Oz Analytics

The Top Websites For Big Data

The Naked analyst Episode 8 looks at the best sites to learn about the world of Big Data.

Here are my top 6 sites. They range from the easily digestible to the totally immersable and possibly overwhelming.

1. Dataversity (http://www.dataversity.net/category/data-topics/big-data/) daily updates of the latest Big Data News, Articles, & Education - not too overwhelming with 1 or 2 items each day.
2. Planet big data (http://planetbigdata.com) is an aggregator of blogs about big data, Hadoop, and related topics. In terms of volume of news, it is a step up from Dataversity with up to half a dozen items daily.
3. SmartData Collective (http://smartdatacollective.com/all/8731?ref=navbar) a commercially run and moderated business community for business intelligence, predictive analytics, and data professional bloggers.
4. BigData Startups (http://www.bigdata-startups.com) is a European site that is making an effort to track the ‘market buzz’ - especially emerging companies. Hundreds of companies are profiles so it can be a bit overwhelming for those new to Big Data.
5. Data Science Central (http://www.datasciencecentral.com) is a good online resource for big data practitioners and quality is maintained by content being actively moderated. This saves it from being overwhelmed by marketing crap.
6. R bloggers (http://www.r-bloggers.com) is more for practitioner Analysts and may be overwhelming for those new to Big Data - but it is a fantastic resource for anyone using the R language to do real stuff. And besides, a list of Big Data sites just has to include one covering the R community because it is such an important open source movement. Don’t let anyone tell you that R is just a fringe technology. A huge list of organisations use it - from the biggest multinationals to the smallest startups.

Finally, if you are using a particular tool or solution - then find a good source of information for that and get into the habit of checking those sites regularly.

If you use all or some of the sites I have mentioned then you will quickly absorb a lot of new information about Big Data - but don’t forget to look at these sites critically as you’ll get a lot more of of them that way!

 

My YouTube channel contains tips from a 25 year veteran of the analytic profession.

The Analytic Career Part 2 of 2

What is a career in analytics? What sort of work is involved and what should you expect?

Here are 4 things I think you can expect:

1. Your work will be project based. To me, it's a warning sign if it isn't a project. Your employment status may be permanent, part time or contract. That's a separate issue
2. You will spend most of your time translating business needs into analytic solutions
3. The higher you get in your role, the more political you have to be
4. Most people don't get what you do. You will need to balance educating them with simply advocating that they trust you based on your track record.

Tips from a 25 year veteran of the analytic profession.

 

The Analytic Career Part 1 of 2

Just published on my YouTube channel:

What is a career in analytics? What's it like and what are the key features to expect?

Here are 4 features I think you can expect:

1. You won't have just one career but several
2. Don't look to your employer to help too much. It's up to you
3. If you are not learning on the job AND having fun - leave
4. Learn or be replaced by cheaper alternatives,

 

In the 2nd and concluding part of this discussion I will talk about what sort of work is involved and what you should expect as an analyst working in a commercial organisation.

Tips from a 25 year veteran of the analytic profession.

Shiny New Toys

Just published on my YouTube channel:

 

The Naked Analyst Episode 5

This video contains some advice on how to address Big Data opportunities. Believing vendor and pundit hype is not always healthy. Test their assertions and make use of your own analytic brain - it's good practice!

Think also about the impact you can have on your colleagues when you build a solution using your current toolset. It may not be perfect, but if you can deliver a 70% solution for $0 then that's impressive.

But don't get too confident - under promise and over deliver is always better than the other way around. Start with a small pilot or test to prove viability if you can.

And just to make life difficult - there are a large number of solutions that are possible only with the new Big Data tools. Again, thinking for yourself and knowing who to trust is the best strategy of all.

Tips from a 25 year veteran of the analytic profession.

The Difference Between Analytics and Big Data

Just published on my YouTube channel:

The Difference Between Analytics and Big Data (The Naked analyst Episode 4)

 

Brass Tacks

'Getting down to brass tacks' is an American expression that means 'get to the important facts'. This is what I want to do in this post. There are two reasons for this. Firstly I just realized that I have now posted to this blog over 200 times. Secondly, I am about to graduate from the Founder Institute (FI).

