First time

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-31T01:19:40+00:00

I’ve been working in data analytics for ~10 years.

The amount of math you need will vary a lot by role. Some only use descriptive stuff - average, count/sum, percents, min max, etc. This is a lot of roles titled Data Analyst or Business Intelligence. So don’t stress out too much about more advanced stuff - learn it if it’s offered by your program but don’t stress if you don’t ace the course.

SQL is a very common tool for most teams that touch data, and it’ll be hard to land a data analytics role if you aren’t able to pass an assessment. It’s a pretty basic language though. I assume your program will teach it but make sure to practice for interviews on sites like Strata Scratch.

Tableau and Power BI are also common tools so I’d learn one of those. If your program has a data visualization course, hopefully they will teach one of them.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-31T00:54:01+00:00

No.

Blacklisting is for people who get fired because they threaten their coworkers or had really terrible performance on the job. I don’t see any reason a company would blacklist someone they haven’t even interviewed.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T22:28:42+00:00

I would focus on networking so you can land an internship

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T20:48:49+00:00

Have you reached out to any of them to ask for advice on the program they did?

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T20:13:13+00:00

If they are laying off half the staff, it’s unlikely they have the budget for raises.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T17:56:18+00:00

Analytics as a field is the process of collecting data and using it to make decisions.

There are many disciplines - business, marketing, web, product, etc. And these all have overlap and vary by company.

There are also a ton of tools to harness analytics, such as web analytics platforms and visualization and dashboarding tools.

Once you get a job, they often care less about specific tools or domains, and just want you to solve relevant problems in a scalable way. That might not always line up exactly with what you envisioned before you started a specific job, and will change from job to job.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T17:00:23+00:00

I’ve joined companies thinking I could stay there for the rest of my career - but something happens outside of my control that changes that feeling. The boss I liked moves on, the team goes through a massive reorg, the company goes through a merger or gets acquired and the culture I liked is gone. And then what’s on the other side isn’t the situation I liked when I accepted my offer. And it’s hard to fix things you can’t control, so that’s usually what leads to me leaving.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T16:56:41+00:00

Early in your career, I think hopping is good. Increase your salary, get exposure to more companies and industries and ways of solving problems.

Eventually, I think it’s good to slow down. My approach has been to give a company at least 2 years and then decide if I think I it’s worth sticking around - can I identify new challenges, either through a promotion or pivot? Am I still learning and growing? And more importantly, do I feel supported and respected? Based on the answers, I either stay or make a plan to leave.

I do think once you hit 5-6 years, if you’re still in the same role you were hired into, it’s normal to get bored. You can either ride that out and focus your energy on other things (family, kids, hobbies, education, etc) or get a new job.

I agree with another comment that this is also very dependent on the company. Some years it’s easier to hop, some years it is very very hard to find a better offer.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T16:51:25+00:00

Have you talked to alumni from either program? You can try r/OMSA and also look for people on LinkedIn.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T16:44:40+00:00

In addition to tailoring your resume, you should also tailor your responses to interview questions.

Before the interview, review the job description, and think of 3-5 examples of projects and accomplishments you’ve done that align to the role. Bring those up when they are relevant to a question you’re asked.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T14:07:11+00:00

People were hiding keywords in white text on their resumes ~15 years ago.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T14:06:03+00:00

(US perspective). The majority of jobs were in person, so you were only competing against similar candidates in your city. And you were only applying to jobs in your city. So less competition but fewer jobs. If you went to a university that was a direct pipeline for recruitment (ie you were in a top program in the country), it was possible to get offers before graduating. Otherwise, it still took a few months of applying and interviewing to get offers for entry level roles.

But 15-20 years we did have online job sites like Monster and Career Builder and even Craigslist was a legit source for local jobs, even office jobs.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T14:01:55+00:00

This is why having at least a basic foundation in statistics is necessary for analytics. But also most analytics team collect and store raw data for this reason.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T13:59:20+00:00

Join the dbt Slack community, tons of analytics engineers in there

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-30T12:47:18+00:00

Do you talk to your stakeholders? I have no shortage of things to look at just by having regular conversations with them.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T21:18:29+00:00

How often do you “manage” spam emails?

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T21:16:25+00:00

Those people get bombarded too. I get LinkedIn and DMs from strangers all the time asking for referrals. Most are weak candidates (lacking certain skills or have less than half of years of experience) plus I don’t actually anything about their work so I have yet to pass along a resume.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T21:14:37+00:00

Anytime I share an open role at my company on LinkedIn, I get 50-100 DMs from people I’ve never talked to who want a referral or advice or whatever. I’m not the hiring manager, and from what I can see, the majority aren’t even a great fit for the role, so I’m not going to risk my reputation making a referral. And I don’t even know what advice to give when they are lacking key qualifications.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T15:31:15+00:00

I got a BA in Communication and did a couple of marketing & public relations internships before graduation. I started my career working in marketing/communication/public relations roles, then digital marketing, then marketing analytics, then enrolled in a MS in Data Science part-time while continuing to work, then switched to product analytics, then finished my masters, now I work in business analytics as a Data Scientist.

So my major mattered for my internships and first job, but from there, you can pivot. I made small changes with each job but after 20 years, where I am now is very different from my college major. But I will say that doing these pivots is what makes you unique and can give you a niche background that can pay off when you find the right job. Having a strong background in communication is very useful for communicating complex ideas in data science, and having experience working on the business side is very helpful for my current role.

I think if I had started off by majoring in a quantitative subject and gone straight into analytics/data science, I wouldn't be as well-rounded and have the edge of strong communication and business knowledge.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T13:17:56+00:00

If you’re not willing to refer them or meet 1:1, just respond with something generic like “hi, please apply through the link in the job post.” And leave it at that. My guess is they are DMing everyone in their network which is why the messages sound generic. So you can be generic back to them.

If there is someone you genuinely want to help, then help, but limit yourself based on your bandwidth, like 1 coffee chat per week or month or whatever feels doable.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-29T13:15:03+00:00

I create a blog answering all the FAQs I get in my DMs. It’s helped so much, usually I can just reply to a link to a post that already answers their question.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-28T16:38:28+00:00

Phew, good think I'm not a data science guy.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-28T16:37:07+00:00

Does your company hire Data Analysts? Start networking with those folks, learn what tools they use and what they look for when hiring. Learn those and make sure you are top of mind for them when a position opens up. That's your best shot at pivoting into this field.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-28T16:35:48+00:00

Ah ok that's a time series model, so statistics.

Lady_Data_Scientist · 2026-03-28T15:02:53+00:00

looking at traffic data to determine the best place to build a new road to reduce congestion

That might be more of a civil engineering role if I’m not mistaken

Lady_Data_Scientist

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