 Hello, hello, I have got it started, but I'm waiting for it to catch up on YouTube This should be good. I Always like to check and make sure though because things get Something always happens Something always happens, but Let's see if it's working All right seems to be working. That's a good thing. All right guys. We're gonna be getting started Uh Let's see what's going on. Uh, this is our Monthly livestream. I'm doing it early in November Because I'm about to be going on a trip with uh with my family. Oh, hey everybody. I see a bunch of regulars already How's it going? Hey everybody I always love saying hi to you guys when we get this going um But uh, I'm doing it early this week this month because we're going on a trip Um, and then I won't be back until literally like the last day of the month And then if I try to do at the end I'm just gonna be scrambling So I wanted to I want to make it a good You know experience for everyone. I don't want to rush through it. Um Jorge Mendoza. Hey from Venezuela. Hey from the united states. What's going on? What's up? What's up? What's up? I see everybody in marina mall dr dominica republic I think that's it Oh, we already got some questions rolling in and that's what this is all about I'll come back to you greg in just a second. You'll be the first question that I answer. Um, but this is for you guys I do this because I I Genuinely like it. This is super super fun for me. But also because I I know Um, that it's you know, really useful to get some feedback on questions that you have And a lot of you guys reach out to me on social media like twitter and linkedin instagram email Or just commenting on one of my youtube things One of my youtube videos and I try to answer as many as I possibly can I get a lot But this is kind of a place where we can all come together and all get feedback from somebody else's question or something You may have so Feel free to start pouring those questions in I try to get through as many as I possibly can and usually I get through most of them, but um There's always new questions. So we'll see how it goes But let's start off with greg Because I'm gonna get this kicking. Uh, just so you guys know to preface this I gotta stop at right at nine. All right. My wife needs sleep I'm not going to 9 15 9 30 tonight Not not this time the december one though Maybe but november one we're stopping at nine All right, greg said i'm having trouble breaking into the data analyst career field. Do you have any advice? Well? Greg, yeah, I'm sorry to hear that but there are a lot of factors that can go into actually breaking in If you're not getting interview so it as as a whole if you're not getting interviews It's a resume problem or maybe even a location problem where you're applying Because like if I were to apply right now into certain locations Even I would have trouble just because there's certain locations that don't have a lot of opportunities um, but if you're not getting any interviews and you're applying to remote jobs and you know Something like a metropolitan area like charlotte or dallas or something like that if you're in the united states It could be a resume problem and if you're having trouble actually landing the job It could be your interview skills or your technical interview skills so That's my advice is really do some do some introspection Find out what you're having trouble with and then you know identify those things and work on them What I'd be doing I see everybody saying hello. Hello everybody from egypt tarik m m babe and babay I don't know if that's pronounced correctly, but hello. Thank you for joining Oh, let's see. See if we got any other questions, which I'm sure we do Yosef, thank you for the feedback. I'm glad to hear it I always check to make sure my audio and video are all doing well because I used to have a bad setup I've fixed a lot of it, but I'm glad to hear it's doing better um Diego veras said I'm using your channel to learn data and change my career. Thank you for your amazing content You're very you're very welcome. Super glad it's helpful Do it. I I think with my channel you can do 90 to 95 percent of to be able to make that change. I really do um Nadia Nadia or For the arrow. Hi, Alex. Thank you for your brilliant job on your channel. I am Nadia Gutin from brazil I actually live in utah very cool. I was just in utah. I'm 40 years old with no experience as a data analyst Is it too late for me? Definitely not too late. Um, I've worked with people who are literally in their 50s Um, and have been able to make the switch. They landed jobs. They made the switch What they did and what the advice I'd give to you Is if you're 40, hopefully you've already had some work experience in some field or domain What I recommend is trying to utilize that trying to repurpose what you've done in an analytical Way. Have you used excel? Have you ever used a database? Do you work in health care? Do you work in finance? Do what you know? What have you used and try to repurpose that on your resume as well as building up portfolio projects? Um, there's two reasons and I know other people ask this But there's two reasons that I recommend people do portfolio projects. One is learning Um, because it helps you learn it really does and you get to build up this portfolio that you can point to The second thing is is during interviews if you don't have any experience you can then say You know, hey And they'll ask you in an interview What experience do you have using sequel and you'll say well in my current job, uh, or Maybe I didn't say that you'll just say, you know in this project that I've done using sequel And you can point to those projects as experience That is what I see the biggest value those two things is the biggest value for learning and pointing to as That is part of your experience. I've built this project. Here's what I did Here's how I was able to clean data do Exploratory data analysis doing something, right? so I those that's my advice for you if you're starting a little later in switching careers um, that's my advice Mcmick michael angelo sason says hey alex greetings from the philippines Thank you for joining. Hello from the united states jersey Uh, let's see retan kumar said I know excel sequel power bi That's fantastic. That's a great combination. That's usually what I recommend people start out with those three skills Either power bi or tableau one or the other but they're both really really powerful. That's like the power trio right there Um, if you're really good at it, even if you're not really good at but if you're confident in your abilities Uh, I would say yes. I think you are but you need a good resume. I recommend doing projects Um, you know practice for that those technical interviews, you know But if you're confident in those skills and you're good at those skills you can land jobs Um, not all right because some jobs want python some jobs want r some jobs want tableau But those three skills can get you um can get you far um Cody says the camera quality is amazing. Cody. Thank you. I needed to hear that I'm trying my best here guys. I really am i'm trying to have the quality this this this program They call it programs these days. I guess i'm showing my age I'm just kidding. Um, I wanted uh, oh, oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry