. And so I say tonight, it's morning from when you guys are watching, I'm sure, but it's helping, so I need it. So let's read through this junior data analyst position really quick. It says responsible frying sequel, custom reports. You'll utilize SQL scripts to pull the data and then you'll utilize UNIX scripting to move between different systems. And that is, I guess it's kind of a specific junior data analyst, but it's not unheard of. And so if you don't know what that is, maybe this one isn't for you. But again, that's not out of the realm of possibilities. For the qualifications, they're just looking for someone who has a bachelor's degree in computer science or related field. You need no SQL. And you need to know maybe a little bit of Python and an initiative to learn new technologies, such as Hadoop, and Teradata experience is a big plus. So these are not like super high qualifications. You don't have to have tons of years of experience. You don't have to even know Hadoop, just an initiative to want to learn it, I guess, which is fantastic. Your actual responsibilities are going to be writing SQL to extract, manipulate, and formulate data from Teradata platform, analyze pharmaceutical claims, create reports, work with the technical product owner. And then you get some type of leader or mentor in this job who's going to help you. To me, this is a fantastic job, especially if you're just starting out. And it looks like it's a very large company. So it's a Fortune 15 healthcare company. So, I mean, honestly, it sounds really good. And this would be something that I would get excited about, because I'm like, look, a lot of the skills that a lot of entry-level people are learning, it's SQL, it's Python, I'm sure you're using Excel. And it's not like you need three or five years' experience, which is always something that I'm looking for it to not have in an entry-level job. Let's move on to the next one. I believe this one is also a data analyst one. Excuse me, my nose is itching me. Let's see. So this is a data analyst job for EverCommerce. And let's scroll down here. So real quick, it's in Irving, Texas. It says it has a 20,000 square foot open plan office. We even have our own game room. Wow. I mean, honestly, though, when I was, we have that in my current job. I do utilize it. I have friends. Well, when we're at, when we're in the office, I had friends. I still have, they're still my friends, but I would get together with them and we play ping pong and we play foosball and stuff like that. So I understand that that is a big selling piece. I will say that, that is not something that I am really sold on for that job. I cared more about the work, but just knowing that they have that is a plus. And that's, if that's something that if you like doing those kind of things, that's really cool. And so kudos to them for doing that. Let's go down a little bit more. So honestly, the responsibilities are really simple. You're managing the ETL processes and infrastructure across multiple platforms, which sounds really fancy. It's not as fancy as you think it probably is. I'm going to do some ad hoc reporting. You're going to work with leadership to understand business needs. And then you can do some data mining for insights and recommend additional data points for collection. So, you know, all the things that most data analysts are going to do. There's nothing in there that's unheard of or shocking in any way to me. And then the required proficiencies are, you know, really simple. It's SQL Tableau, Excel, be able to speak data and speaks the statistics and a willingness to learn new languages and technologies. I mean, it cannot get simpler than that. In a lot of entry-level people probably fit that skill set. And so to me, that's just a really good, really simple job description at least. And then for the required experience, we're looking at a bachelor's degree. So again, you know, I don't need a master's for this position. You need two plus years experience and then experience data wrangling and cleansing. So in my opinion, these are all staples of things that you need to know how to do in order to get like a mid-level position. This stuff may not be entry-level because, you know, you may not know how to do data mining or you may not know how to clean data super well. Important things to know how to do. And so, you know, I guess that's why it's not a junior position. That's why it's a mid-level position. And so, yeah, so let me say, I'm just curious about the benefits and perks competitive salary, 17 vacation days, eight standard holidays plus your birthday. I mean, snacks, lunches and happy hours. I mean, you know, I don't know about all the specifics, but it looks like it's a good, this is a good position, a good company that's going to pay well. And I don't think it put a salary around here. It did not. So it just, it looks like a good position to me, something that I probably would have been interested in. You know, I like this one. Let's move on to another entry-level position. And this one's that hop jump. Never heard of it. Cambridge. But the funny thing that I really liked about this one was this quip right at the beginning that said, sick of those entry-level jobs that require one to two years experience. No, I'm sick of the entry-level jobs that require like five years experience, but I'm also sick of the one to two years experience, I guess. And so they just, they said, if you have an analytical and quantitative mindset and you're looking to apply, you know, please apply. I like that. I think they're addressing an unknown issue and they're saying, you know, we're not one of those companies. So, you know, I like that. But I also liked a lot of the other things in this, not just that funny thing. So let's scroll down just a little bit. Actually, I want to scroll back up. It says, we work with my SQL, Python, R, Excel and more, though no prior knowledge of programming is required. Now remember, this is an entry-level data analyst position. And they are specifically saying no prior knowledge of programming is required. I mean, that is, that is a thing of beauty. This is a, this is a gem, a diamond in a rough, I mean, genuinely, because a lot of these entry level positions are requiring Python or R and you to know that, like, have proficiency in