Both are milestones I want to celebrate by continuing on from my recent blog entry Helping Hands. In short I want to answer as directly (and as tactfully as I can) the question: How has the Founder Institute really helped me?

On reflection, these are the key insights I have gained:

• Traction is not one of the important things to worry about. In fact, it is the only thing to worry about! This is especially true if you are seeking external investors. I also learnt that traction means as a minimum completing (and measuring) a:
• 1st month offering a free trial to customers
• 2nd month converting trial users to paying ones
• 3rd month measuring how paid users continue to use your product.
• Customers must be engaged. Even if you don't have a product to sell, it is vital that you engage with potential customers to gauge their reactions and understand their feedback. If you can, make this something you do every week, every day. Call 10 people/customers before 10 am each day is something I must aspire to do if I am to succeed.
• People will inspire you. Many really want to help you and will go out of their way to do so. It is a real pleasure to have discovered  so many people that want to help me on my startup journey. Each week it is humbling to be reminded of this and it is an important factor behind keeping my spirits high.
• Disappointment. There will be many and the adage that it will take you 10 times longer and be 10 time harder to build a company than you think is true. You have to be tough and resilient to succeed. Even then the odds are stacked against you. I reckon that a founder of a high-tech startup has about a 1 in 100 chance of succeeding. I may be overly optimistic.
• Just Do It. Success is not only being smart and having a great idea. Yes, you've got to work harder than any corporate job, but more importantly, you have to set clear practical goals for yourself and your team. And these have to be extremely proactive and practical. Writing a report, or thinking about how to do something is no substitute for actually building a web page, or email/calling real people and achieving something concrete.

 None of the above is 100% of a surprise to me but what the FI has done is to drive home how vital each is. And maybe that is the most important lesson learnt so far: to rigorously focus on the customer, meet their needs. If you can do that - and 100 other things -  then you will make money.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

One final comment. If you are considering starting your own high-tech startup, then I recommend the FI program as an option.

Before starting the program I did a lot of research on alternatives. I chose the FI because it was very practically focused on building a company, extremely cheap for what they seemed to offer and it was part time.

Now on the cusp of graduation I am happy (and relieved) to confirm that the FI has lived up to its promise. It has been a fantastic experience. One that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Come what may.

How to Find Your First Job as an Analyst

Continuing on my YouTube Channel covering everything you wanted to know about being an analyst, business analyst, data scientist, and any other data-using role in business today.

Here is part 2 of my tips on how to land a job in analytics:

 

Part 1 was published a few days ago here and you can subscribe to the channel here as well.

As mentioned before, I've also put together a related playlist on YouTube of a few videos that include those made by others on similar topics that I have found on the net. 30 minutes of watching this whole list should give you some insight into how you can go about finding that first job. Good luck!

The Naked Analyst

I've just started a YouTube Channel covering everything you wanted to know about being an analyst, business analyst, data scientist, and any other data-using role in business today.

I'm doing this because I want to give back a little to the analytic community that has given me such a great career. In short, each video will give you (hopefully useful) tips from a 25 year veteran of the analytic profession. My hope is that people will find it a useful way to spend a couple of minutes and that it will compliment this blog.

I may live to regret the name 'The Naked Analyst' but hopefully most viewers will notice that I am, in fact, not broadcasting naked and will move on to more fertile pastures! I chose the name hoping that this will indicate my 'unaligned' status. Unaligned in that I am talking about analytics without any particular bias or influence from the myriad of vendors and consulting companies.

So no hidden agendas and no marketing push to buy the lastest tool from a vendor promising to solve all of the problems in your organisation. Not that this ever happens ...

Here are the first 2 videos. The first is a quick introduction to the channel:

 

This second video is Part 1 of some tips for people who would like to get their first job as an analyst:

 

I've also put together a related playlist on YouTube of a few videos that include those made by others on similar topics that I have found on the net. 30 minutes of watching this whole list should give you some insight into how you can go about finding that first job. Good luck!