I just I Pass it Ali asked I wanted to ask what skills do I need to go along with software? On with which software to work on to get those skills So If you're I guess maybe you're talking about what let me read it again I wanted to ask what skills do I need along with which software to work? Oh, okay, I get it I always recommend sequel excel and then a power bi tool That's like this ones I I recommend everybody start with because there's so many different things you can go into python Scala are all these different programming languages Um, but those ones are like the nuts the nuts and bolts the meat and potatoes of what I recommend So excel sequel and you can do any sequel post gray sequel my sequel sequel server. I like sequel server but um And then which software I'm not I I'm gonna say those that that's what I'm gonna say I hope I got I hope I answered it appropriately um Chim chim says I'm doing international business management. Do you think I can work as a data analyst? I know for a fact that business management does have data analyst overlap Um, not as heavy as other jobs, but when you're doing business management, you work with a lot of metrics You can utilize that to kind of repurpose right like I was talking about earlier. You can repurpose it Um Okay, jeffrey conley says alex. I'm in i'm a finance recent finance graduate. Hey congratulations from san diego state university What should my next state steps be and becoming a financial analyst? um You I mean, I don't know what your degree is or I don't have a lot of context I just know you graduate, which is fantastic. That's that's really good Um, in general if you're right out of school, you know, you want to be trying to get some experience Probably the lower level maybe even internship. Hopefully paid Especially in this economy. Good night. Um, but what I would recommend is getting a really good resume working with your career services in your college because typically With when you're graduating from college, you'll have some type of career services Um, and you know make a really good resume good portfolio. Um, just the the staples, right? That's what I recommend. That's a lot of my generalizations apply to like recent grads because they don't have any experience They don't have any like Things that they can like really push But you have a degree and that's good. So, um, but I would utilize your your college if you can Uh frothy For i'm just gonna say frothy Or frothy over here. Uh, if my major is in education, I have a minor in marketing Do you think that could be used as leverage to get a data analyst job in those sectors? um, education does have Uh, a nice niche and I call it a niche because it's not super large But there's an ed there's ed tech out there their education Um platforms that need data analysts. This is you know, um, this is definitely a thing marketing is much larger So if I were you if I was trying to break in I don't have a ton of experience in analytics in any way I would be focusing more on the marketing side Trying to get something like a marketing analyst or a business analyst in a marketing company or something like that just to break in um because I it doesn't say if you have experience as a teacher or experience as a marketing something in marketing I'm just assuming that that's the case. So, um It's definitely possible to utilize it. Yeah Uh, yosef said I alex I need to enhance my analytics skills and how to get improved as thinking not technical Yeah, I don't come from a technical background either yosef um You know, I I became technical five years ago and started learning it just like a lot of you guys are out right now What helped me a lot was when I was like learning it Was trying to follow projects. So following tutorials So I took a ton of courses like all these courses that you see I recommend. I've taken all of them Either one or multiple times um, and so a lot of those have projects which I highly recommend because if You know, if you can build something you remember it better And it makes you use some critical thinking and and it challenges you when you're just following along to like a tutorial You learn the concept, but it doesn't stick You don't under understand how to use it and that's what's really important. So Um, I'd be trying to do some like follow along projects. Um, Coursera has some good ones or you can literally It's called guided projects. I have ones on my channel. There are other youtubers who have them as well But there's lots of good courses for it. So that's what I'd be doing Let's see Jorge Mendoza, it's it's true that this month's two to three offers to open position usually gets lower Oh the next two, um Yes, there is a lol. So there's like cycles there There are cycles and hiring and as a manager I know it's all too well, right during the summer people are quitting. They're moving. They're doing all these things That's an upcycle big hiring time Then right after summer and to fall it dips low Then right the new year after people get their bonuses and it's the new year and people are changing jobs and you know New year new me Then there's a bunch of people quitting again and moving jobs and there's lots of vacancies and openings So yes, there are ebbs and flows in the market and in job openings So you can look that up just google like the best time to um apply to jobs With that being said, I still recommend if you're ready start applying now Even if it's a bad time because in two three months when it is a good time You'll have gotten in contact with recruiters. You'll have you know made connections. Hopefully that will help you Catherine Cole said started watching you in amsterdam moved to new zealand getting ready to move to the u.s Sure, I'll apply all this learning there. That's awesome. Hey, congrats on all the the international moving. That's super exciting I have never moved international. I've Been international. Um, I've gone a lot of places, but um, yeah, that's super exciting I hope that all goes well If if you are still here, let me know where you're headed because the u.s is Crazy, we got all sorts of places Let's see ryan arch currently a stay at home dad looking to get back into the workforce analytics Would you put stay at home parent on your resume if that's where I learned all the technical skills? That's a good question. Um, if you have previous experience, I would highlight that and you can even put on your resume if you want to if you just want to be really up like up front like You know took a took a three-year hiatus to raise kids like that wouldn't be a knock Especially if you have experience in other areas um, but I wouldn't that wouldn't be like Something I would be pushing I'd be pushing my skills my projects my other experience probably first Um, you want to push like the things that are going to help you get the job the most at the beginning of your resume Blessed stars or blessed stars. How can you find mentors if you're not currently if you're not working in it currently? Yeah, finding mentors is always tough. There are literally Companies that do this. I have a program myself, but I am almost always full. I get asked every single day. I'm always full I'm sorry But there are literally companies that do this stuff And you can also reach out