Google Data Analytics Certificate
Title – Google Data Analytics Certificate
The amount of data or information that is generated by people and businesses in today’s world is simply massive. Social media sites, video sites, personal information etc accounts form a significant proportion of this data.
The role of a data analyst is to help companies and organizations understand, process and interpret this data in such ways as to help them use it to make their business or organization more productive and efficient.
This certificate by Google goes along way to providing the basics structure of a career in Data Analytics, and lays the foundations to learn more specialized and detailed means of Data Analysis, and also to specialize in certain industries and businesses if wanted.
Google Data Analytics Certificate – Content
This certificate is made up of eight individual courses, each comprising of a number of units that build on each other to provide a solid foundation for learning Data Analytics :
The courses are as follows :
- Foundations – data, data everywhere
- Ask questions to make data driven decisions
- Prepare data for exploration
- Process data from dirty to clean
- Analyze data to answer questions
- Share data through the art of visualization
- Data analysis with r programming
- Data analysis dash case study
There are perhaps three common themes that run through this certificate and all the eight courses that comprise it.
Firstly learning and understanding what the term data means. Whilst it might seem quite a simple proposition, there are many many sources of data that may or may not be relevant to a particular business or company.
These sources have to be looked at analyzed and if necessary go through a process of what is known as being cleaned up.
That means simply that the data has to be collected in such a way that it can provide a uniform set of variables that can then be analyzed.
A lot of data that is generated needs to go through this process, and once completed is known as data integrity.
This simply means that the nature of the data follows the same standard patterns of classification, making it easier to codify and be presented in such a way as to be easily understood and analyzed.
Secondly is about learning how to ask the right questions from the data that has been analyzed.
That will be a general level or type of question that helps form views and strategy that the data can support, and then maybe more specific questions relating to a particular industry or business.
Thirdly is how the data is presented once it is cleaned up and classed as being integrity data.
Most of the people who will work with the data will not be data analysts, and so the easier and clearer the information is presented to them the easier it will be for everyone to understand what is being proposed and why.
Coursera
The Google Data Analytics Certificate is offered through Coursera, an efficient and simple to use online learning platform.
They offer a seven day free trial during which all the material can be reviewed. After this a monthly charge of $49 is made for as long as the student needs to access the course.
This means in effect that the total cost of the course will depend upon how long the student needs to complete it.
Coursera recommend this as a beginner level course, and estimate that it would take about six months to complete with the person working approximately 10 hours a week.
This would obviously vary quite a lot depending upon an individuals time commitment.
Certificate Reviews
Reviews can be helpful if used in the proper way. Coursera has a considerable number of reviews, and also estimates that just under 1.8 million people have already enrolled in the course.
The best way to use a review for this particular certificate is to use the seven day free. To really analyze the material and
- Make sure that it is appropriate
- Make sure that it is presented in a suitable way
- Make sure the content both video and written is up to date
- Work out how long it might take to complete this difficult and therefore the overall cost involved.
Jobs and Salaries
There are many job opportunities to work in Data Analytics, and it also acts as a very useful background to work in cyber security, as well as cyber insurance and other related professions.
Coursera estimate that the median USA salary for Data Analytics is approximately $92000+ (August 2023) – this can obviously vary considerably depending upon the nature of the job, the nature of the industry and how specialized the job itself actually is.
Some common job titles include :
