November 23rd, 2021

You ever have one of those days where you think that maybe just one more project would be a good idea? I mean, I did three Tableau visuals yesterday, it shouldn't be so hard to check out Power BI right?
Oh the hubris.

So it's not like I was gravely harmed, or that this was anything super important. However, it was a learning experience, and thankfully my Google-foo is not as rusty as I thought. Today's project started off with a suggested video in youtube that went step by step into a data analysis project, including building a dashboard using Power BI to present to the stakeholders. I watched the video once to ensure I wasn't getting into anything wacky, and the creator even had a link to the SMSS program they were using in order to script out the SQL. Turns out, the creator was detailing steps on how to create a database, develop the SQL Query, connect Power BI to the database, and then visualize and summarize the findings.

I was actually pretty pumped for this! so, I Installed SSMS (Management Studio), then Power BI. I quickly learned that the SQL Studio Manager does require that an SQL server instance be running, and this does not get installed when you set up SMSS. Got that downloaded, and now there's a server, I should be ready to import my data! Unfortunately I don't have office as I tend to use notepad, openoffice, or Google docs for any word processing. The reason this is important is because SMSS requires some files from either office, accessdb, or a separate installation in order to import Excel files into your databases. This is where that Google-foo came in handy, as I had found a page that detailed not only the file I needed to install, but the next error I would encounter, and how to work around that. Once installed, I still got the same error because the SMSS application launches an importing wizard that seems to be a secondary application. The problem is that it gets launched as an x32 program, rather than x64, causing a mismatch between the Access Database Engine and the Import wizard. You can resolve this by finding the x64 wizard using the start menu, and finally get that file imported!

Next it was a simple issue of following along with the video, and creating a sleek looking dashboard that tried to answer a few questions the stakeholders had in this imaginary scenario. "Is our hotel revenue growing by year?" We have two hotel types, so it would be good to segment revenue by hotel type. "Should we increase our parking lot size?" We want to understand if there is a trend with guests with personal cars. "What trends can we see in the data?" Focus on average daily rate and guests to explore seasonality.

Finally, I learned that PowerBI is not very share friendly. I get it, wanna keep the secret and sacred protected. However, this PDF does not do this dashboard justice, and I wish you could play around with the filters and sliders on this one, it just looks very sleek:



Here are the sources for this project, and the helper links should you wish to try this on your own. Other than this, thanks for checking back in, and hope you're having a good one!

Data Analyst Portfolio Project #1 | Build a Database | Develop SQL | Create a Dashboard
Power BI Desktop (Can try for free)
Microsoft SQL Server Studio SQL Server downloads (I did Express)
How to Fix The “Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0 Provider is not registered on the local machine.”
“Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 Redistributable.”
Dataset used: hotel_revenue_historical_full

November 22nd, 2021

This post is a bit sooner than last time, however I did not want to forget to do so in all the Thanksgiving preparations and festivities. I've been doing some extra projects today, to be sure that I am keeping my skills in practice. I still have a subscription with Coursera, and decided to take a few guided projects and a course. Below you'll find three embedded Tableau visualizations, each made for a different project. When I get around to re-arranging the portfolio side of the website, these will be then later displayed in that section, as I plan on separating out my SQL, R, Python, Viz, and any other projects out for ease of review.

Makeover Monday Coursera Project:

London Bus Safety exercise:


SuperStore KPI:


There we go! Thanks for taking a moment to visit, and hope you're having a wonderful rest of your week!

November 17th, 2021

It's been a bit longer than planned, but I'm still here! :)
I've been pretty busy with the Merit America program, as it has us particpate in the Google Data Analytics course at an accelerated rate, along with career coaching. Thankfully I've completed the course, and a bit of this is just refreshing material and knowledge for me. However, I've also been updating my LinkedIn, growing my connections, and sending out my Resume to actively seek an Entry Level Role.
I have gotten some constructive feedback on my resume, and I believe that showing more projects and work may help with the fact that I am transitioning into the career. However, I've also evaluated the portfolio site and Github repository in general, and found that it may be a bit unorganized. What I'll be working on this week is changing the projects section to reflect all projects under their respective technologies, and sort them by most recent. Not only this, but I will also be doing additional projects as proof of skill. In the mean time, it may look a bit of a mess as I get this tuned in. If you happen to visit the page in this time, and see that, please be assured I am continuing to work on this! Other than this, hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and thanks for taking a moment to check in!

November 8th, 2021

The last certification I'd gotten was back in October, and it's been a pretty busy month since. Holidays and birthdays have been nice to celebrate, but now it's time to get back into the swing of things. The last certification I had gotten was in October, in order to join the first cohort of the Data Analytics program offered by Merit America. In the three weeks since, I've learned that the course they use for the technical part of the skills being taught is the Google Data Analytics course. However, they do also offer a lot of robust knowledge in career placement and coaching.

I did discover that Coursera allows you to reset the deadlines on your course if you would like to follow along again, check out updated content, or restart again should you miss the deadlines that you set before. I've reset the deadlines, to follow along and refresh any gaps in what I had learned previously, but did learn that my certificates have the previous date set on them when presented. I've also started another course, Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis, to ensure that I know this and Google Sheets for spreadsheet software projects. Once I complete this specialization, I'll need to decide if more courses can be taken, or if I can make more progress on HackerRank and DataCamp.

One of the job seeking hurdles I did not know I may be butting up against is the ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems). These are now used by almost every employer to manage the applicants they receive. Understandably they receive a lot of resumes and applications, and also need a way to filter down the applications to their needed requirements. The reason this is important is because I had an old fashioned notion that making my resume visually interesting with long explainations for each job would be the best way to not only capture the hiring manager's attention, but detail how I can take my previous career experience and translate it into actionable skills and knowledge that can be used in Data Analytics. However, I've recently learned that this is certainly not the case.

Thankfully, the extra coursework through Merit America has provided good advice on how to update my Resume along with my LinkedIn account for networking. I've updated my LinkedIn profile to reflect the skills I've learned through the Google Data Analytics course, along with generating a resume from the profile that details my experience, skills, and certifications. I feel a bit silly for not considering this earlier, but I am thankful that I have learned this now.

Finally, I have applied to a few positions, and if you happen to be at this page because of that, Hello! Some of that data is going to be turned into a personal project, depending on how long it takes to gain a position, and will be posted here with averages and other reports. I'll try to keep this updated once a week, however coursework and home obligations may take priority as the holiday season goes underway. If you happen to have any questions, use the form under "Contact" on the Portfolio page to send me an email, and I'll get back to you within a day or two. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and thanks for taking a moment to check in!