like build relationships on linkedin I have found I myself when I was first starting out found someone who kind of helped mentor me through like the beginning steps um, so just even just reaching out and trying to make connections or Just trying to get to know people on online or in person. It's a really good way to find a mentor Uh adam from Malaysia. What's going on? Uh, harika v. How can I contact you? I I will say I message the best back Via linkedin I'm usually on there the most and I get the most messages on there Then instagram is okay. Although I get a ton on there and I don't go on there as much Emails, all right, and I have all this like either in the description on my about page on my youtube So you can look you can look at all those places Good evening from Montreal kevin. What's going on? Hey from the us neighbors uh Yeah, hi nasif nasif. I don't know how to pronounce. I apologize. I'm 27 I have no technical background can I start a career on data analysis? Is it a good decision? So just in general I think if you're going to get into tech and if you have an analytical mind and you're interested in analytics Then absolutely 27 is not too old by any means. I mean it's very young in your career Um, if it's a good decision, I mean it's up to you. Do you like it? Do you enjoy it? Do you like all these technical skills? Um, you know, check out some of my videos on like how to become a data analyst Look at the skills that you need and that you'll be working with a lot If you enjoy them do it if you don't I wouldn't do it I think enjoyment has a lot to do with it. Um, but the money is good And there's a lot of opportunity out there. None big none big tech right now Obviously, I'm sure a lot of you guys know that big tech is Not doing well. Um obo team. Oh What's going on man? Thanks for the two dollars. I appreciate it. You didn't have to do that and mathew What's going on? He just said hiya But thank you for being a member and also thank you for the two months You're you were like one of my firsts So you're gonna be like I just started my my membership stuff Last like a month or two ago and you were one of my firsts So I really appreciate it And this is a good time in the in the live stream if you haven't already Join the channel as a member it supports me as a, you know, youtuber or i'm not full-time youtuber But it supports me as a creator The the reason I started doing these was for you guys and you guys just Um are awesome and support me back by by joining becoming a member and that just goes towards stuff like this And I really really appreciate it. So if you want to do that go ahead and do that You don't have to it's no obligation But thank you mathew for being here. He's also one of my moderators So don't say anything bad or mathew will straight up get rid of you. Um, he has my full permission Um Billy t83 great name. Uh, does microsoft power bi certification make it an entry level data analyst more employable? Um It's a good certification to get I actually do like that one And if it I think it makes me more employable if that job is specifically wanting power bi or like a power bi Or maybe not power bi developer, but a power bi analyst and there are those things we have them at my company Um, but if you're if they're heavy power bi that does make you more employ employable for sure Moses true true. Hello. I'm sorry. I got that name wrong long last time probably, but I try my best I think you told me how to pronounce what I forgot. He said hi, Alex. The uni course is going great Moses was one of my uh, was one of the winners of the giveaway at the 300,000 subscriber giveaway I'm really glad that's going well Did you get the was it the python course that you got? I think you got the python course Or is it the tableau? It was one of those is either of those two. I just can't remember Matthew Beffa said hey, Alex your content has helped my Help me complete a year-long python and sequel data analyst program. That's awesome. Just completed and working on capstone project Thank you. You're most welcome Matthew. Congrats. Sounds like you're uh, making really good progress very very cool Uh, got some people from india and perth. Thank you guys. I appreciate it Let's see. Let's I just skipped a bunch of stuff. I gotta go back I gotta go back. I just skipped a bunch of stuff Maxwell Thompson. This is a good one. I like this question already. I haven't read the whole thing But I'm gonna I'm gonna read it because I like this one I read a lot on linkedin about the importance of building a personal brand when it comes to finding a job What's your take on personal branding, especially in this field? Is it even necessary? It is not necessary it is not but it helps and I will say that for me. Okay, I'm gonna give you a bit of my experience and I'm gonna talk about somebody who doesn't have any Personal branding out there right now. So I'm gonna give you two extremes I have a I have a large Um, I don't want to say following but I have a large community, right? I have 300 some thousand on on youtube I have 130,000 on linkedin. They have 40,000 on twitter. So it's it's a large community So just because people know me I get offered jobs because they know I'm I'm knowledgeable in this area They know that I have the right skills because they see me doing tutorials and they see me offering advice Um, so people are like we trust and know that alex already knows what he's talking about. We like him We want to hire him Now this happens and I say no to all of them because I'm not looking right now But think of it on a smaller scale, right? You build up a small community of five ten thousand You're building a personal brand. You're putting out content that you enjoy that you're interested in your building projects People see that on a smaller scale, of course But people can see it people can comment on it And it makes it easier to point to these things or even just get your name out there And so it does help now the larger you grow, you know, whatever you do your personal branding the better But even on a small scale it can definitely help. I'm not saying it will get you a job But it helps But I've seen a lot of people who've grown it actually quite a bit and that they were like Hey, that helped me get a job because someone saw my stuff on linkedin and reached out So that does happen Um, so yeah, I think it is worth it if you're interested in it. It's not for everyone though It is not it's not easy to take criticism and feedback Especially when you post stuff and it's not amazing. So Not necessary, but does help it can help Um, John a I'm an aspiring analyst who just started my first data analyst job as a data processor working with excel only Is this a suitable suitable resume builder in general? Yes, um, I I've heard of those jobs although I don't know a ton about them But even when you're working with only excel, I mean you can do a lot in excel um So yes, um I think it's it's like one of those jobs like even a data entry job Can be a stepping stone think of everything think of everything in terms of How can I use this as a stepping stone to where I want to be in five years? You know, I think it can be just I think it depends on what you're doing in excel and how you form out it on your resume But I think it can be Abo Timo