E45: 3-Step Guide To Building Your First Data Analytics Project

Projects are the cheat code to landing your next data analytics job.

But a lot of people aren't sure where to start. What type of project should I do? Where do I get the data? What do I do? How do I pick a good one? So many questions.

Here's a straightforward 3-step guide that can help you get started:

Step 1: Research

Go to TowardsDataScience.com

Here you'll find lots of articles, including many projects & tutorials.

Look for anything that sounds interesting that is applied to a subject.

Or use the "Search" bar at the top & search for your favorite subject, "NBA, Farming, Karate,"; or whatever. 

Find an article written on your topic that has code/instructions included. 

Finding the right article can be difficult. 

It must be:

• Applied (not just theory or a tutorial)
• Include step-by-step instructions 

These aren't always easy to find. It might take you 30 minutes.

For example, you might be interested in the stock market, so you might find my "Predict The Stock Market" article.

If you want to speed up this process, you can use one of the 30+ project videos I've done on my YouTube channel.

Step 2: Replicate

Read the article through once.

Make sure you understand what's happening.

Then, try to replicate it. Use copy & paste. No shame here.

See if you can recreate what is being illustrated.

It's hard to do a project if you can't get it working with a tutorial or guide, so start with one as training wheels to help you get going. 

Step 3: Add a Twist

Now that you've got their project replicated add some twists. 

Maybe replace the dataset with a similar but different dataset.

Maybe add a different analysis technique. 

Maybe try an alternative group or column.

Answer some different questions!

For the stock market example, try some different tickers. Or maybe graph the data differently. Or tweak the predictive model I was using. 

Maybe find another project on the subject, read through it, and combine the two tutorials into one unique, complete analysis. 

Write up your experience. Your insights. Your learnings. Your process. 

Attribute the original creator of the project that inspired you.

Hit publish. 

Done.

Don't overcomplicate this! ✌

✅ First project done

👉 On to the next one!

You can listen to the FULL episode here 👇

Apple: 

You can listen to my FULL episode here 👇

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/44-from-a-teacher-to-a-data-analyst-w-chris-french/id1547386535?i=1000597549130

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3nMjJEksQM52knEplAn76b?si=16c07ccefda544b