 Hello, I'm your host Alex Friedberg and this is the Alexly Analyst Show. Thank you so much for joining me today. We are going to be discussing the best industries for data analysts in 2021. Now, honestly, just about every single industry was impacted last year, and that is definitely going to carry into 2021. And I think it is very smart to look at this before you start looking at the job market so that you know what kind of companies you should be applying for them, or at least what industries are really solid and that you have a better chance of landing a job in. I'm going to have a high or a top, a medium and a low tier. And in the top tier, there are going to be companies or industries that I highly recommend looking into ones that are hiring a lot that are doing really well. The medium tier is industries that are doing okay are doing pretty well. The low tier is going to be one that for the most part, for the vast majority of you listening are ones that I do not recommend. They got hit really hard due to COVID and they haven't really recovered or I haven't seen a lot of recovery, a lot of hiring from them. And so before we start, I want to say, this is not my opinion. I'm trying to be as objective as I can about this. Of course, I'll interject with my opinion throughout. You guys know how it goes, but I took this from a lot of different sources and I kind of aggregated it all and took the averages from those scores. If they ranked them number one, number three, number five, the average was a three. And so I kind of tried to take that approach to this and I'll leave the links of where I got all of these numbers and whatever that I'm going to be talking about. I'll leave those in the description if you want to go check those out individually. There's probably like six or seven of them that I pulled it from. But I want you to know that this is not my opinion, although I do have a lot of opinions on it. Before we actually really get into it, I want to say that if you have watched a lot of my Alexi and Les shows before and you see at the end, I always talk about Patreon, I now have a new way that you can support the channel and that is through buying some of my merch. Now, I call it merch because that's what everyone calls it. But it's honestly, it's just a shop to, if you want to support it, if you want to buy something cool, if you coffee mugs like I do because I drink coffee more than I used to, you can go and buy stuff like that. This is, trust me, I'm an analyst and this is a trust me, I'm an analyst shirt. I think it's super cool. I buy my own products because they're really cool. And so if you want to support me in that way, absolutely recommend doing that. I will have a link in the description. Now, let's get into it. Enough self promotion for the day. Well, maybe later. Let's look at the top tier first. The golden goose, the industries that everyone is going to be looking toward because these ones are really thriving during this time. And it's probably not going to shock you, which ones I talk about. So the top industries that I have listed, and again, before I get started, this is not my opinion, although my industry is in this top list. It is healthcare. That's mine. We also have finance and banking, and we have social media and big tech. Now, I don't think it takes too big of an imagination to know why these are really thriving during this time. Healthcare is thriving because data is exploding at an unprecedented rate. And it's just, it's insane. And the amount of data that is needed to drive everything that's going on in the country right now is just insane. And so teams that used to be one person or two people are now five, six or seven, because they just have so many projects, so much data to work through, they need to hire more people. There's a lot of teams hiring right now for data analysts. And so that one I think is pretty obvious. Finance and banking, I gotta be honest, I don't know much about finance and banking, so I had to read up quite a bit on that during this time. Is doing really well, and I don't think it's ever done terrible, except maybe like 2008, 2009 timeframe, at least since I've been born, is doing really well during this time because everybody is needing something from the bank. Loans, mortgages, anything. And so, of course, it's just doing really well. There wasn't too much else on that topic that I got from it. It's just banking as usual. Money is important, people value it, it's gonna do well. The next one, and this one is, to me, the most interesting would probably be social media and big tech. Social media has become just insanely huge over the past like 10 years. But last year in particular, I mean, the numbers just skyrocketed because everyone is stuck at home. I'm currently stuck at home. And I gotta be honest, I'm on social media more than probably I ever have been with YouTube and LinkedIn and Facebook, not really Twitter, but all these things, I'm on it all the time. And so, I know that other people are as well, and the numbers support that. People are going on there, and it's just, it's insane. So, if you can get into this, they are hiring a lot more than usual. And there's no shortage really of jobs. You just gotta be a little bit more qualified potentially to get something at like a social media company or a big tech company, but they are hiring a lot right now. So, I don't think the top tier really is gonna surprise anybody. I don't think anybody's watching this and thinking, wow, Alex, that is a gem. You are a genius. I don't think anyone's ever thought that. And so, you're definitely not gonna think about that. Let's move on to the medium tier, and I will say that this was just a weird one for me. The low tier is gonna make perfect sense, but the medium tier was interesting. And I had to do a little bit of digging into each of these to understand why they weren't ranked as highly or as low as some of the others. So, in the medium tier, we have government, we have automotive, real estate, and