Hi, Alex. Super happy to see you again. It's super happy. I'm super happy to see you. Thank you for being here. I appreciate it Um Nadia Cordero, okay. She's answering the question. I have 10 years of experience in supply chain logistics area, but in brazil I'm planning on staying I'm planning on staying at google data analyst to update my career I definitely think that's you have 10 years of experience in that in supply chain logistics Even if you're 40 you're for shirking. I I'm positive you couldn't If you if you plan it out right make a good resume, you definitely could ZZ literally got a job offer yesterday in large part due to the portfolio projects. Thank you, Alex. You're awesome Dude, congratulations. That's huge. I love hearing that A job offer yesterday. You missed me on cloud nine. I I hope you are I remember I'm getting my first job And I was like ecstatic. I was like this is the best day of my life So I I'm hoping you're feeling that euphoria as well. Super happy for you um Let's see As I'm scrolling through I I see some questions. I've already answered so I will start skipping some so I apologize if I if I skip yours Nothing personal um Okay, never mind my camera light went off, but it looks like I'm still streaming so I think I'm okay um, let's see Madi Coray hello from Tunisia I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. I haven't heard that um country that much, but hey, how's it going? I'm studying the pl 300 power bi sort of certificate any advice No, not really Sorry, I don't have a lot of advice on that certification. Um, but it's a good one. I hope it does you well um Adiaka Michael, how do I start a project on my own? This is a good one because a lot of people will just do my portfolio projects and call it quits Which is fine, right? I always say go further do better But some people do that and that's okay Um, but advice on starting on doing your own projects I highly recommend doing your own projects that pushes you a really far My guided projects or guided projects just in general It's kind of you know, it babies you it helps you get helps you take your first steps But how do you learn to walk and run? Um, you do your own projects and they're not easy I recommend for the most of your first projects just finding a data set right just find a data set on Kaggle Um, don't just google data sets do google data sets. It's like a part within google So go into google type in google data sets And it'll take you to a section of google data sets where they have publicly available data sets and it helps you find them So Kaggle and google data sets are really great places to find data In search for something that you're interested in it could be customer information finance agriculture construction whatever Or bike systems crime um, whatever And dig into it and see what you can do right? Uh, that's what I would do But that's I would just start by taking a data set and trying to analyze it It's Sounds easy looks uh can be hard um Let me all right Our Collins. Hey looking to change careers I've been an inventory management supply chain looking to start fresh at 35 years old came across your channel It's super help or it's helping to motivate me really glad to hear that. I wish you the best of luck Hoping you can use that because supply chain is huge. So hopefully you can use that background in the analytics world Probably I asked to get another good question. Do companies expect you to jump right into an entry level job? Or do they put someone to help improve your skills? I think That if companies a good companies That invest in building up internally, which there are companies that do that Then yes, they usually have some type of program or some type of um System in place for the first like week two weeks to kind of get you up and running Even if you're experienced like me going into a new company There is a little bit of lag time. You have to start understanding their databases Understanding what software they use getting access to everything. These things are not quick. I work at it now I in at a help at the same healthcare company that I've been working at for the past three years And it takes sometimes two three weeks just to get people access to everything they need So you have time and you'll be able to talk to people learn but they don't if you're like An entry level you they know that you don't know much There is some expectation that you're not going to jump in and know everything But there is expectation that you'll pick it up pretty quickly So, you know and or at least show that you're worth what they're paying you pretty quickly So, you know within a month it's you you hope you kind of know what you're doing You're getting access to databases. You're starting to contribute You know for the most part Newman new Newman sial says hello from pakistan. Hey, I guess I guess I'm good pakistan friends So glad to have you here Let's see Matthew says Alex. Do you have any advice on getting taller my friend? If I had that advice I'd be taking it myself So now I don't Let's see Jason Lindsay. What are some of the methods slash skills you're using in python for analytics? What is the hardest? Okay, this is a good question because it's it's a specific I like specific questions. I also like general questions, but I like specific more because I can get more specific in my answers Um, so the way that I use it for analytics for analyzing data. I'm mostly using pandas Um, and I use pandas for a lot of stuff. Um Either I'm just like combining data or appending data from different data sets into one, um data frame Or, you know, I'm I'm you know using matplotlib or seaborne for some visualizations more exploratory data analysis not like creating dashboards for somebody Um, but just like exploring the data using it and trying to visualize and see it So I use a lot of pandas matplotlib seaborne and I've worked on many teams that have You know used python for data analysis and that's pretty common across the board You'll see those those ones pop up a lot and those are ones that I'll teach on my channel in the coming months Um, yeah, that's what I use for python. I love python. What's the hardest? I don't know. I find visuals visualizing things in python to be harder than analyzing it But maybe that's just how my brain works. I like the drag and drop. I like power bi and tableau or click Looker, you know, whatever Whatever you want to use I those are easier for me, but I still like I I I think that's why it's hard because in python There's a lot of things that you need to control whereas it's a lot easier and those other tools That's just my opinion Sadiq you asked a ton of questions, but I'm just going to try to skim through them How many projects should we do what type of project should we do? How to approach recruiter and then you said I'm applying for a job with my portfolio projects But I haven't received a single response. So how many projects I like three to five What type of projects? A some domain specific that you're trying to get into some just personal And how do we approach a recruiter messaging them cold calling them? And you have to do this on a large scale you work. I used to work with um Seven or eight recruiters at a time When I first was getting started to break in I was working with seven