3 REASONS WHY I RESOLVED TO BECOME A DATA ANALYST

In my last post about becoming a data analyst, I did share with you my journey towards becoming a data analyst and I promised to discuss my reasons for resolving to take that career path. While having a stable teaching career, it may be important to answer the question, why another?

Also, this story will show you that you don’t have to learn new skills only because you want money immediately, sometimes you do it for broader reasons and some other times, just to enjoy the fun of learning a new skill.

If you recall, I did mention in becoming a data analyst article that my reason for sharing this story at such an early stage is because most successful people only share their story after they made it making it difficult to replicate. In this case, while I have no certainty whether I will be successful at this or not (I pray for success), sharing my story now makes it easier for someone who wants to embark on a similar journey to follow — no intimidation. So, let’s jump straight to my 3 top reasons for wanting to become a data analyst.

A second career

Let’s face it, if you are working as a teacher, you will need another career. It is always good to have options, especially as a private school teacher.

Globally, teaching is usually the least paid career, not in all cases but in most cases. Therefore, instead of taking the option of complaining consistently until retirement age, it pays to seek an alternative career.

This approach is not limited to developing countries alone, even teachers in developed countries also have alternatives. Some of them are YouTubers, some of them make money from developing and selling digital products online such as on teacherpayteacher and then, others are paid, writers/bloggers.

Therefore, I come to the realization that I have to also create another career path for myself just like most of my colleagues across the globe. Not because they are doing it, but, because I need it too.

For you as a teacher, you will agree with me that to stay passionate about this job, you need multiple streams of income. You will do yourself a lot of good if you consider that now. I know it can be daunting, but trust me, you will be fine.

Showing that it works

I am a proponent of the idea that skill development is a panacea to poverty. When you have a skill that people demand and you know your onions, you say goodbye to poverty. For instance, how many tailors do you see without something to work on throughout a week. That shows you the power of skills.

In other to live what I preach, the google analytics certificate provides an opportunity for me to practice that and see how it truly works.

I also believe with basic literacy and numeracy skills, an individual can take up a high-paying skill, be good at it and get a high-paying entry-level job, then do school on the go.

This is the real deal of this century. We will get here soon, watch. With this skill, I hope to show how this process can work. We all don’t have to do the same thing at the same time all the time.

We need it for our startup

This is where it gets interesting. As a founder of an EdTech startup, edtrack academy, we need data analysis to help make sense of the data we will be generating daily from our online classroom. Data analytics is also needed for helping us provide an informed assessment for parents. One of our USP is to provide a narrative report to parents based on data, unlike the traditional education system that only assigns letters and numbers that most parents cannot make sense of.

Also, part of our program is data analysis skills (spreadsheet, SQL, and Tableau). So, I believe with this certification, I will be able to teach a part of that course and as a teacher, not can be sweeter than teaching what I know.

I am sharing this story with you because I feel that one of the reasons why we don’t achieve some of the goals we set for ourselves is because we don’t usually answer the question, why. I took time to answer this question for myself to have clarity and I am sharing it with you so you may want to check yourself too.

Remember, this is not a journey that I have completed, rather it’s a journey that I am just starting so wish me well.

In my subsequent post, I hope to share with you what I intend to do with the skill.

Start a company?

Get a job?

See you soon.

Thanks for reading