construction. Now, the government one apparently has just always been kind of medium tier. I don't know, it never really talked in any of these articles about, you know, how much it was impacted due to COVID, but I'm sure, you know, people are working from home, any data analysts related position, but the reason they kept saying it was one to get into was that the benefits are super good in a lot of government jobs. And when I think government jobs, I think like, in my mind, I'm thinking like local governments. My mind goes to the show Parks and Rec. And so, I'm thinking, you know, my local Parks and Rec department needs a data analyst, and I go there and they have good benefits. But government can also go as high as like the Department of Justice or like the FBI or CIA or something like that. So, you know, just the benefits itself are going to be really good. And, you know, from everything that I was seeing, it hasn't really affected it too much. And so, it still holds that kind of middle ranking. The next one is automotive. Now, the automotive industry took a huge hit early on in, early on to mid 2020. That's because everybody was working from home. Nobody needed a car. I could have genuinely like driven my car off a cliff and I would have been fine for like six months. I had all my groceries delivered. I didn't need to go out. I didn't need to do anything. And so, people stopped buying cars. They sold their cars. I mean, there was a huge dive in the automotive industry. And so, it doesn't surprise me that, you know, this one is the medium tier. I'm glad that it's back there because before they'd almost basically stopped hiring and refiring people for like a three, four month span, things are starting to go up as parts of the country are reopening and, you know, the lockdowns are a lot less frequent, even though things are still kind of bad. The automotive industry is starting to do better and they're starting to hire more. So, they're on that upward track of you can kind of ride that wave, you know, look at Toyota, look at Ford, some of these larger automotive industry places are companies. You know, these are places that you can look into and see if they're hiring. I know near me, we have a lot of Toyota. There's like a huge Toyota plant with analysts and engineers and all those things like right down the road from where I work. The next one is real estate. Now, I know very little about real estate. And so, I didn't really even understand that data analysts were part of real estate. I don't still fully 100% know how it works. But if you are someone who is a data analyst in looking in the real estate market, apparently is doing much better than it was when the pandemic first started. And so, things are starting to ramp back up. Some of these articles mentioned things like Redfin and Zillow, like companies that you can work for in real estate, but also they're talking about some national, you know, providers who provide like mortgages and stuff like that surrounding real estate. Again, that is not my specialty. I'm being completely honest here, but you know, it makes the list. It's on its upward climb still. And that's what everything was saying is that real estate is starting to do better than it was last year. So, it's one that is starting to hire more starting to do better. The last one is construction. And I will say that this one was the most interesting one to me because almost every single article that I read had it mentioned, but I had almost no idea how analytics pertained to construction. When I think construction, I think about the people who are building these houses down the road for me who are super loud all the time and just hammering and drilling away 24-7. That's what I think of when I think of construction. I don't think about all the backend stuff that it takes to organize and buy all the materials and the raw materials and get them distributed and all these things. I never think about those things, but apparently there's a whole infrastructure that needs to be done for that. And that's where analysts come into play. Of course, early, mid, 2020, construction was way down. But because of things opening back up and all these things that I mentioned for a lot of these other ones, it's starting to come back really fast. And so a lot of places are hiring. Again, that is one that I'm just recently learning about. That's not my area of expertise at all. But one that I'm extremely interested in, I think that was everything I read was a lot more fascinating than I thought it was going to be, to be honest. Let's get to the one when I think most people are interested in, but will not be shocked in at all. And before I go into this, again, I want to say that if you have a real specialty in one of these areas, you might be able to still get a job. But a lot of these industries took a huge dive in 2020. And so going into 2021, there is not as abundant of positions available, if any, because a lot of them are probably on hiring freezes or their companies are shutting down. So the low category is travel and transportation for obvious reasons, retail, food and fitness, and then agriculture. And yes, agriculture was on the list and kept getting low rankings. And so I'm going to mention it, although again, one that I was really surprised by it's kind of like that construction, I didn't know agriculture had a lot of analytics involved. But again, that's just me being super naive to different industries other than my own. So let's start at travel and transportation. One sec. Yeah, let's start at travel and transportation. Of course, this one got hit really hard. So if you worked for any type of airline, any type of bus or shipping or really any of those transportation travel industries, they got hit really hard. Another one kind of related to that is things like Airbnb. That's that that traveling aspect place, things like that got hit really, really hard. And they have not fully recovered, although they're starting to do a little bit