or eight recruiters at a time and constantly Emailing them like every week I'd check in like hey, have you found anything for you know my skill sets? You know and I got to know them because I just I talked to them all the time. I'd call them I was annoying Um, I was a bit relentless because I was desperate at the time if you guys remember if you guys know my background I was I was desperate. I needed a job I needed a job and I was willing to do whatever it took to get that job. So I was pretty annoying Um Yeah, if you haven't received a response, it could be location could be your resume Let's see I don't know what this comment means. I'm gonna read it Newman sial from from the guy that was just shouting out from Pakistan He said hello from Pakistan. You're the best example of chaotic good. I I have ever seen in real life Definitely love what you do. I don't know what chaotic good means I'm assuming that's a good thing, but that's just that comment caught me off guard All right Louis Ochoa I recognize that name. I think you've been messaging me on We've been messaging each other on instagram, but is your company hiring my company's always hiring Maybe not in my department. Maybe not Um, in my in my organization, but other orgs and other departments for sure guarantee you there Do you think python or r is more intuitive? Um, honestly, I've used python a lot more I have used r I I myself Took a longer time Uh took a longer time to Learn python But I learned r after python and so now that I had some programming experience r came a little bit more intuitive Although I just didn't like it as much It's still good if you're learning r it's still good and I I rag on it I make jokes about it, but genuinely I do believe that r is a good programming language for data analysts I really do but I just like to make jokes about it because um, I like to upset people sometimes not all the time Uh, just you know just to poke poke the bear. It's fun. It's fun because there's a python versus r can versus r debate out there And I like to you know poke the bear um Let's see Can I refer you to my company? Uh, I don't really do that just because I I have referred oops What I do? Oh, it's giving me a suggestion about bit rate. I don't know how to change that on the fly So I'm not gonna worry about it. I hope this dream stays good. It says it's still good um, I I I did that one I was smaller but now I get so many requests to do and I just can't I can't Do that for everyone because it the process that it takes to Do that in my company is actually long. I have to like go through a whole process I need your email your resume your all these things I have to input it And then it sends you an email and you can put in our database. It's a it's a process So I just don't have the time. I'm sorry um Michael Cason said hi there actually I landed my job as a data analyst and thanks the to the podcast you have I follow all the steps you've mentioned. Hey, congratulations. You have experience in marketing, but data analysis is best. Hey, that's awesome. Congrats Louisa, thank you for liking linkedin post liking our post helps us get more outreach and looking good for recruiters I tried to do that. I I really do um It was funny the other day. I saw somebody's post and I and I liked it Um, and the and they had like 10 likes or 15 likes on it and they messaged me like an hour or two later Instead of they had like 100 likes on it. And that is because I probably liked it Um, and I commented on I said, hey, hey good work on this and they just thanked before it I thought it was really funny because um, yeah, I don't think about it. I usually just I'm like, oh, that's nice I like it and I move on Um, but yeah, I I try to like stuff when I see it. Um, you guys do a lot of cool things on linkedin And so I always try to you know, scroll through there and and like stuff Um projects are key. I agree um I'm just I I see a lot of comments, but a lot of them I've already answered Although we do have new people. I know we have new people in here, but um, you know, I like to answer new ones as well Well, oh, here's a good one about team mo Already said some good stuff here. What do you think about contract jobs? Is it a waste of time? I started out actually doing contract work. Um, so no, it's not always the time, but it's different, right? So let me let me walk you through the difference between like full-time contract and contract to hire full-time is you get benefits You get a salary Contract is you're working for a set amount of time And if they want to they can re up or you know, you do that set amount of time and you work for hourly You typically don't have benefits. Um, or you have really crappy benefits I'll put it that way Then you have contract to hire and contract to hire is a company that is contracting with somebody With the intent to hire them if they like them if the budget You know, there's still a demand for you when that time is up So my first job was a contract to hire and let me tell you it was six month contract to hire I was I I actually appreciated it because it really made me scared in a Excuse me in a healthy way I wanted I and that was the first job that I got when I was broke like I that was the first job I was making I think I was making 63,000. I was broke to me 63,000 was a godsend like it was amazing And I was working my butt off because I wanted to keep that job. I didn't it wasn't In the contract it said they could pull the plug at any moment If they wanted to but I made it to six months. I worked my butt off and Um, they offered me the full-time job. Just like they said they were going to Um, and I just progressively got better and and took on more work during that time So I think contract work is actually really good Um, because it's less It is less respond not less responsibility It's less pressure on the company because it's just a contract position. You're not full time And it's good experience for people breaking in. Um, so yes overall I do like it Let's keep going Oh, okay, here's one I'm uh, so hyal I'm sorry if I didn't pronounce that properly. I do my best Um, do you ever experience imposter syndrome at work and or on youtube? If so, how do you deal with it? I'm an intern data analyst at a transit agency And I feel like an imposter Let me tell you something and this is kind of a more You know, I'll try to keep it light. This is definitely a more serious topic. Um I felt imposter syndrome probably for the first two to three years of my Career even when I came to my current company, which was three and a half years ago I still felt it. Um, which is right when I started this youtube channel Because I wanted to kind of help people and give back Um or share that knowledge that I had gained through that going through this process myself by myself So to answer your question imposter syndrome I used to experience it. I don't anymore, especially at my job. I feel like I am very Um, I bring a lot of You know information. I know my place. I don't know everything But I know what I'm good at and what I bring to the table is different than what other people are good at What they bring to the table and I think that's really how I had to reframe it in my head Um, because when I first started out, I saw all these different analysts data scientists