it and having used it like a year or two. And it's ridiculous. And so they're being very straightforward and they're saying, look, we want someone who is looking to learn, who knows a lot of these basic things and who can pick up these things and grow in our company. So they're looking for somebody who has a bachelor's in mathematics, statistics, physics or another quantitative field. And again, experience or desire to learn some of these skills. And really, that's, that's all they get into. To me, it addresses a lot of the issues that a lot of people have with jobs out there today. Entry level jobs should not require you to already know a lot of these skills. I speaking from personal experience, you know, I lucked into a position that was kind of like this where they didn't require all these things. They wanted someone with a health care background. And that's what they're looking for. And so if you were, if you are so lucky to find a position like this, where they don't require you or expect you to know these difficult skills right off the bat, that's fantastic, highly recommend applying. Let's move over to the next one. This is a data analyst position with Colabero. I think that's how it's pronounced. Colabero, who knows? Not, not super important. But definitely I've seen this name before, so I kind of know what this company does. But anyway, so this is a data analyst position. This is not an entry level position, but it says that it's located in Plano, Texas. It's starting remote. I'm sure once COVID is gone, everybody's coming back into the office. It's going to be a huge party. It's going to be amazing. Things that you need to know are SQL really well, Python really well, and then Tableau. But this is only a negotiable skill. If they have any kind of business intelligence experience, then it might be fine. Pluses are snowflakes. I'm sure obviously they're using snowflakes. So if you know that, fantastic. And then the day to day stuff that they're doing is they're filtering data, building analytic dashboards, writing script for internal applications, supporting the leadership with business risk office, the develop Tableau reports, write Python scripts, and use SQL primarily for analytics and snowflake. I mean, this is, again, kind of classic what a data analyst does. There's no frills. There's no, you know, hey, you need to know Hadoop. You need to know like these random skills that don't really relate to data analysis that much. You're not building ETL pipelines. You're not managing data warehouses. You're doing, you're using SQL, Python, Tableau, snowflake. I mean, these are staples. Like these are, especially at mid-level, like at mid-level position, you know, these are, these are things that you need to know how to use. If you don't know snowflake, that's totally fine. But snowflake is a very, very large software and a lot of people use it. And so, you know, brushing up on it, knowing what it is, could be just good enough for this position, just knowing what it is, because it just says it's a plus. They just want you to really know SQL and Python. That's what it sounds like to me. Let's move over to our very last one, which is a junior data analyst position. So this is with Mintel. I don't know if I'm saying that right. This is a junior data analyst position. Let's go down and kind of see what we're working with. So leveraging modern analytics and database platforms to deliver statistics or dynamic analysis. Nothing really interesting there. Who are we looking for? All soft slash, okay. No, there's actually good information in here. Okay, good. So they're looking at someone who's a good communicator. They want someone who's data driven, who can, you know, I guess solve problems. Really the only hard skills are like in this tech savvy, it says you have excellent SQL skills and the ability to find insights. You also have exposure to business intelligent platforms like Tableau, Looker, Power BI, etc. and an understanding of appropriate application for data visualization along with experience and data modeling. So genuinely everything else is like really soft skills. You know, it's like be able to work on your own, be humble, be somebody who wants to continue and grow in their career. And then the tech savvy part was the only part where it's like hard skills. And they just needed to know, they wanted you to know SQL, a business intelligence tool, and then know how to do data modeling. And so again, I personally think these are all super fundamental staples that every data analyst should know. And the data modeling might not be as entry level. That might be, you know, sometimes data modeling can get, be a little bit more complicated depends on the company depends on how they do that depends if you know data know what data modeling is. And so again, data modeling is something that you should look into if you don't know what that is, if you don't know how to do it. That's why looking at job descriptions, looking at jobs that you might want to apply for is really useful because you can then see you can be like, Oh, you know, they're looking at data modeling, I'm seeing data modeling pop up here and there. I should look into that what that is and learn that. And so again, this is just a good example of a job that I think is very much catered towards, you know, entry level is very much catered towards somebody who is just starting out and learn knows the basics and the staples within the industry. I really, really liked, I really liked this job. I thought this one was a really good one. So again, I tried to pick not only entry level jobs to look at, I also wanted to pick, you know, some mid level jobs because, you know, looking at the difference and understanding the difference on skill level and kind of like the things that they're expecting that you should know, there definitely is a difference. And I hope you were able to see that through what we looked at today. We have entered a fantastic time in the show, a time that I love personally, where we take a question from, we take a question from YouTube, something that somebody was asking about wanted to know, and I'm going to share it with everybody, and we'll answer and we'll walk through it together. So this is the question of the week, just from a ref, I'm, I'm just going to, I'm not going to