My Thoughts on the Google Data Analytics Certificate

I decided to see what the hype was about and completed the Google Data Analytics Certificate. Here are some notes on the program:

• The course progresses as follows: Spreadsheets → SQL → Dashboarding → Programming in R.
• In between these four pillars, the course creators mix in non-technical topics such as working with stakeholders or the ‘data analytics lifecycle’. A lot of it felt very basic; however, I think it’s useful to re-visit the fundamentals from time to time.
• I think the most impactful non-technical topic for me was learning how different organizations manage their data from beginning to end (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, HBS, Strategic Finance, U.S. Geological Survey).
• The spreadsheet section would probably seem basic to anyone who has had to use Excel/Google Sheets at all either professionally or academically but would be a great starting point for someone with no experience.
• The SQL section is also fairly basic but it does a great job at giving a few hands-on problems for the students to solve.
• The SQL section introduces BigQuery (Google’s cloud SQL explorer) and features some to-be-expected bias towards the tool such as graded questions asking you how the platform will add value to your career.
• The dashboarding section revolves around Tableau and has students build out dashboards on Tableau public, which I think is awesome.
• I really enjoyed the R portion of the course. It covers basic data manipulation, piping, ggplot2, and R Markdown. While I use these tools fairly extensively, the course helped me to recognize and correct a couple of bad habits I had.
• The program does a really good job at helping students get set up and begin engaging on Kaggle.

Overall, it’s a basic program but I think it’s a great jumping off point for someone trying to get started in Data Analytics or even someone with more experience who wants to get a refresher on some core topics.