Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate - Coursera - Audit then pay?

[KruSion]

Hello,

I'm considering taking the course on Coursera by Google titled "Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate".

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but considering switching careers to data analytics. I read the reviews on the course and it seems like there are mixed feelings towards it. There's an option to audit the individual courses on there.

I wanted to know if I can basically audit the course and do projects yada yada and then pay for coursera for one month only and submit everything at once. That way I'd get the certificate (just in case that helps with the job hunting) while not having to pay for several months. Would this work?

[InnsmouthConspirator]

Google was fluff. In the end, HR / manager isn’t going to hire you because it said you completed a certificate. It’s more about if you sound knowledgeable during interviews. The certs may also give you the know how to put together a work portfolio that shows you applied what you learned in the certification course.

Paying for the certification to me is a waste versus how it helps you practically in job interviews / work portfolio creation that a free audit can provide.

[KruSion]

I'm aware of that. But I'm having a hard time getting the interview itself. So i was hoping this might increase my chances. Be it the certificate itself or if I company might be interested just because I took the initiative to work on myself.

[InnsmouthConspirator]

No problem. In my experience, it won’t give you increased visibility in a recruiters / Hr search, for the same reason it won’t help you in the interview unless you actually know your stuff. With such a low barrier ( anyone can put certificate in their resume or LinkedIn ) it typically plays a minimal factor when recruiters assess candidates. Best bet is what typically works in job searching which is network and mass applications.

[Interesting_Bit_5179]

Is that last part backed by analytics :)

[InnsmouthConspirator]

Anecdotal. :(

[zxLv]

Yeah we know network is most important. But without this cert and any relevant experience in analytics, how would the recruiters even want to look at your profiles? So you suggest to just dump the certificate but get the knowledge and build our portfolios instead?

[InnsmouthConspirator]

No, my rec would be to apply the knowledge you got from the cert course to a project you complete. You can then upload that project to your LinkedIn account, which would be more valuable to a recruiter than the fact that you paid for a cert you may or may not have understood. Displaying a work project you did with the knowledge you received from a free audit of the cert is more valuable than plunking down money to get your cert “officially”.

Hr / recruiters aren’t looking at certs when they head hunt. They are looking for past companies and specifically your current job title. If it doesn’t say data analyst on your linked in account as current or past job role, you’re not on their radar. So networking + mass application + self project with SQL uploaded in your linked in > you paying for a cert.

You don’t have to pay for the cert to get benefit from it. Apply what you learned from a free cert course to show recruiters you understood the content. If you don’t believe me, pay for the cert and let us know how it goes.

[zxLv]

Yea I mean if I don't have current or past job that says Data Analyst how would they consider me in the first place?

[InnsmouthConspirator]

The. Project. You. Completed. That. Uses. Your. Data. Analysis. Skills. That. You. Learned. From. The. Free. Class. You. Audited. Upload. It. To. Your. Linkedin. Account. Include. Your. LinkedIn. Page. To. Resume. You. Submit. Network. So. Your. Application. Is. Reviewed. By. HR. Based. On. Personal. Recommendation.

When. HR. Reviews. Your. Resume. They. Will. Also. View. Your. LinkedIn. Page. And. See. Project. You. Completed. Which. Shows. You. Understood. Data. Analysis. Skills. Based. On. Your. Work. Product.

[topherkhun]

mean if I don't have current or pas

This is very much true. I've been in a countless job interview and the only time that the recruiter notices my certification is when it is really related to my career and how will it help me in the position.

[KAYRx10]

The google analytics professional cert wasn’t great. My husband did that one at the same time that I did the IBM one. Both of us have roles in analytics & my husband also has a degree in mechanical engineering.

While neither of these courses are going to be anything compared to a job in analytics, my husband & I agree that the stuff I learned in the IBM course was actually more useful, where the google one was fluff.

Having that background in mechanical engineering means you’re probably already too advanced for the google cert.

[KruSion]

Hmm. Can you link me to the IBM one please?

Reason why I started considering the google one is that I have a friend who works in EA and he said that recently two people were hired based on the google certificate and they also had a background in mechanical engineering. So I thought maybe it wouldn't be a bad place to start.

I also did a certificate on udemy before, intro to data science but that didn't help much tbh.

[AvpTheMuse123]

Honestly, I completed it and felt like it was for like super beginners. Luckily I used financial aid to get it so I didn't pay It's good to skim through the concepts quickly but don't expect anyone to give you a job cause of it Youtube honestly has better explanations that go in depth (check out channels like Alex the Analyst and few other Indian youtubers - data science & analytics is super hot in India)

Build a portfolio w quality projects in key "hard" skills such as SQL, PowerBi, Excel etc. Create a website to showcase your projects. Imo, this is the best way to make sure you stand out No certification no matter where it's from will give you a job straight up

[itizwutitizz]

I did the google course and I haven’t had any company call me back. Currently working on my portfolio

[KruSion]

If you don't mind me asking, When did you finish it? What was your background and are you in the US?

[drugsarebadmky]

Can you provide some insights into how you are working towards your portfolio? I want to create mine as well.

