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  • Kelly Adams
    • Jan 16, 2023
    • 9 min read

Data Analytics Resources

Updated: Jul 9

Below are the best resources I've found related to data analytics whether it's learning new skills, hosting a portfolio, or get inspiration from creators. I update this periodically as I find new resources.


This is also available as a Github repo: data-analytics-resources.

  • The repo is an open source project. Any links I find particularly useful I will add in here.

  • The difference between the repo and the blog post is the post contains my personal commentary on each of the resources, the repo only has the links.


Note: This post includes 2 affiliate links, indicated with a * at the end for the courses I'ev built. If you decide to purchase the extras for the course through this link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This support helps me continue to provide content. Thank you for your support! All other links on this page aren’t affiliate links.


 

Table of Contents:

 

Technical Resources

The following resources include everything technical about learning data analytics. From course platforms and specific courses to where you can practice your coding skills or host your portfolio.


Course Platforms

Websites where you can find specific courses on tools like SQL or Python. Some platforms go into more detail about the soft skills and how to break into tech as well.

  • Coursera - has many courses on a variety of topics, it has popular courses for data analytics like the Google Course or the IBM course. Along with specific courses for skills. There's a free option and a subscription based option which is $59/month.

  • Maven Analytics - they have everything from specific courses to learn skills to a Bootcamp and learning paths for different types of careers. Check out the "Learn" tab on their site for specifics. It is a subscription based service for $39/month.

  • freeCodeCamp - basic introduction to various skills and it's completely free

  • Udemy - has all types of courses that if you get them on sale they cost usually ($15-$25). I used this for learning specific skills like SQL or Python.

  • Datacamp - an all encompassing platform to learn common skills in data analytics. They have specific courses to "learning tracks" for jobs like Data Analyst or Data Scientist. The platform has a free version (first chapter of every course and select courses) and a paid version which is $25/month.

  • Codeacademy - this is tailored towards people interested in coding. It has a variety of coding languages but it does include courses on Python and SQL. There's a free version and a paid version which is subscription based. The pro version is $25/month.

  • Analyst Builder - an all-in-one platform to become a data analyst. It has online courses, crash courses, and practice SQL questions for interviews.


Specific Courses

Below are some specific courses I've taken and have personally used.

  • Data Analyst Bootcamp (Free) from Alex the Analyst - this is a Youtube playlist with over 50 videos. He walks you through the basics of SQL, Excel, Tableau, Power BI, Python, and more. Along with projects and a way to create a portfolio website for free. Highly recommended if you have a limited budget and want to get started learning right away.

  • Google Data Analytics Course - overview of what data analysis is and what a data analyst does along with introducing important skills needed for a data analyst like Excel, SQL, Tableau and R (check out my review of the course). In short it's good as an introduction but it won't get you job ready alone.

  • Data with Danny Serious SQL Course - focuses on case studies to provide real world practice, it takes a while to set up the IDE but worth it for the case studies.

  • The Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python - walks you through Python you learn the basics to more complicated ideas like object oriented programming. It also has assessments and mini-projects to complete to test your knowledge which I found the most useful.

  • Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp - learn how to use common Python libraries used in data analytics/science like NumPy and Pandas. I'm still going through this program but have learned from this instructor before and would recommend him.

  • The Complete SQL Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero - learn PostgreSQL to perform data analysis. The setup takes a bit but once you do it you can analyze a dataset using SQL. It includes real world problems and a database.

  • ChatGPT for Data Analytics - learn how to automate tasks and save time with ChatGPT (course by Luke Barousse, affiliate link). The course link is an affiliate link to the Youtube video.


My Courses


Practice Sites:

These sites are where you can practice your skills. Kind of like practice problems you would do during math classes. Most of these are free but may have a paid version. Some focus on interview questions that may be asked during technical interviews.


Portfolio Hosting Platforms

Below are a few sites where you can host your data analytics portfolio that don't require coding knowledge. Which one you choose depends on what skill/s you want to focus on showcasing.

  • Github - great for hosting coding files like SQL or Python, it's free. You can also create your own website/landing page

  • Maven Analytics - An all-in-one platform for hosting a data analytics portfolio. I haven't personally used it but I've heard great things about it.

  • Tableau Public - you can host your Tableau dashboards/visualizations on this site for free

  • Carrd.co - an easy way to create a landing page for your portfolio. It's free and you can link to your projects that may be hosted on different sites

  • novyPro - useful for hosting your PowerBI dashboards/visualizations


Sites to Find Datasets

Below are sites I've found free and public datasets.

  • Datahub - This site covers a wide range of topics from climate change to entertainment, but it mainly focuses on economic and business data.

  • Dataset Search - You're able to use Google to search for datasets. It's great if you have a particular topic in mind.

  • Kaggle - It has variety of free datasets provided by users from everything to arts & entertainment to social science data.

  • Data Gov - Public data from the US government from everything from crime to healthcare.

  • Maven Analytics Data Playground - Datasets that are hand picked by Maven's instructors. These datasets can be more fun like analyzing the Harry Potter movies scripts to more business focused like analyzing sales of a pizza place.

