Case Study
For the case study they give you the option of coming up with your own data, or using one of the datasets they provide. I used some sales data. I uploaded it, and wrote some SQL queries that gave me different distributions. I gave my imaginary client all kinds of flavors regarding their sales data such as most popular and least popular items, as well as peak times (sales volume) of the the year, income per month, income per month by item/product, and some other stuff. They can use this information to adjust their inventory levels, or phase out products that aren't selling. They can also use the sales volume data to determine staffing levels for certain times of the year. I made some pivot tables, a couple of graphs, and left it at that. No Tableau, no R.
My Final Recap
I went into this with zero intention of using this certificate as a way to jump ship, or present it to my employer in hopes of advancing my career or income. I'm probably an anomaly, assuming that most people with a similar level of experience wouldn't bother taking the course. But, for what it's worth I wanted to finish something I started regardless of how sarcastic I was about it. In fact, it may even look dumb on my LinkedIn profile to have worked at a job for 6+ years and only recently achieved any education/certificate in the field. I majored in business, not computer science.
The text they instructed to add to my profile under Education is:
"Google Data Analytics Certificate, Coursera 2021
Associate of Arts, KC Community College, Central, IL 2018" <-- I thought this was part of the school, but it was just a 2nd line for an education example. Seriously I thought KC Community College was some sort of sponsor for the program until I realized the image they showed me was just an example. The least they could have done was skipped a line between the entries so I'd understand they were separate.
Within a week I should receive an email with a badge from "Credly's Acclaim platform". I can add the badge to my LinkedIn profile... Did I mention I never use LinkedIn?
Anyway, back on topic. I walked into the course with one basic question:
Will I learn anything I can apply to my current job to make it easier? (Spoiler: Nope)
What was nice about the course is how they really normalize that you're going to make a lot of mistakes, and that learning and improving is a never-ending cycle. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and rest assured there's community of folks that are really helpful and supportive.
In a really silly or irrational way this experience did help me start to get over that feeling of "I suck at my job" and the occasional episode of doubt/imposter syndrome that creeps up on me. Obviously this says more about me personally than it does about the content of the course. It's only been a little over a week since I started, but for some reason just jumping through the hoops or testing out of sections, and ultimately getting the carrot at the end of the stick was pretty rewarding by itself. I guess I just needed a gold star.
Lastly, there was a lot of content I didn't mention in my posts. I tried to keep things at a relatively high level. I think they did a good job on the content pertaining to preparing for interviews, the hiring process, and all of the resources and platforms they make available to you to build a portfolio and showcase your work. So if you're approaching this as a total newbie they really do set you up for success.
Thanks so much for tagging along on this week-long experiment. Happy Cinco de Drinko!