even try to do the V's, but it says, do you think based on your experience is a data analyst or a data science a good career for introverts? Super interesting question, something that I actually do get asked quite a bit. And what's really interesting about it to me is that I think a lot of people have this perception that if you're in tech, you're kind of standalone and you're kind of working by yourself. There are positions within tech. That is true. Positions like sometimes like data engineers, sometimes data architects, definitely IT heavy roles sometimes can be like that where you're just kind of off doing your own thing, not really interacting with people. I mean, a lot of data science and data analyst teams for the most part, you're going to be talking a lot. These aren't introvert heavy. This is not an introvert heavy field, right? I used to think that I, well, let me, let me back this up. I used to be an introvert, like really much, very much an introvert. Didn't like going out and doing things, didn't like, I like staying in, I like doing my own thing. I enjoyed my time myself. I still do, but I very much started to become more of an extrovert. I think it's called like an ambivert, omnivert. Don't quote me on that. That may not be a thing, but I now enjoy both. And so introverts, the true introverts, true people who really just do not like interacting with people. It drains them. This, either of those data analysts or data scientists, it's going to be tough, like a true introvert. And I figured out I'm not an introvert. I do have a side to me where I like to be social. And you guys might be laughing at that because you think, well, Alex, you make all these videos, you talk to us, you do these live, I promise you, after those things, like after this video, I'm going to go straight to bed. I'm tired. I want to have some, I'm not actually, I'm not going to go straight to bed. I'm going to stay up and like watch YouTube and stuff like that. Just for a little while, just so I have some like time myself. And just to give you like an example, a data analyst can and does go off and do work by themselves for a while. But you're always going to have to check in with the project manager. You're going to have to talk to the clients. You definitely have to talk to other people on your team, other data analysts, the database developers, data engineers, to work with them to complete your work. This is not a standalone job. And so, you know, going back to the question, because I just went off on a huge tangent, going back to the question, which is better for an introvert? If I had to choose one, I can't say neither and I can't say both. I would say that a data scientist is probably going to be a better position for an introvert. And here's why. Data scientists are a little bit more technical. And when you get the, I believe at least, when the farther you get in the technical aspect of a job, the more time you spend by yourself figuring it out, researching and getting that work done. Whereas data analysts, they are, they do have a very technical side to them. But there is a lot of working with other people to get this stuff in. Whereas data scientists can rely on themselves to do some of those things that data analysts might rely on other people, if that made sense. So, you know, if I had to choose, I would say a data scientist might be a better career option for you. I, you know, I went off on a tangent on that one. I apologize. We've come to an even better part of the show, in my opinion, an even better part of the show, which is the very end. And if you've made it to the very end, thank you. I appreciate you. I care about you. And we have this very fun thing that we do. I think it's fun. I don't think many other people think it's fun, but I find joy in it every single time I do it. I still do. I mean, I'm smiling right now genuinely because when people watch this video and they post this in the chat, I always, it just makes me smile. So I do this mostly for myself. It's a very selfish act. But if you've gotten this far and you want to show that, you know, you made it this far and you care about your job search. You care about getting a job. You care about progressing your career. You can in the chat put a keyword, something that shows that you did all of those things and you care about all those things. And here on the Alex Sandler show, for whatever reason, we keep it plant-based. Well, not even plant-based. Even more specifically, we keep it vegetable-based. And today's vegetable of the week is potatoes. The most universal, incredibly robust vegetable that I can imagine. I mean, it is beautiful and it is amazing in so many ways. There are many people out there who agree with me. There's communities for that. And I will not comment on if I'm part of those communities. But what I will say is that, you know, a potato can be a whole meal. A potato can also be a side dish, french fries, baked potato. I mean, it's just, it has so many uses. It really does. I hope that this was an enjoyable show. I really, really, really, and I'm being genuine, I want to hear feedback on if you could hear me drinking this. Because if you can, I may not do it again. I would hate that if I heard somebody drinking this like multiple times during a video. I probably would. I would never watch again. And I would not blame you. In fact, I would respect you. So let me know if you could hear that. But anyways, that is the end of the show. Thank you so much for sticking around all this way. I know how I am at the end of the show. I start going off on tangents. I'm talking about potatoes as french fries. Makes no sense. But it's kind of a time for us to just reflect on where we want to go in our career, who we want to be. It's a time for us to connect emotionally as well. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate you sticking around with me. So thank you. I will see you next week. I already know what I'm talking about next week. It's on money, which I like talking about money. I like earning money. I hope that it'll be something that it'll be something that you get something out of. Something that you learn something from. So thank you for watching. I appreciate you again. That's like the third time. I'm really appreciative today. And I will see you next week. Goodbye.