Stay engineers database developers who were just amazing at what they did. I felt very intimidated. I was like they are so good And I am so bad. Um, and that's literally like was my thought process for years. I was like, they know everything The more I got into the field because again, I was a newbie. I just didn't know anything. Um, the more I got into the more I realized I was like These guys don't know much either. I was like they you google and youtube stuff just like I do Um, the thing is is they just had more experience. They they had gone through the steps They knew what to look for they were better at googling and going on youtube than I was they just knew more things So to answer your question Yes, I've experienced it on youtube. Um I I don't know. Um, there are other youtubers that I feel are Smarter in certain areas, but again, I feel like I have I know I know what I been telling you guys I know that I know it So no, not really. I don't have a lot of imposter syndrome. Although I feel like some other people know Do things better like like or just present things better Um, but not imposter syndrome like I know I know I know that what I'm saying is good advice and is worth Utilizing and knowing I didn't say that all well, but I hope that helped so but I'm sorry you're feeling imposter syndrome That's not fun. Um, it's not fun Let's see Oh, oh Oh geez I skipped ahead I skipped ahead. I'm just gonna start where I am. I apologize Uh, Nadia asked again. Hello, where Alex, where can I find projects focused on supply chain logistics? I can put in my portfolio. I don't know much about that industry You just got to find a data set that makes sense to you like for healthcare if I told you, you know I'm doing a project on claims data and uh, you know Diagnosis codes, you know, you wouldn't know anything about that Just like I don't know much about supply chain logistics. Um That's that's more up your alley. Uh, I wish I had more knowledge on that Any tips? Uh, this is a good one. Um Erupts in any good tips on making a first impression when starting out a new job Yes, um You know, I I project well I I I feel like I've become a good communicator But there was a time Where I was not the most outgoing social person in the world and especially when I first started out five years ago. I was very nervous um But I I had to force myself to be more outgoing and to do better What I would recommend is just being kind to other people asking questions. Um you know asking Out their experience what they like with what you know asking people questions um I think those things Go a long way just being personable, right? That makes a big impression now doing your work doing a good job. Of course makes a good impression, but people Want to work with someone they enjoy working with They don't want to work with somebody who just comes in does their work and gets out Some people do but most people want to have some type of connection. Um now if it's remote It's different, but if you're in person like so that make a good impression by you know bringing in donuts or You know taking somebody out to lunch and just asking them like getting to know their experience at the company People like that people like talking um and about themselves. It sounds bad, but people like talking about themselves They'd like telling people about their experiences and their thoughts and their feelings and emotions People like that. So just being personable. I think that's that makes a good impression Mabe So this is excel really important and usable in companies or sequel and python is used more excel is going to be used in every company almost in the entire world Um sequel and python sequel is going to be used more python is used But sequel is most likely going to be used more for sure and so that question quickly um Spanglish python do I need to know advanced math or simple text classification using nl At which is a natural language um a natural language Uh, oh geez, why am I liking on the p natural language processing? Um, but nl tk or nl k t. I thought it was nl tk, but that's like a package for um nlp I've used it many times myself um You don't need to know math for nl nl tk not a lot not like data analysis This is like text classification is one thing sentiment analysis is another thing. Um, they're all different like subsections of nlp. So I don't know. You don't need to know advanced math. I don't think let's see You just have said you have a book recommendation in data. Not really. I've read some that are okay So right now I don't but i'm reading more i'm getting sent more people are sending me books on that they like on data analysis Or getting in breaking into data and i'm reading them. I just haven't found one that i've recommended yet I will have recommended yet Oh, it's skipped again. It's skipped again cj and cj is doing doing work over here. He's deleting comments like a madman Thank you cj I don't know what you're deleting but I just I am sure you're um I'm sure you're doing good work. So shout out to cj um Let's see. I've already answered some of these questions. So i'm skipping over some What kind of desktop do you use dr. Benjamin? Good question when I first started out. I was using My wife's it's actually right here This is the laptop I started out using. Um It's a yoga laptop. Um What can I say about it? Um, I don't like it. It was not good But it got me through and I was able to take courses and and learn from there and you know Finally get a good job and buy a nice laptop Now I use an hpo min 15. Um But you don't need that like that's expensive You don't need it like what you need are some just decent specs even like a google chrome like 200 bucks with like 100 and or 200 and 56 gigabytes. I don't even know I don't know like I can't think of these things off the top of my head But even just like a google chrome something to get on the internet download basic Um software to use sequel or python and learn. That's all you need You don't need fancy stuff. You just need something that connects the internet and you can download some software. That's it. So um mostafa do Abdao said mac or windows because I find it really hard to decide I personally have have not liked max I've used them. I don't like them. I have I have always preferred windows. That's my personal preference Now if you ask luke barouse, he likes mac. So you can go over there. You can go over to his channel if you like mac Um, but for me, I like windows and there are there are software on max that you can't mac that you cannot use Unless you're using like docker or a virtual environment virtual machine or something like that in order to use it So I personally like microsoft because you can get any software on there mac You cannot get any software. You can get most Jason lindsey said what number guard you use to trim your beard the very shortest one The very shortest one. I don't I I use no guard for my neck And then I use a guard. I don't shave right here. I just trim it with it with no guard and then right here I use like the like the lowest one So I can tell you um, let me see Logan white said, I don't know if this is a question. This just seems like a comment I've been in my first data analyst position for two weeks now. Thank you for all that you do alex I resonate with what