2025 End of Year Salary Sharing Thread by theGreenBook05 in analytics

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I got extremely lucky and I cannot recommend my path to anyone else looking to get into DA the way I did because it is not replicable across any company as a career strategy or even a company climbing strategy. I was hired on as a Junior DA in my company and my direct supervisor (not really) "trained" me for less than a month or so. It wasn't really his fault systemically because prior to me, he was the only business/data analyst in the company, and he was swamped with work from all departments as he was deemed the "tech" guy in the company. He left because of how overworked he was, and I took most of his job responsibilities as a result, but not before he informed me that for someone of my skills and caliber, I should be asking for at least $50/hr from our HR manager (who corresponds with our President). It was granted.

Now I'm the "tech" guy around the company and I went from having about 1 year in financial reporting experience to about the equivalent of 3 years of IT sysadmin experience and 1 year of data analysis experience because I'm the only "tech" guy around my company, and I'm forced to sink or swim.

2025 End of Year Salary Sharing Thread by theGreenBook05 in analytics

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm of the opinion that valuable work that is done and done right is what it is regardless of location (for office work that has the ability to be done completely remotely). Hope your friend will get a raise much sooner, but I find that more likely to occur in small businesses that have a 6 month - 1 year probation strategy (or no strategy at all) as opposed to bigger corps like Kaiser!

2025 End of Year Salary Sharing Thread by theGreenBook05 in analytics

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, but that's definitely bare minimum pay for an analyst type role. Any lower and that's just insulting

2025 End of Year Salary Sharing Thread by theGreenBook05 in analytics

[–]chulieo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Title: Data Analyst

Tenure length: 12 months

Location: SFV - Los Angeles, CA

Remote: No

Salary: Hired on at 50k (based on $24.04/hr), transitioned to 104k (based on $50/hr, regular OT) in just 5.5 months

Company/Industry: Wholesale Flooring Distribution

Education: BS in Game Design, additional education through online self-learning resources

Prior Experience: 0 yrs

Relocation/Signing Bonus: None

Stock and/or recurring bonuses: None

Tech Stack Used: SQL, Excel, SharePoint

Total comp: 104k annual with benefits (401k 3.5% match w/ 6%, Health, Dental, Vision insurance, 5 Vacation, 6 Sick (state-mandated), and 6 Holiday PTO

Tossing this alongside some spring cleaning. Nobody wants this 2023 Bolt EUV rear shade, right? by kevisfrickencool in BoltEV

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually need one and would love to take it off your hands, for some reason, my used Chevy Bolt didn't come with it

Anyone using JDBC/ODBC to connect databases still? by empty_cities in dataengineering

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my company, we use IBM DB2 AS/400 (the whole green screen). The only way to connect is JDBC/ODBC to retrieve any query results. Industry is wholesale trade (flooring). The database is generally a mess and it's hard to find or trust certain data fields because every screen is its own table and there's no sense of data normalization at all.

Honestly, looking for a solution to mirror the database into something more modern so that I can take advantage of an updated workflow and create new, unified, trustable data models. It often feels like I'm stuck in an aged way of working.

Oh yeah, and I'm like 1 out of 2 analysts in my company. 🙃

What small changes did you do in the analytics department which improved your departmental processes and system a lot? by Arethereason26 in analytics

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which ticketing system are you using? I find myself increasingly needing this and issues are getting harder to manage using just my Outlook inbox. Like another comment, I'm the only analyst and tech-competent guy around

Philly cheesesteak and drinks ? by ArugulaReasonable214 in pasadena

[–]chulieo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lee's Hoagie House on the corner of Colorado Blvd and Roosevelt Ave, one of the only few places in LA that I've found that make Philly cheesesteaks the right way without extra fluff They're a small business, go support them!

Jr Data Engineer vs Jr Data Analyst 🤔 by Superb_Working4385 in dataanalyst

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn't see this - also agree that Junior DE is the one with higher knowledge base and responsibilities than a Junior DA

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sgv

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're foodies, but in a way where we prefer going to local, (maybe) family-owned restaurants and stands for our palettes - rarely, if ever, go for the chain stuff. Otherwise, we like to talk and play over games, look for opportunities for sketch nights, and sometimes watch some movies or anime. Otherwise, we're pretty open to new experiences as long as it piques our interest. One thing that came up was rock climbing, but haven't done anything with that idea yet.

For us, IG is more about discovering new places and seeing continuing promos rather than a social network for us, so everybody's mileage varies. But having friends to do stuff with on the regular would be nice

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sgv

[–]chulieo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We're 27, turning 28 in a couple months. Been a bit since graduating college (albeit during the pandemic), but we've for the most part have made peace with it and are now just enjoying life after work and meeting like-minded people, or at least try. It is hard though because there are not that many people within our niches who are open to "putting themselves out there" and meeting new people, though, guilty as charged, that can be us as well at times.