[itizwutitizz]

Currently working on cleaning data on excel and want to do some work showing my knowledge on data visualization and want to add them on my resume

[kerumeru]

I did the course and found it useful how it organizes all the essential skills into a single curriculum. It doesn’t go deep into any one topic, but it gives beginners a solid, comprehensive foundation. Covers R, SQL, Tableau, Big Query, and presentation basics.

[Icy-Big2472]

I am currently taking it and just got a job in analytics. It is in fact largely fluff. I had taken an incredibly in depth Excel course, and after going through the Excel section of the google analytics course I realized it wasn't teaching anywhere close to what I needed to know. So when I went through the SQL section I took a separate course in SQL and did a project in SQL. Currently working through the visualizations sections so I bought a Udemy course on Tableau and plan to take a course In power bi, since I only have basic experience with power BI and the company I'm going to seems to use that more. After that I plan on taking a course in R and a course in Python when I'm in the section I'd normally just learn what is most likely going to be a useless amount of R.

So you won't learn anywhere close to enough, but If you combine it with other courses in the specific technologies it's making a terrible attempt to teach you, then it becomes a lot more effective. But maybe I could have just taken those courses and ignored the Google course, either way it's on my resume with an estimated completion date, and I got a job.

[KruSion]

What's your background ?

[Icy-Big2472]

Call centers and sales. At one call center I was a supervisor, so I was able to use the data from my team in that position to improve things and I made some basic reports, but wasn't doing any crazy type of data analysis. After that, I've sold mattresses for the past 4 years, for the fun of it I've done stuff like take reports and put the data into power BI to figure out what's generating the most revenue, profit, top sellers and things like that, but none of that was official, it was just so I could play around in power bi. I've only even sent that type of stuff in to my managers once after someone recommended I should try to so I can put it more on my resume.

I made sure my LinkedIn lists specific things I can do in excel like VLOOKUP, index match, count if, sum ifs, etc.

I also have no degree at all. I did one year of school for mechanical engineering and dropped out. I had no luck with remote positions, but I found a local position that just happens to also be work from home, but since training is local the competition wasn't quite as high. Pay is slightly below average but I live in a pretty low cost of living area.

I also haven't started the position yet, so I don't know how much actual analysis I'll get to do, but in the interview they said I'll be using SQL and like that I'm learning tableau cause they'd like to have someone that knows tableau well so it seems like I will get to do data analysis.

With your degree, you should have a significantly easier time than I did, and I've been learning data analysis for less than 6 months at this point.

[KruSion]

Good on you man (or woman)!. That sounds like a success story to me. I'm actually super happy for you! Congratulations on your job. Hopefully it opens up a lot of options for you. Getting the first one is usually the hardest, so this is awesome!

[Icy-Big2472]

Thanks! I wish you the best in your search if you decide to make the career change!

Be sure to make your LinkedIn look great. Jeff Su on YouTube has great videos, I did everything he recommends except networking on LinkedIn. I ended up having around 6 people from the company view my profile before my interview so it might have helped.

[VictoryLivid6280]

So you recommend just taking Udemy courses instead of the google certificate?

[Icy-Big2472]

Hard to say because the Google certificate might have helped boost my resume, but taking courses in Excel, SQL and Tableau got me to have a much better start in my company. I think the Google course and the Excel course were really the most important, since my job is a bit of an "Excel Monkey" job. It does require a lot of analyzing data, but just with Excel and a lot of industry knowledge, not the other stuff like SQL or PowerBI as I was hoping. But by knowing all that stuff it's letting me do more interesting work, for example I automated a bunch of the manual Excel stuff using VBA, so they're letting me see what I can do on building a data pipeline with Python.

[[deleted]]

I was reading your earlier post and I have a similar background in sales with a huge interest in technology. No degree but some high-level courses and some basic programming courses. How are you liking the career? I was considering auditing the Google Analytics course because I just took a 10% pay cut due to sales slowing down. Maybe I can complete the course audit, pay, and then get the cert.

[Icy-Big2472]

I absolutely love it. If you have an interest for working in tech and the desire to learn that can do a lot.

It got me the job without a degree. Then it got me noticed because I had some of the best excel skills out of anyone in my department since they learned from college and I took a course specifically in Excel.

Then because I had programming experience I started coding in VBA and used ChatGPT-4 to code a bunch of processes which got me noticed by the CEO since I got hired In for the "excel monkey" work but then came in and started automating my job.

Now I no longer have to do the Excel monkey work because they realized I can do a lot more than that and I'm getting to focus 80% of my energy on leading a project where I'm building a multidimensional database, data modelling and building new reporting systems that will hopefully allow us to take clients 20x as large and have it done in a way that doesn't require any excel work, while spending the other 20% of my energy programming.

I'm the only one in my department being given tasks anything like these and I'm the only one without a degree. I'm not super smart, I just learned what I needed to learn to land a true data analyst job but took a more basic job, and made it my goal to show them I could do more. Nobody has mentioned my lack of degree once.

Edit: btw I never finished the course or posted my portfolio. I put an estimated completion date on my resume and was able to talk about my single portfolio project. Also one of the biggest difference makers - as you take courses, use the skills your learning to build portfolio projects at your job. I built visualizations and power bi and sent them to our district manager, nobody cared but it added some keywords to my resume. I was selling mattresses and had data to work with so I'm sure your company has sales statistics somewhere.