How to make a career change: From online training straight to a data analyst job

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Graphic in the article "Skill Gap Analysis: How Companies Effectively Determine the Training Needs of Their Workforce" shows the StackFuel Data Literacy Assessment (icon image).

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A whiz-bang start as a data analystThat's exactly what StackFuels Data Analyst alumni Siegfried Bondarenko has managed to do. Siegfried is a Berliner, trained as a medical technician and physics engineer. In 2020, he met a labor market hit by Corona. So he decided to adapt to this situation and with the help of a Data Analyst Continuing Education to broaden its horizons.

Even before he received his graduation certificate, the Job offer. In October 2021 he started his new profession as a Data Analyst. How he managed to do that and how he experienced the training at StackFuel, he reports himself in the following interview.

A lateral entry requires courage. With StackFuel, you can take on any new challenge. Find out more about our subsidized training courses with a Education voucher from the job center or employment agency with 100 percent cost coverage. Start your new data career today.

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Hello Siegfried, thank you for sharing your success story with us. What can you tell us and our readers about your career path so far and your decision to continue your education?

I have always been very interested in technology and science. Building on my training as a Medical Technician I studied physical engineering in the Bachelor and later Photonics in the Master's program at the Technical University of Wildau. During and also after my studies, I was employed at a Berlin-based high-tech startup and subsequently went towards the applied science at an institute for laser and plasma technology.

On the one hand, I had been looking for a challenge away from the lab for some time, thinking primarily of a job in industry or the public sector, but on the other hand I saw through the Corona crisis from 2020, a need to broaden my horizons and to face up to the adapt to the changed situation on the labor market.

A long phone conversation with a friend about my career prospects during the Corona crisis brought me to the topic of Data Science. When that keyword came up, I knew that was exactly what I was looking for. That same day, I came across StackFuel during my online research and the graphic design of the info brochure alone made the training appealing to me. Of course, my decision was based on the Training content in the foreground and in particular the Programming language Python had piqued my interest, because I always wanted to learn it very much.

Where does your interest in Python programming and data come from?

Data is powerful, but worthless without processing and analysis. I find it exciting to see patterns, structures and dependencies in Records and thus make them usable in the first place and generate added value from them. In addition, a successful VisualizationThe result is a clear and concise presentation of complex interrelationships, so that even people from outside the field can recognize and understand them. This is how a interdisciplinary work made possible in the first place.

Did you have any fears about working with data, programming and higher mathematics?

I certainly had the greatest Fear of contactbecause even though I'm a physics engineer, I've never seen the Programming in studies never learned. I had difficulty learning to program with YouTube-Tutorials autodidactically and without direct application. In this regard, the advanced training at StackFuel was a Gamechanger for me. The learning environment and the simple and intuitive Python programming language have been instrumental in reducing almost all of my fears.

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Was there a particular moment in the Data Analyst training that was particularly challenging, but also insightful?

I experienced aha effects in the Data Analyst training every daybecause I had as good as No previous experience with the topic. The greatest challenge certainly lay in the free and practical taskswhere you are first alone, without any guidance search for solutions had to. I remember one in particular Coding Challenge for prime factorization with a nested For loop, which was very unexpected for me. It probably took me the longest time to get the function to work. In the process, I experienced perhaps the biggest "aha" effect when I finally really got through what SQL stands for, what APIs exactly are, and how they work.

These are exactly the issues that others shy away from and may not have the confidence to take on this challenge. Do you have any advice you would like to share with those who are currently hesitating?

I can imagine that most of those who are interested in the Further training as a data analyst interest, although a good Mathematics Comprehension and can also handle data in Excel, but are not confident in programming. That's a shame because it could benefit them immensely at work. I think sometimes you have to jump in at the deep end, challenge yourself and start something new to grow personally and professionally. StackFuel is just mastering this Introduction to Data Science for Beginners and whoever is really interested in the subject should just dare and try it.

How did you like the training at StackFuel apart from the learning content?

StackFuel's learning platform is excellently designed and the use of audio-visuals, quizzes, challenges, and solution checkers makes programming more like a game where you absolutely have to Highscore wants to crack. The Support was able to help me with all my concerns and I always felt valued as a participant. I also liked the fact that besides Hard Skills also the necessary Soft Skills are conveyed, such as Tips for LinkedIn, XING, GitHub, Portfolio work, personal Blog posts and Application training. I can therefore really only recommend the further training.

Congratulations as you start your new Data Analyst job just a few weeks after graduating from StackFuel. What helped you get this job?

I came to my new job through a recommendation, which is why, starting October 1, I accepted the position as a Business Data Analyst in the first place. I was very lucky. On the one hand with my contact and on the other hand I had the privilege, on request and due to the promising job offer a private, one-hour Application training with one of StackFuels Educational Data Scientists to receive. This then proved to be the case with the Data Analytics Employment Test for the job also paid off in full. Of course, I practiced for days after the training until the test, because these tests have it in them! But as always, that's also just a question of motivation.

I think StackFuel is a good base for this new challenge for my Data Analytics Capabilities by means of Python, Pandas, Matplotlib and laid with interesting, descriptive training datasets. With each new post, you have to get into their Operating procedures and Best Practices and I am confident that coming fresh out of the Data Analyst training, I will be able to get in well and then look forward to "on-the-job" to continue learning.

How to become a certified Data Analyst

Siegfried has successfully demonstrated how the Career change as a data analyst can succeed. With a great deal of commitment and motivation, he has challenged himself and thus achieved perhaps the most important Characteristics of Data Scientists and Data Analysts proven: The will to lifelong learning.

If you also want to know what Siegfried thinks about our learning environment, the Data LabIf you are interested in our products, please visit our website and take a closer look at them: To the learning environment.

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