 Hello, I'm your host Alex Friedberg and this is the Alex the Analyst show. Thank you so much for joining me today We are going to be discussing the difference between an entry level a mid-level and a senior level data analyst position Now most people are going to start off in an entry level job or a junior job That's just typically how it goes although some people do skip right to the mid-level jobs typically that requires a Master's degree like you just graduated from a master's program and they might take that as years of experience Sometimes they'll take that as two years of experience give you a mid-level job So that is not uncommon But I'm gonna kind of walk through a few key topics that I think are going to kind of give you a good picture of When you know Where you should be, you know, are you an entry level? Should you be a mid-level? You know, when do you ask for that raise or when do you look for another job at the next level? These are really important things. You do not want to stay an entry level or a junior level data analyst forever Contrary to what that one job posting in one of my previous videos said if you are a junior data analyst for two years You should not be looking for another junior data analyst position. That's what it said on that that job posting I don't know if you guys remember that it I found it extremely funny So I'm gonna start off with kind of my experience as an entry-level data analyst and then Kind of walk through these different topics with you to share those topics, you know, what exactly Does each level do kind of what's the overall Difference that's really it's hard to kind of say but then looking at the skill level in sequel Python Tableau would all these kind of main skills As well as additional skills that you'll get that as you get to each level There will be additional skills that you should be picking up And so that's important to know and then as well as education level So these are some of the things we'll talk about I you know me I will go off on some tangents and it's just as it flows if I'm thinking of things What comes out of my mouth is what you're gonna get you guys know this So let's jump right into it as an entry-level data analyst You are not expected to know a ton and because of that you require quite a bit of oversight I don't want to say You're gonna get micromanaged. It depends on the boss. I guess but you do need some additional management And that's not every person some people are extremely independent, but when you're in those roles They probably just don't trust you a ton to do everything that they've asked you to do, right? If they ask you to go build this or do this or analyze this, they're probably gonna check in on you and so that's one of the pretty good indicators that you're in an entry-level position or you are in an entry-level role is That they are going to be kind of more on top of you checking in that could be a daily check-in or a weekly check-in And they're just basically saying, you know, hey, how is this going? Do you need any help? And you can you know typically you can kind of get that feel like They're asking and you know making sure that you know what you're doing making sure that you're doing the projects correctly Making sure that you know that where the data is and all these things In terms of the skill level Your skill level is probably not gonna be that advanced, right? It's an entry-level job So we're starting at the bottom. So for sequel, you know, you know the basics You know how to query data and again that is that is really all you need in an entry-level job You're not gonna be doing sort procedures. You're not gonna be creating any automated processes as an entry-level data analyst It's just it is not expected of you if you can do it that is fantastic And who knows maybe you'll get promoted very quickly But you also may not even be expected to know things like Python or R the programming that kind of the two big programming languages that a data analyst is Normally kind of accustomed a lot of people expect them to know those things But as an entry-level data analyst, you may not be expected to know those And so you may be able to get an entry-level job just with sequel tablo power bi excel those skills And with your education level you're typically just at a bachelor's degree. There are a lot of times honestly but sometimes where you have a master's degree and You know you still take an entry-level job that happens a lot and so You know with your education, you're probably not having you don't have a PhD You probably don't have a master's in like computer science or data science or something or analytics or something like that You can typically find a mid-level role like that But your education, you know is not super high, right? And I can vouch for that And I still can vouch for that although got a little higher than an entry-level analyst right now Let's move on to the mid-level the mid-level to me and this is where I am currently at And I I think I am like right at the peak about to break the cap into the senior level I know I haven't been in this industry super long But I've made a lot of progress in the time that I have been here And I'm like right on the cusp of getting to that next level And so I'll talk about that a little bit later So for a mid-level data analyst You are now expected to know some things and they have a little bit higher Expectations of what you can do what you should be doing Your knowledge on the domain and the data itself To talk a little bit more to that You know As an entry-level data analysts, they are going to be checking in on you often And that's just how it is but as a mid-level they may be checking in you once a week You know, I know just on my team everybody on my team in our whole department. I mean we do weekly check-ins That's just what we do Do I need it for most of the time? No, but it's really nice to get some, you know time to talk to the boss And and walk them through some of the things that might be going through But you're expected to solve a lot of your own problems So if you're having trouble