Computing and Data analysis - talk to me like I'm a teenager

[Gingernaut]

I've often been fascinated by where statistics come from, how people 'drill down' to find trends, relevant information and computing in general.

As a girl in the 70s and 80s, computer science wasn't taught at school and although I have used computers, I haven't studied computers, coding or engineering at all.

How does one become a data analyst? Or a data technician? Or anything to do with computers?

I've been to a HE event for adults and it seems that not every college does Access to Computing.

There doesn't seem to be one centralised database of courses and having to visit individual sites is bewildering.

Many coding courses are aimed at children - there would be safeguarding issues if I showed up in a class of primary schoolers.

Where do I look for definitive information?

Can anyone help?

Learn a language online.

I work in data and have a maths degree so that was a good starting point.

You can learn SAS (which is what I primarily use), or SQL which is used on many databases.

Many places look for python which is don’t have but might learn.

Or you could learn Tableau or Power BI if you want to do more business analytics.
I’m Tableau certified and it’s very intuitive.

I'm the same age as you and my BEng was Software Engineering. All the coding languages I used at uni are not what I used in industry!

I moved in to BI and worked mostly on PL/SQL and T-SQL - and a few WYSIWYG stuff which is probably all obsolete now as I left the industry.

For data analysis you've got to be good at maths, have really good logic and have that knack for finding a needle in a haystack - and frankly, logic often can't just be taught.

There are brilliant coders... and there are brilliant detectives.

Look for the many many online courses in Python, sql. Do NOT rock up at a kids class See if you can get to grips with the learning online. If you can and you like it there are Data Science MSc conversion courses that are specifically for people without a computing background.

Thank you.

Why is maths so big in this career?

I've posted this before so apologies for the spam. Sky is running an initiative to encourage women to get into tech.

Hope this might be of some interest to you.

There are other entry level programmes.

http://getintotech.sky.com

@Gingernaut

Why is maths so big in this career?

Er, well, because it's all fundamentally based on mathematics and statistics. Data science is grounded in statistics.

There are data analysis apprenticeships you can undertake if you want to learn.

After my first degree, I did a conversion course in MSc Information Technology

It was brilliant and I have been in a position to pick and chose what jobs to do ever since. I would encourage anyone to do the same.

The Sky initiative is ideal as you get paid while learning.

Thank you for all your answers.

😢

There are lots of different jobs in data. Database admin doesn’t need a lot of maths, but need to be logical. You look after the database, grant permissions to users, troubleshoot problems.

You can also do database modelling/development (again - logic more than maths). This is where you manipulate data by joining it with other data and calculating metrics (like sum, average- well the computer calculates them, but you tell it)

There are also jobs in data management and policy - eg does the company comply with regulations like gdpr, audit.

Look around at if there are company programs for people without a software background - like apprenticeships.

Yup.

Apprenticeships seem to be the way to go, but I really can't afford to work for £4.30 per hour.

Most pay more than that, and assuming you're over 21 once you've done a year the minimum goes up to £8+ an hour.

I'm 53.

Most apprenticeships I've seen pay only the minimum.

DH is a senior data analyst - his degree is in astrophysics of all things. However mathematically he is brilliant (his work colleagues in old jobs used to throw random calculations at him and he just banged them out mentally in seconds) and he has an infuriatingly logical and nitpicky brain.

He got into it via working his way up in the company he works in - first in the call centres and then moving up the ladder as the company spotted his robot mind and channelled him into that kind of projects.

I feel trapped.

I went to an event at a local college yesterday and found out I'm not eligible for student loan funding because I already have an irrelevant and utterley useless HND. Meeja Studies.

I qualified in the 90s and have never found a job with it. It is long out of date

I can't physically do much and I'm not suited to 'frontline' patient care, but the only way out is if I go on an NHS professional course.

After the last year, that's the last thing I want to do.

You can get a loan for a part time STEM degree even if already have a uni level qualification if that helps?

You could also do a conversion MSc as some of us have mentioned. Or if you work for the nhs try and get into whatever part of them deals with systems and data stuff.

But you do need to be numerate, esp if you're analysing.

The HND is not relevant, nor is any of my previous experience.

There can be no conversion.

I'm going to have to look into this further, but it feels so hopeless.

@Gingernaut

The HND is not relevant, nor is any of my previous experience.

There can be no conversion.

I'm going to have to look into this further, but it feels so hopeless.

You don't understand what I mean by conversion. Conversion courses are specifically for those who have NEVER studied the subject before.

You don't get admitted to a conversion MSc in Data Analysis if you've got a BSc in Computing!

You want this thread:
Women returners in tech

I did an MSc conversion in Comp Sci - my first degree is history. We had linguists, philosophers, and a few scientists, but not mathematicians or people who had done computing before. Conversion courses like this are designed for those who don't have a computing/maths background.

There are various online free courses - I would probably start with trying one of those to see whether I took to it or not.

The NHS have apprenticeships in data analytics and informatics.

If you are not so keen on the hardcore maths stuff, one way in to the field is to present yourself as a subject specialist, in your case in health, and to work more on the data interpretation, visualisation and presentation side of things. I was speaking to someone quite recently who had such a role in an NHS trust having started out as a paramedic.

In these kinds of roles you don't do a lot of the data modelling, your job is to take the numbers and use your subject expertise to make them mean something, in some case to provide understanding of what the numbers show to an audience that is more interested in health rather than numbers, in other cases to make an assessment of why certain patterns have been found, whether these patterns are meaningful in a holistic rather than simply a mathematical sense, or to form recommendations for action based on your understanding of both the data and real world circumstances.

You still need to have a good understanding of how the numbers were arrived at and most people in these roles will have the ability to have done the programming, modelling, etc., at least to some extent, even if they don't actually do it themselves, but once you have gained this basic knowledge you could then move away from the more mathematical stuff if it's not your forte.

Another conversion course MSc in information Technology here. I 'converted' from Economics and German to IT. I won't say it was easy but we were a very mixed bunch, graduates in different subjects from philosophy to drama.

All went from no chance of a job to being able to pick and choose jobs.

Good luck

Thanks.

I'll catty on looking into it.

carry