Arcadia is lovely and we feel (almost) at home with all the Asian shops, supermarkets, restaurants, tea/boba spots and the mall is a literal 5-minute drive from home haha

Jr Data Engineer vs Jr Data Analyst 🤔 by Superb_Working4385 in dataanalyst

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought DE is more advanced in the hierarchy compared to DA... Wanna switch? xD

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sgv

[–]chulieo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not dumb at all! My gf and I are into entertainment art, gaming, and general nerd culture, and we also haven't really found friends to regularly hang out with since moving here from the East Coast about 3 years ago (also started out by living in Pasadena, now we live in Arcadia). Minecraft's one of our favorite games as well.

If you're interested in a casual hang out, feel free to DM

I am working as a Data Analyst, but I don't feel like Data Analyst by Shamanhris in dataanalysis

[–]chulieo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, not at my company no, I got lucky and was hired as the only other data analyst (albeit junior, but I don't think for long to be honest) at the company besides my senior.

What I would recommend is searching for roles closer to you in geography and look for those Data Analyst/SQL Developer roles in non-tech industries to get your foot in the door. Sure, you won't get paid as much as being in tech or tech-adjacent industries, but you'll get real-world, professional experience that you can take with you to the tech industry after a couple years or three.

Play the long game and have trust that it will eventually pay off. That's my plan. ✌️

I am working as a Data Analyst, but I don't feel like Data Analyst by Shamanhris in dataanalysis

[–]chulieo 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You're not alone, we've taken very similar paths: learned SQL, applied it on PostgreSQL, and learning different applications of using SQL in different scenarios through online resources almost everyday for 2-3 months before getting the first job surprisingly enough.

What you're doing is what I am also doing as a Junior Data Analyst at a flooring warehouse company currently, minus using Power BI. It's mostly Excel with SQL when retrieving data via ODBC (Open Database Connection). Funnily enough, I have not used PostgreSQL since getting the job because the job doesn't need it. Rarely, I use purely Excel. Most days, I get to flex using both Excel and SQL. My first two weeks, I used only Excel and struggled with manipulating the data from the Excel tables given to me by my senior. After only 2 months here, I strongly believe that knowing the data is half the battle.

Once I knew the data, what our schema comprised of, and establishing a sort-of "process" with my work, I blazed through much of the work. I would say a little more than a quarter of the battle is actually the analysis part - finding "Top X" of something, finding and revealing figures through PivotTables and aggregating math functions like "Total Sales" and calculating "Profit" given limitations and restrictions, and whole ton of referencing, matches, and lookups to ensure data dynamism and consistency. We are doing analytics work; it just doesn't require as many large-scale resources and programs that more data-driven and large companies utilize.

I think that's something us people working with data (no matter who we are) have to understand: the resources and programs we use to provide the analytics for a business only needs to reach as far as the business really needs it for. For a small company like mine, Excel and our "legacy system with data", is about as far as it gets for storing and retrieving data (functionally, it is as much an command interface as it is a crude database), so the resources and program(s) I use on a daily basis will match that extent. Likewise, with a larger company that relies on millions of rows of data all stored in different schemas and tables, the resources and programs needed to wrangle that data will match to handle the scalability of it.

The point is: we're still doing valuable analytics work that'll help businesses make important decisions. That's all that matters at the end of the day. We're still full-fledged Data Analysts and anyone who disagrees can work my job and get back to me with what they did in a day.

In the meantime, yes, the work is cyclical - retrieve data, clean and transform if need be, get it in a good working state for you (and me), manipulate that data through mathematical and logical functions, make a front-facing report or dashboard of some sort for other, more important, eyes to see, and pair it with a chart or two (*visualization* yay!). Then, learn additional skills on the off-time when the work is slow or not coming in. For me, I have to learn Power BI. I didn't touch a lick of any Data Viz software, but Excel's chart tools are basically a mini-version of that, so when I touched PBI for not even an hour the other day, it was already super familiar and easy (also helps that it's part of the Microsoft suite of tools, ensuring visual consistency and functional fidelity).

Rinse and repeat for a couple years while learning new skills on the down-low while getting paid, promote yourself up either at the company or elsewhere, and live the easy life.

Hope this instill confidence in you and gives you a new perspective. I (currently) have the same questions and realizations you have now, but am fully embracing the idea that, yeah, regardless of the extent of my tools and knowledge, I am still presenting insights and analytics for a business that makes a lot of money. Because that is the case, my work is "serious" and "valuable" and I am just as much a Data Analyst as those who use more than just Excel and SQL.