with an issue, you know, you should be confident enough to go solve those issues Talk to the people you need to be talking to And if you can't do that you go to your boss And and so there is a higher level of expectations In terms of how you actually conduct your business and get your job done You're much more independent. You don't need to be doing daily check-ins anymore. And if you do that as a mid-level That's kind of like Micro management territory to me. I've thank goodness. I've had good bosses for the most part I've had one bad boss way back when I know I've told you guys about that before But none recently I've had really good bosses And none of them micromanage me. And if I had a boss that micromanaged me at this level where I'm at I probably would not stay there long that that would not vibe with me because I am I'm very confident in my abilities now Or I'm like, I don't need somebody to be checking in on me. I I just don't need that. I know what I'm doing So you're going to know What you're doing you're going to need you're going to know a lot more in-depth Skills like sequel and the mid-level again, and I have said this in the past You don't need to know a programming languages. You don't need to know python. You don't need to know r But you will probably earn more money because of it And it'll open up a lot more opportunities because of it, especially at larger Tech companies or fortune 500 companies You know those things will help you get those jobs. And so at the mid-level I think I would be recommending people if you haven't already to learn either python. Excuse me or r In order to either get that job, but it's kind of it's starting to be expected at that level to know those things Excuse me. I was taking a drink of my coffee. Some people I just found out I I don't know why I didn't know this but some people just listen to this They don't watch me so I could be doing random things with my hands And they would never know but Sometimes I take long time sipping my coffee And people have to check their phones to make sure that they that it didn't like stop Um, so I've had people message me and tell me that before they're like, hey Like I appreciate you drinking coffee. It's just I keep thinking that The show is over or I cut off or my earphones got unplugged or something. Um, so I'm super sorry about that I don't know what to do about that. I'm just gonna say I'm sorry Um, so you're gonna need to know I I do recommend at mid-level after about two years in the industry when you're about to break into that mid-level Job I do recommend picking up Most likely python. That's my personal recommendation or are which everyone your company or your industry prefers Or you prefer So the the skill level is going to be higher. So for sequel, um, you know, you're probably gonna start working a little bit You know, again, it depends on your company But you could be working a lot more with temp tables. You should be Uh, maybe even doing some automated reports. You could be working with sort procedures You might be queueing a little bit more advanced code doing some window functions There's a lot of things beyond the basics that entry level only entry level people know for the most part You're me doing a little bit more advanced things or you should be at that level And you know, that's why they have these technical interviews For a lot of these data analyst jobs is because they want to make sure that you're at the level of a mid-level Data analysts, they don't want to be hiring somebody who just knows the basics And so You know, that's where you should be That's the difference between an entry level and a mid-level skill wise education wise. You could still be just a bachelor's degree You know, but this definitely when you start hitting mid-level, I think a lot of people start thinking You know, if I want to get to the next stage, I'm gonna need to go back and get a master's That's where I'm at right now a full disclosure. Like I'm looking at master's degrees as we speak thinking about when I want to apply when I want to go because uh Although I believe and I'm fairly certain I will make it to the senior level um You know Within the next two, maybe three years I want to be able to get even further, right? I want to go into management, you know director level roles senior vp ceo like those that that's my trajectory. That's where I want to go eventually um, but You know the education level has to be there And so if I'm sitting at a senior level for five six seven eight years and I still have just a bachelor's degree um You know, maybe that's not a bad thing But personally I want to be advancing in my education to not only know the skills but also back it up with a degree That's just my personal opinion. Um, but in terms of what they do a you know, we're gonna now we're gonna switch over to the senior level um, that's just the education for That was the education for mid-level is just you should be thinking about or maybe even getting A master's at this point if that is an option for you So let's move on to the senior level my my favorite because this is um You know, this is the peak for a data analyst, you know, you can there's some different titles That could be a principal data analyst a lead data analyst or it could be a senior level data analysts those are kind of like I think the main titles for that kind of seniority level So for a senior level data analyst, you are Going to be expected To be very good at everything that we just discussed You're going to need to be very good at sequel. Um, and you're going to be needing to know advanced topics Everything that I mentioned in the mid-level, but just even more Right, uh, you will will most likely be expected to be creating some type of automated processes automated reporting Um, you'll definitely be working with well, I say definitely but for my industry or my job at least You'll be working a lot with certain procedures Analyzing the data at a very high level You know, again everything that we discussed except just Even more advanced So with python python for a senior level role or r for a