you say. I actually like how I like having very experienced co-workers to learn from absolutely Hey, congratulations on the job super exciting two weeks is like that's like the most exciting time It's like the first month So you're still in like the thick of the exciting time, but that's amazing And it really is like learning from your co-workers is 100 crucial when you get into a job That's how I've been able to progress so quick Is I learned a ton from my like That I co-workers they taught me so much So that's like that's a skill is how to learn from other people for sure Let me see Does title matter curt s does title matter if you have a job Where you do data analysis work, but your job title is business systems analyst Is that experience is valuable even though your title isn't data analyst? good question to answer that question title does matter Although it probably matters less than you think, right? So as if you're a business analyst financials analyst business systems analyst The skills the work that you actually do As long as this has analyst in the title that usually is help that usually helps a lot Actually, it's the analyst part of it as long as you can explain well what you do Showcase those skills build up those skills. It's not as important as you probably think But having data analyst as your title is great Although I don't think it's as big of a thing as most people think the title that you're that you said is is a good one still interesting Uh divo said hey Alex Do you have any knowledge on moving from a data analyst role to a product analyst or a product manager role? owning a product is different right that's what I do right now and It's it's not It's different right you are going to be doing different work You're not always going to be hands-on doing all the work although maybe you will at this company always depends but from my experience you're going to be doing more of the You're going to be doing more product management in terms of actually like A project manager you're gonna have to be making sure everyone's on top of those these things right? Um, so it's different work. It just it's a different type of It's a different type of role. It's hard to compare. It's a different type of role Mike r. Do you recommend any other python courses on youtube other than your own tutorials? Yes Programming with mosh is one that I took when I was first starting out and I really like his stuff then there's um Oh, what's his name? Give me a second um Corey Schaefer Corey Schaefer has a really good python series as well So Corey Schaefer and programming with mosh check them out Joseph said uh, this is a good question. I'm providing data tutorials for my colleagues I have a passion for that, but do you have any advice in tutoring? Uh, it's it's it's not it you got to know your stuff It's hard because people are going to ask questions that you don't um That you don't think of um patrick patrick garmo Huge shout out just became an aca Super fan and if you haven't uh, if you're just joining We got 10 minutes left if you want to support the channel Join click that join button become a member. It helps me do things like this This is I do this for for all for everybody But I do it because of the members and the people who support the channel So thank you patrick. I mean, thank you to everyone else here who's um a member as well I've seen a few you guys Uh, so thank you patrick bum bum bum See Lucas Briggs good question. That's a good one He said senior analyst here. I can't verify that but he's saying he's a senior analyst skeptical though Lucas doesn't sound like a senior analyst But he says what are your reasons for upskilling into a managerial role rather than a more technical role? like data engineering or data science um, all right, so Lucas as a senior analyst as a fellow senior, uh, a fellow higher level analyst I'm sure they maybe you're asking this because you're also in a similar position. Why didn't you because I was at that stage Now I I was I actually the data science team that I used to work on wanted me To join as a data scientist and I had worked with them for several months I just didn't enjoy that work. I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't interesting to me. Um, so I I just didn't find the creating the models and doing the machine learning stuff just was not my thing The data engineering I actually may have gone down. Um, I like data engineering a lot. Um, database development and stuff like that, but um I wanted to go more managerial. I wanted to get some management experience because I eventually want to You know go higher. I want to in just an analytics. I want to become a director. I want to be you know Eventually like a cto or something like that like that's my so I wanted to go the more managerial route managerial route for those reasons But I love being tech like I love being technical. I really do Scott morris. Thank you for the donation. Really appreciate Scott. I don't I don't know if there's a Note with that but really appreciate it and then cancer on thank you for becoming a super fan. Really appreciate man I really do or woman Or woman and michael. Oh man. We got all the people rolling in. Thank you guys so much. That really does me a lot It really really does me a lot. I appreciate it Um, but yeah, lucas that to answer your question that's um That's that's my answer Let's see Yeah, okay. I saw mathew kind of comments. I'm sure he's answering people's questions But yeah, uh power bi is not native for mac So if you want to use power bi and you have a mac Then you kind of got to find some workarounds and there are workarounds. There are they're just not fun They're not fun workarounds Um, but yeah all that being said Matthew neguyen neguyen Hey, elix. Have you had any experience with financial modeling? Not a lot. Um, not a lot a little teensy bit But not enough to be like. Yeah, for sure. I do um Andrew kuzuma Hi, elix from singapore. Hey from singapore Hey from the united states. I'm currently a stay-at-home dad. My past jobs aren't a lot. No degrees What do you think about self-studying via corsera and you to me? I think if you're really passionate about it, you're really committed then studying doing self-studying if you have a Half that you want to take the skills you want to learn and you're self-motivated you absolutely can do it I don't know the market out in singapore. Um, or what you're you know, your future steps are but Um, you know, that's that's my take on it. Yeah, you absolutely can self-study. That's what I did That's what a lot of people have done. It definitely is an option Okay, guys, just so you know, I promised my wife right at nine o'clock. I would stop in fact I'm gonna text her right now Oh, I'll be done at nine I'll be done at nine I promise There I texted it. I sent it guys. I there's no take backs All right, I I'm out of here at nine. I'm sorry. I know you got a lot of people But hey, by the way, the december livestream is going to be not one that you want to miss We'll have a special guest. He'll be jolly He'll be hairy He'll be wearing red. I don't want to spoil anything But you won't want to miss next month's live stream. That'll be a fun one Um, let's see Sorry, I can see myself I'm like a minute ago. It's funny. Anyways, let's see. I got