better. I mean, we had over in the US, we had like a million people fly in the US, which I don't advise, but people are still doing it. And so I think that one is not really surprising, to be honest. I don't think that shocks anyone. The next one is retail, food and fitness. Now, this one was in is in the low, but was kind of on the brink of being medium because a lot of these places are starting to kind of figure things out and are starting to hire more because they're starting to make more money. The food one and retails specifically for food, you know, a lot of companies are now doing delivery very well. They have a lot of these online online company or online website setup. They're working through DoorDash and all these other places. And so they kind of have everything set up now. One second, Max was coming over, I wasn't sure if he wanted to be part of the show or not. Buddy, you're gonna have to wait, buddy. He wants to go outside, but he can wait like 10 minutes. He's totally fine. I let him out like 30 minutes ago. I am a good owner, I promise you. So food is starting to do better. So things like, I mean, think of like national chains like Pizza Hut. I mean, you know, just that's just one small example of the thousands of chains out there and small restaurants out there that need analysts to analyze all this online data for them. And so, you know, think about that when you think food and retail and fitness, I mean, they're just not in a good place. And so, you know, they are starting to figure things out. They're starting to get permission to open back up like fitness related things. Retail is starting to open back up again, really slowly. Food is figuring things out. A lot of online data, but, you know, a lot of these places are just getting on their feet again. So I wouldn't be looking at those as my main options. So if you really have a passion for Pizza Hut and you're like, that's my dream job, go for it. But expect that there's probably gonna be less jobs available than there used to be. The last one is agriculture. Again, a super interesting one. And my first thought was people are buying groceries more now than ever. You know, everybody's at home. They need groceries. You know, how is that being affected? Everything that I was reading, it was talking about supply chains, how supply chains had been hit. And because of that, there were a lot of layoffs in the agricultural field. Again, not in my area of expertise, but super interesting, something that I never even contemplate or think about when it comes to that industry. I'm just like, they grow food, they transport food, we buy the food. So, you know, another one to consider. With all that being said, you know, with the top, the medium, the low tier, if you haven't already chosen an industry to go into them, if you're fresh out of college, and you're saying, I want to go into healthcare, I think that is fantastic. There is a lot of jobs out there. But with these top ranked ones, that domain knowledge helps. And so, if you already have a background in healthcare, if you already know something about healthcare, and you try to get into it, you're gonna have a good chance, to be honest. But if you're trying to go into finance and banking, and you have, you know, a completely unrelated degree, no experience, I mean, it's gonna be tough, like any other season of life or season of job hunting, it's gonna be tough. So, don't just expect it because it's on the top tier, it's an easy job to get. It's still gonna take work, you still have to have the right skill sets and credentials and all these in background and domain knowledge. So, there is that. I really do think going into 2021, it's important to talk about the subject because, you know, a lot of people are in the market right now. A lot of people are in the job hunt. And you don't want to be targeting industries that were really hard hit. In my opinion, you know, I don't, you can do whatever you want. In my opinion, you shouldn't be doing that. You should really be trying to target the ones that are on their upward trajectory or doing really well. So, an example for one like Big Tech is like Amazon, Google, all these large companies. You know, you may not have what I would consider like for myself, I probably wouldn't be able to get in there because, you know, they need like a good school, good education, potentially. But these are ones that are hiring a larger rate than ever before. And so, maybe not ever before, you know, but during this time, a year ago until now, they're doing really, really well. So, it's one to look into if you haven't already. We're gonna switch things up in just a second. But before we do, if you haven't already, if you want to support the channel, go on over to Patreon, support the channel. It would mean a lot to me in 2021. It means a lot to me now. And for all the people who support me on there, you guys are amazing and you guys are my favorite people. Let's say there's 500 people watching. I have 20 people on Patreon. You guys are my favorite 20. The other 480 mean less to me. That is just the reality of it. I don't feel bad about saying that. But if you want to be part of that group of people who supports the channel, I would appreciate that. That would mean a lot to me. Thank you. Let's move on to one of my favorite times of the show. There's the question of the week. Super excited about this one. I think this one's really relevant to today's topic. Give me one second. I got something in my eye. Really relevant to today's topic, kind of in a way you'll see. It's from Michael Robinson and he says, what is the odds of me getting work slash contracts without a degree? Just considering heading down this path and coming from hospitality with self-employed up until the outbreak and business minded. So my background won't do me any, I got cut off. I'm guessing any favors are any good. I don't know why I just capture that correctly apparently. That's a really good question. If you don't have a degree, what are