senior level role is pretty much required Again, it just depends on the company if your company doesn't value that or use it then you may not need that But if you are at a company that does use it And you don't know that skill it'd be very very difficult To rise up to a higher level And if you're at a mid-level and you're trying to get to a senior level role at a different company You know, it only benefits you in the long run so Back to kind of what the other things we talked about with the other levels In this level, you are expected to Basically be on your own You know, you come in for the check-ins you'll you'll If you meet with your boss weekly or monthly you do those things, but besides that you were handling just about everything By yourself But you don't need a lot of help and in fact, you're probably going to start taking on I don't want to say like mentees, but you'll be maybe even mentoring the Incoming data analysts or the mid-level data analysts or they could be I don't know maybe even reporting to you. I don't it just depends on your structure But they're going to be looking up to you and for questions and they're going to be coming to you with questions They're going to say, you know the data better than anybody. Can you explain this to me? In the entry-level role, nobody's going to be asking you that In the mid-level role, some people might be starting to become to you. Um, you know, hey, do you know about this? You know, have you heard of this in the senior level role? They're like, hey, I know you know about this Can you explain this to me? How do I go and access this? How do I what do I what do I do for this? um, that's going to be coming a lot more common as a senior analyst and that's because You're a senior level role. You're expected to know Just about everything as it pertains to the data how it's acquired what it's used for what products it goes into um, the the How the data is transformed, right? These are the things that you have to know because if heads of departments or or you know people you're working with Needs to know these things. You don't want to have to go ask your boss That's kind of defeats the purpose of being a senior level role You need to be able to answer all these questions on your own For skill level, um, I talked a little bit about the sequel Um for the python, you know, you should be very comfortable In in a programming layer or you know, I said python but python or r should be very comfortable in a programming language and using it often um to be to just be very um Skilled in that area that is my personal belief and that based off the research. I found that um I might I'll try to put up the statistic if if I remember to put it up there um, but over 60 of senior level analysts use some type of Uh programming language either python or r which means 40 aren't And so, you know, they may be using Um, just other tools that kind of replace those the need for those But 60 runs 60 say that if they are a senior level analysts, they are using one of those for education level um You know again, I think at this level you should be either getting or starting or already have a master's degree In something related to this field Whether that's computer science um analytics Something like that. I think that you should be going towards or already have that level of um education um One second I'm just pulling something up real quick bup bup um So a lot of the stuff I got from a few different articles that I read People who are much smarter than I Which doesn't Isn't saying much to be honest. Um, it's not a high bar um And so I think that just a kind of a takeaway from this I think that looking at your current skill level if you have a master's degree if you have years of experience You should be looking at your current situation and saying what is my next step if you're right out of college Your next step is probably an entry level job If you have been in an entry level job for three years You should probably actively be looking for a a mid-level role or asking for a raise because After that, it's like how many more years can you be an entry level the analyst really? um So, you know, just take a look at your situation that is to me. Those are the biggest differences, right? There are a lot of other smaller things. I didn't include them because honestly, I I'm not sure How long I'm gonna run? I think I'm already at like 20 minutes. That's a long time. Um That's a long time for the main part and and I I really like My other segments of the show which I like to I like to fit in so Um, those are the main differences. And so I hope that that's that kind of explains um, you know Where you should be at each level and kind of your progression as you grow as an analyst that is um A progression that I am trying to take um And when I was researching this and looking up all these things and finding these articles Which I will try to include it in the in the description if you want to look those up Excuse me. Um, I feel like I'm trying to follow this pretty closely. Um, although I didn't even know about it until This week I've been trying I have been following this kind of closely. Um in my personal analyst career So let's move on to the next segment of the show move three segments coming up my my first one is Uh Thank you to everyone over at patreon You guys make the show happen. I show up every single week Uh, and and I do this for you guys and everyone else who watches you guys are good too I guess But I do this for you guys because you support the show you support me support max who's laying right next to me It looks super cute. I would pick him up and pull him up here, but Honestly, he's having like, um, he's doing that dream thing where you're like runs in his dream I don't want to wake him up. He's too cute. Um, you guys make this happen and I I appreciate you. I I I love you um And if you want to support the show if you want to feel loved and you want to see more pictures of max Which I posted one today It's like 70 degrees in in dallas today December 12th Of 2020 70 degrees in dallas and I took him out back when I