a few more questions Data analysis course, that's your name. Cool name. What would you suggest to be noticeable in linkedin? I always I personally like when people post their stories when they post their progress that they're making. Hey, I learned this skill Um, I built this project using this data. I find that interesting I don't know if everybody does but if you're trying to build like if you're trying to get noticed on linkedin Like build a brand like we were talking about earlier in the stream if you're trying to build a brand Um creating something useful for the user. Hey, here's where I got this data set. Here's how I built it Here's my code open source it so people can use it Make you know add value To your viewers to people who are using or viewing your content. What I would do Mal Karev, what do you miss most about Dallas? Uh, yeah, I Good question Good question. This guy knows me Maybe personally who knows? Um, I used to live in Dallas. I now live in charleston, South Carolina So near the coast What I miss about Dallas is I really I don't miss much. I don't miss the heat I don't miss the flatness and the none. There's a lot. I don't miss the one thing I do miss is I like They have a lot of really nice Buildings aka they have nice malls you can go and walk around these really nice malls Um, they have a good shopping They don't really have that out here as as much in a a lot of the charleston area They do have some good areas, but not like Dallas. Dallas is like primo Um Patrick, okay. Yeah, Patrick asks I work at a hospital seems like every other analyst around me has a master's degree Do you feel it's necessary to advance? No It's not necessary to advance the bachelor's will be fine And the bachelor's experience is better than is as good as a master's William Cain. All right military guy. Here we go. Let's see what he's got to say Hi, Alex. I have two years left before I retire from the military. Thank you for your service. William. Thank you I have free tuition to pay for a master's in computer science Should I get a degree or take time to do projects and self study if they're paying for it? If they're paying for it Then do it Unless you have to like work full-time you have a family and you need income but If they're gonna pay for a master's that it's not a bad thing It just depends on life circumstances, but you can also do it projects and self study 100 able to do it that way as well Um, but the better way is the the the better way is formal education It's faster if let me rephrase this Going and getting a master's degree gives you a better chance of getting a job when you have the master's That can take two years So if you self study and takes you a year and then you get a job That years of experience that you're going to get before you finish your master's and then get a job A job is just as valuable Either way is fine But if you can't get a master's for free, that's what I'd be doing Peace I'd love a master's for free. Nobody's paying for my master's Anybody out there want to pay for my master's? Just give me a like a donation of like which is it cost like 50 grand I mean jeez masters are expensive. So you can get one. Yeah, it's not a bad idea Let's see. I've only got a few more questions. It's it's 8 57 guys. We are running out of time. I gotta like I gotta I gotta get on this. Okay. I'm actually catching. I'm I'm oh jeez. Just skipped. I'm I'm almost caught up though Um Yep, CJ says say no to mac. I agree Yeah, Cory Schaefer doesn't post anymore. I don't believe but his content is still really good Even from like five years ago. It's still good Um, just so you know Michael said your insight and advice is invaluable. Alex being a member is the least I can do. Thank you so much for being an incredible resource You're more than welcome. Thank you. Thank you very much for saying that. Um, all right I got like two minutes. I'm gonna I gotta find more questions Alex are you on linkedin? Yes a small donation of 50k charles of nades. Yeah, that's all I need Just a small donation of 50 thousand dollars That's all I need Let's see. I'm looking for other questions. You have video videos of recommended books. No, I don't Any chess tips Dave, how do you Dave, how do you do you know me Dave or use a date that I think you are my father-in-law If you're not then you're just Dave. But yeah, I play chess Um, go watch Gotham Gotham chess or hikaru Nika more of their youtube channels are um phenomenal I took I took I didn't I just took all their free stuff on youtube and I became a lot better I'm not saying any uh, let me see. I mean, I got one last question I'm gonna find one more question that I'm gonna be done. I gotta find one more Oh geez Let me see. Let me see Justine if you're watching this is my last question. I promise Oh geez I'm having trouble finding a question. I apologize guys because I know I know it's Oh, this is a good one Hi, Alex. What are your thoughts on the layoffs currently happening all over the tech industry guys? I literally was talking to my wife about this the other day. Um, it is I literally called this like three months ago or four months ago. You can go back and watch it I have a video on it's my on my long form stuff about the layoffs I said it's going to get worse It is going to happen Especially in tech notice that you don't see this in smaller medium or even some larger size fortune 500 companies You know why? Because they have budgets they stick to their budgets. They don't over extend themselves You know what tech did for the past two years they overextended themselves so far They stretched themselves so far and there was bidding wars for people Because there was so much demand and hype built up They over hired and I called that I knew that was going to happen. So I'm not shocked. Um, it does not to me it does not trigger any alarms in my head saying we're in a recession although We definitely there is some arguments. He said that we are but data analysts. Why is the jobs are still there? There's a lot of companies still hiring just not in big tech right now because They they goofed so I'm not worried about the market right now. It's actually not bad unless you're trying to only get into big tech companies Which I would not be there's another time to be trying to get in so That's my feedback. All right guys. I have got to get out of here. It's 901 I promise I'd be done at nine. I am a liar Um, and I love you christian if you're watching this. I apologize. Um, all right guys Thank you guys so much for watching for joining next month's live stream is gonna be really really fun I'm super uh looking forward to that one. Um, I can't say enough about it. It's gonna be exciting It's gonna be end of 20 22 guys we're going into 2023 is this crazy just crazy how we're already here Um, but thank you guys for watching. I'm gonna head out. Um I appreciate you guys. I love you guys Mr. Number six background lamp is brighter than my analyst future a hundred percent It couldn't agree more mr. Number six. Um, all right guys All right, I'm out of here. Thank you guys. Have a good night Or morning or evening for all my viewers across the world. You guys are amazing and I will see you guys Either in the next video or the next live stream. Take it easy. Bye Oh wait, I gotta push the end button. Bye