the odds of getting work or contracts right now? Probably not going to like my answer, Michael, but your chances aren't super great right now, even in those top industries. Reason being is a lot of people are out of work and a lot of people are looking for jobs right out of college, switching careers, laid off. It's a saturated space right now and so the chances of you without a degree, which is a requirement, kind of a minimum requirement for a lot of jobs, the chances are a lot lower just right off the bat because the vast majority of these jobs require a minimum of a bachelor's degree. I think that hospitality is also not the best industry to be coming from. I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm not saying it's impossible. I promise you, I'm just trying to be realistic. I think hospitality is not a great industry to be coming from either. It's just not one that's super data analyst focused or has a lot of domain knowledge that you can use to get a lot of jobs. Although there are some companies that are hospitality focused that they may value that and so do some research. I just think that it's a tough market right now. It really is. That's why I'm talking about this subject because the market is tough. I want you to have the best chance of looking at the best industries and the best opportunities to get a job. I appreciate your question. I hope that answered your question. I don't want to discourage you. I just want to make you aware that it could be kind of tough right now. You may have to work extra hard and do more projects, market with more people, reach out to more people and really work hard to get a job or a contract right now. All right. I lied earlier. This is actually my favorite time of the show. Come on, guys. You know what time it is. You know what we're about to do. If you've made it this far, you are among an elite few, an elite group of people who are dedicated to their careers. I mean, they're starting off 2021 and they dropped off five, 10 minutes ago. What kind of people do that? People who are not dedicated to their careers and that's just the truth. They're not going to make it. Be proud of yourselves. For making it this far, I'm proud of you. For that, if you want to, this is completely voluntary but makes me smile. If you want to make me smile, if you want to be part of that elite crew, or at least you want to show that you're part of that elite crew, you're already part of it. In the chat below, in the comment section as it were, I have a keyword for you that you can put and just to show that you made it this far and you were part of that elite squad, so it can be said. Of course, we're starting it off in 2021, vegetable-based. I can't turn my back on my vegetables. I can't do it. The vegetable of the week or the first week of 2021 is onions and I think it's very appropriate. I think onions have been used for a lot of metaphors and if it can be used in Shrek, I think I am intelligent enough to use it as well so I will try but probably not as effective as Shrek. They did a pretty great job. 2021 is going to be the onion of life. For you, for me, for this country, whatever country you are in, it's peeling back those layers of humanity, survival. Can we figure out who we are on the inside and get past all those layers of figuring out what to do, who we are and what we're supposed to be? I believe that we can and sometimes you need a helping hand to peel back that onion layer. Not my best work. Honestly, not good at all but I tried. I did my best. It was my first bad analogy or metaphor, whatever you want to call it, of 2021. There you go. Hit it off. Start it off really strong with this one. I don't have much else to say. I will say, let me do a time check. We're at the end so I'm just chilling now. I'm honestly, I'm really excited about 2021. I have a lot of goals, a lot of goals, a lot of plans. I hope you do too. I really recommend having some personal as well as some career goals. I have a lot of personal goals, a lot of career goals and I'm constantly revising them. You would not believe how many times I revised it last year. As this channel continued to pick up last year, my goals just kept changing. Every single month, it was a different goal. I was like, wow, it's doing a little better. Maybe I need to do this now. Or in my career, I was like, well, I'm doing really well at this. This should be the goal of mine. Closing out the show, I just want to encourage you or make you think about what kind of goals you're going to be setting for 2021. I don't like the word resolutions. I think that it has a really negative connotation. I just use goals. I say those are my 2021 goals. They're not my resolutions. I've always thought that resolutions were, I've looked up the definition one time and it said that resolutions were vague statements, whereas goals are specific, smart goals, you know what I mean? I like to set goals instead of setting resolutions. I know you probably don't care, but 99% has dropped off and it's just me talking now. I thought I'd share that little tidbit of information. If you guys have any suggestions for videos, I have plenty planned. Don't worry. You don't have to worry about me. But if you want to be part of the channel and provide a topic, and if I choose it, maybe I'll give you something. I don't know. That'd be cool. Or do some type of giveaway. I don't know. I'm just rambling. If you want to do that, give me a suggestion below. I will genuinely look at it and consider it. If it's good. If it's not, I'll comment back to you and be like, that was not a good suggestion. So take it or leave it. Thank you guys for sticking around so long. One of my goals is to ramble more at the end, just for Rameling's sake, to talk, share my mind for the whole beginning of the show. I take it pretty seriously and I try to stay on topic and now I just do whatever I want. So that's one of my goals. Anyways, I appreciate you. You guys are great. Have a good one. I will see you in the next episode.