was playing took a picture for you guys Posted it there and if you don't and you know if you don't If you're not a patreon member you didn't get to see that and I feel bad for you Um, so there's a link in the description if you want to support the channel shout out to you guys next Segment of the show, which is a very good one. It is question of the week Question of the week comes from mohammed and I'm going to try to pronounce this last name and and I apologize. It's going to be correct boot Shakuja And it says hello, alex great video as usual. Thank you I have a question for you our online certificates from edX coursera and udacity worth it And which of those three is better? Has more credibility in the real world Ooh This is a tough question a really tough question and I personally think it is kind of controversial Um, and so take whatever I'm saying with a grain of salt. I am not an expert when it comes to certifications, um, I have my own personal thoughts. So here's what I think I think that for the most part those certificates really aren't that worth it I think then there's there's and I say that with a grain of salt because I think they're good to put on a linkedin Uh on linkedin. I think they're good to put on linkedin. I don't think they're something that I would personally be putting on my resume Um, the difference is is linkedin is more of kind of a social media You're showing people that you're working on things if a recruiter checks it out They're like, wow, this guy has a udacity nano degree. Um, doesn't make a huge difference But man if they know what that is that's cool or they they took this course in Coursera they spent like 20 40 hours on it. That's dedication So it can show that you're learning the skills. Uh, you're actually learning the skills But I don't think the sort of certificates are as valuable as some people might say Um, and so that's my general rule of thumb for these course websites They are fantastic to learn from I I personally learned so much from them But I'm not putting those certificates or those certifications or whatever you want to call it on my resume I don't even put them on my linkedin account But if I was going to put them anywhere, it would only be my linkedin Um, if I was to get from any of those three that you mentioned edX, Coursera or udacity if I was to get it from any of them Um It'd be a toss between edX and Coursera Coursera, I just have a lot of experience with and I really like Coursera a lot Um, and so, you know, I just I just have a bias towards them But edX is like is is very Um, it's well established people like it. It's very educational. It's I believe it has like You know really credible authors who who post there and so to me that might be the better one udacity I just I'm not a huge fan of udacity Um, and I can't I'm not going to get into why this is just a lot of reasons to be honest We are entering, um Basically the end of the show And it gives me time to just relax for a little bit Made it through the show. Um You know It's a lot of talking I talk a lot Um, and you know, thank goodness I have a little bit of coffee in me because one it's super late. It's almost it's a little past midnight to be honest Um, and so I need the coffee to keep me awake I also and if you don't know I have many kids and so they They keep me awake and so I get no sleep. So I'm running on no sleep I'm talking for like 30 minutes. I did another episode before this The data engineering first data analyst. I shoot all my videos on one day for the week. Um, and then I edit them So my voice I dry as a bone So I'm just super thankful for this coffee to be honest It's getting me through Um, but now my I I'm starting to like I'm starting to be like man, all right I made it. I did it. Um, so I'm happy to be here. Um, but we're entering a very special time in the show It's the keyword that everyone wants. That's the only reason people are watching this long The only reason people just listen to me talk about why I drink coffee and why I'm tired the only reason people are continuing to listen is one It's actually twofold one. They forgot to turn it off Um, it's in their pocket. They don't feel like pulling it out. I get it Um, to shut me off The other reason is they're waiting for this keyword and those people who wait for the keyword are a special type of person they They appreciate and they understand um the value in building their career as a data analyst they value um Growing their skill sets marketing themselves being professional Learning and growing those are the types of people who stick around people who only listen to the main part and left No, they're not gonna make it But they wouldn't know that they're not gonna make it because they didn't stick around But if they did stick around They'd make it You know what I mean the vegetable Of the weak the vegetable keyword This is gonna be a doozy Celery C-e-l-e-r-y One of the worst vegetables it's up there with Radishes it is void of all flavor and joy um it's it's Is a pointless vegetable to me. Why do people add it to soups? It does not add flavor My wife does it and I argue with her almost every single time I'm like, babe. This does not add any flavor to the soup and I have to pick them out. I push them to the side I'm like, I'm not eating this. I refuse people try to Put peanut butter on it. I think again It's you're putting peanut butter on something that tastes literally terrible It doesn't make it taste any more any better and I'm not being healthy because I'm just not eating it Put it on something that I want to eat put it on a cracker. It's like five calories celery man It's um The bane of existence to almost every kid out there and if you eat if you eat ants on a log Which is celery and you put the peanut butter and the raisins like Bless your heart I it's disgusting to me Not the point the point is I appreciate you watching. I really do. Uh, thank you for hanging out with me I will see you in next week's episode Uh of the alexi amla show So I will see you then and I'll talk to you at that time next thursday. Goodbye. Thanks for joining me You