  • Awesome Public Datasets - A list of topic focused public data sources that are high quality. These are collected from blogs, answers, and user responses.

  • Datacamp Datasets - These datasets are from a variety of fields from real estate to retail. All of the datasets have the data and packages needed.

  • NASA Data - Has open-data provided to the public from NASA. The dataset pages only hold the metadata and the actual data may be on another NASA site. There will be links to the data in these other locations.

  • Google BigQuery - It's free to sign up and you can practice with plenty of free datasets.

 

Other Resources

These are other resources where you can learn more about data analytics. Specifically the soft skill side and learning how to break into the field.


Youtube Channels

  • Alex the Analyst - he talks about all things data analytics with videos on how to create a project and creating a Github portfolio website

  • Tina Huang - she's a data scientist but she talks about how to learn specific data science skills, studying tips and general career advice

  • Luke Barousse - portfolio projects, how to get a data job, and how to use AI to become more productive at work

  • Ken Jee - focusing on data science, machine learning, AI and sports analytics 


LinkedIn Creators

Below I've linked to some of my favorite LinkedIn creators and generally the topics they write about along with anything else I found useful from them.

  • Danny Ma - SQL, data science, and data analytics (check out his website here).

  • Avery Smith - founder of Data Career Jumpstart Bootcamp talks about all topics in data, specifically how to get a data analyst job.

  • Albert Bellamy -content creation, data analytics, career pivoting (view his Topmate here).

  • Vin Vashishta - data science, machine learning, and career advice (subscribe to his newsletter: High ROI Data Science).

  • Christian Wanser - data science, data analytics, data (view his website here).

  • Annie Nelson - data careers, data analytics, and her book How to Become a Data Analyst

  • Megan Lieu - careers, data analytics, SQL tips, work-life balance and what it's like working for a start-up.

  • Chris French - a teacher turned data analyst who talks about his process to becoming a data analyst (check out his Discord community: DataFrenchy Community).

  • Jess Ramos - data analytics, tech careers, and other relatable content about what it's like being in the tech field (view all of her resources here).

  • Matt Mike - data portfolios, resume advice, data analytics, and his Portfolio Guidebook ($10) for how to create a data portfolio (view his website here).

  • Lauren Rosenthal - education in tech, data analytics, personal development.

  • Amna Ahmed - career change, data analytics, business intelligence

  • Margaret Efron - data analytics, ChatGPT, data visualization (check out her Medium articles here).

  • Meri Nova - data science, mental health, neuroscience (join her Discord Community Break into Data).

  • Drew Mooney - An Analytics Manager that talks about data analytics and growing your career (check out his coaching services here).

  • Mary Knoeferl - shares free resources on data analytics and her own journey into the field.


Podcasts


Websites

  • Career Foundry (Data Analytics Blog) - Career Foundry is an online school for career change into tech. it has courses and programs for data analytics. I specifically like looking at their data analytics blog for articles on data topics like SQL and general career advice.

  • freeCodeCamp news - I mentioned it in the course platform section but it also has articles on coding skills. While it's mostly about coding (less about data analytics) it's still a useful resource in case you want to expand your technical knowledge

  • Towards Data Science on Medium - if you have a Medium subscription ($50/year or $5/month) this is a great resource for learning anything related to data science including concepts, ideas and codes. If you don't pay you are limited to only 3 articles a month on Medium.

  • the muse (Data Analytics Career page) - a free website with plenty of blog posts on finding jobs, how to build an effective resume, and more. This specific page focuses on careers in data analytics/science.


Newsletters

Below are some of my favorite email newsletters. These are focused on data science or data analytics.

  • The Automated - discover the latest trends and tools in AI, it has links to articles and trending tools

  • Data Dad - it's designed for aspiring data analytics, going over topics like skill building, networking and motivation

  • The Query - a newsletter for the data professional for staying informed, improving skills, and advancing their careers with a bit of humor

  • The Data Career - thoughts and advice for current and aspiring data professionals that you can read in 3 minutes or less

  • Jess Ramos Data - sends out data tips, SQL practice problems, and tech career advice


Discord Communities

Discord is usually used as a wave for gamers to talk with each other. But it's becoming more popular to be used for people with a common interest to chat and build a community. All the links below are the invites to the discord server and the creators' LinkedIn accounts. Please note I am part of all of these communities. So if you see me say hello.

1 Comment

Omar Asim
Omar Asim
Jan 23, 2023

Hi! I just wanted to post the following comment.


To be honest I was quite disappointed by the Google Data Analytics course. There was too much fluff and I didn’t really like the structure, they would constantly switch between tools, and worse, they would gloss over the intermediate/advanced concepts and then keep repeating basic concepts. An example would be like them flying through nested SQL queries then they’re back to a spreadsheet explaining a SUM function step by step. Also, I don’t know how anyone who did just the course would be able to do the capstone project by themselves, I didn’t feel adequately prepared at all, let alone job-ready as the marketing seemed to claim.


Not to be a…


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