How do Beginners Learn Data?

Data drives most of the business decisions today. Customer data tells companies what people are buying and how often. Financial data helps companies make decisions for the future direction of the company. Healthcare data helps doctors recommend treatments for patients. Building data skills can lead to a lucrative and satisfying career.

Getting Started with Data

If you want to start a career in data analytics or data science, you will need to get training in the techniques and tools used to analyze data and extract information to study trends and insights you can use for problem-solving, decision making, and projecting where your company should go in the future. You can get that training by earning a degree at a college or university or enrolling in a certification course at a professional training center.

The First Steps When Learning Data

When you are learning to work with data, there is a process that is followed to be sure you will get good results. That data process includes goal setting, collection, analysis, visualization, and reporting results.

Define Goals

Before you start to work with data, you need to decide what you want to learn and what data to collect to give you the information you need. For example, you may want to choose a target audience for a social media marketing campaign. You will need data on user interests, the content they interact with, and the other products they buy. Data analytics tools can give you that information.

Collect and Prepare Data

Different tools are used to collect data through website scraping, APIs, or pre-existing data sets. After the data is collected, it needs to be cleaned, merged, and formatted for analysis. 

Analyze Data

With data analytics tools, you can discover characteristics, find patterns, and illuminate insights. Analyzing data can help you make better decisions, improve customer experience, design a more effective marketing strategy, and streamline operations.

Create Visualizations and Models

Data professionals use tools like Tableau, Power BI, and various Python libraries to transform raw numbers into visualizations containing meaningful and actionable insights. These visually appealing and often interactive charts, graphs, and dashboards make it easier to identify trends, patterns, and outliers in the data to help facilitate better decision-making. You may also learn Orange, Python scikit-learn, and other tools to create predictive models using machine learning algorithms. These models can provide professionals with invaluable forecasts, predicting outcomes based on historical data.

Report Findings

After analyzing and visualizing the data, the next step is to share your findings. This means presenting your insights clearly and concisely to stakeholders. You can do this through detailed reports, interactive dashboards, or presentations. Tools like Tableau and Power BI allow you to create engaging dashboards that stakeholders can explore to better understand the data.

Free Data Tools for Beginners

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a popular tool that beginners can use to collect and analyze website data. It's essential for tracking visitor behavior, understanding traffic sources, and measuring the performance of online content. It provides valuable insights into user engagement, helping you make data-driven decisions to improve a website or online business. Google Analytics is user-friendly and offers extensive documentation, making it an excellent starting point for those new to data analysis.

Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a versatile spreadsheet tool that’s an excellent first data application for beginners. It allows you to organize, clean, and analyze data without advanced technical skills. You can create charts, use formulas, and even automate tasks with simple scripts. Google Sheets also offers collaboration features, making it easy to work on data projects with others. As you grow more comfortable with data analysis, you can explore more advanced features like pivot tables and data visualization options.

Tableau Public

Tableau Public is a free version of the popular data visualization software. It’s an excellent tool for beginners who want to create interactive and visually appealing data presentations. You can use Tableau Public to connect with various data sources, create a wide variety of charts and graphs, and build interactive dashboards. Tableau Public also allows you to share your visualizations online, helping you build a portfolio of data projects.

Live Data Training for Beginners

While free resources are a great place for beginners to start exploring data analysis, live data training is essential for those who wish to dive deeper into the skill set—especially for those aspiring to launch a new career in data analytics, data science, or any related field. This learning format features a set schedule of class meetings led by a live expert instructor who leads students through a structured curriculum, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the skills included in the scope of the class. Real-time feedback allows students to correct mistakes immediately, reducing frustrations and preventing the formation of bad habits. Interactive class sessions—whether hosted in-person in a physical classroom or online in a virtual classroom—also foster a collaborative environment where you can learn from peers and gain insights from experienced data professionals.

Live data courses often include practical projects that simulate real-world data challenges, preparing students for professional work. These hands-on exercises help beginners apply theoretical knowledge to actual data sets, enhancing their understanding and retention of key concepts. Additionally, many programs offer career support and portfolio development guidance, which are invaluable for those looking to enter the data industry. Even those with less extensive data learning needs will benefit from the accountability and structure provided by a live instructor, set schedule, and proven curriculum to meet their learning goals. Whether you are looking for a simple introductory short course or a comprehensive career-focused certificate program, Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool makes it easy to find a live data class near you to meet your needs and learning objectives.

The Next Step

As beginners develop their foundational data skills, they can explore more advanced training options to deepen their expertise. If you choose to enroll in an all-in-one comprehensive career-focused bootcamp like Noble’s Data Analytics Certificate program, you can benefit from the guidance and mentorship of live expert instructors as they walk you through the intermediate and advanced data analysis techniques. These structured classes cover essential topics like SQL, Python, and Tableau, helping learners master the tools and methodologies needed for effective data analysis.

With advanced training, students engage in hands-on projects that simulate real-world data challenges, allowing them to apply their skills in practical scenarios. This experience not only enhances their understanding but also prepares them for professional roles in data analytics. Key skills developed in these courses include

• Advanced data visualization techniques using Tableau and Power BI
• Proficient SQL querying and database management
• Data manipulation and analysis with Python
• Machine learning fundamentals for predictive analytics

Noble Desktop also provides valuable career support, including guidance on building a professional portfolio, which is crucial for showcasing skills to potential employers. Whether you want to launch a new career or add data skills to your current professional tool kit, advanced training at Noble Desktop will equip you with the skills and tools necessary to thrive in today’s data-driven landscape.

Learn Data Tools with Noble Desktop

NYC professional training school Noble Desktop provides high-quality data bootcamps, certificate programs, and short courses live online and in-person in Manhattan. All classes listed below are available in both formats and feature Noble’s small class size, the option to retake the course for free, and other perks to support student success. Their bootcamps and certificate programs are available on part-time or full-time schedules and feature one-on-one mentorship with instructors for personalized tutoring or career support.

Noble Desktop’s Data Science Certificate provides all the training and career support you need to launch a Data Scientist career, regardless of your background. This comprehensive, beginner-friendly certificate program covers essential topics like Python programming, SQL, automation, and machine learning, equipping you with skills in data analysis, database querying, and predictive modeling. You’ll begin by mastering the fundamentals of Python, including complex database queries, data preparation, and automation of repetitive tasks. As you progress, you’ll learn to develop machine learning models, clean and balance data, and create dynamic dashboards and visualizations. By the end of the program, your hands-on projects will form a robust data science portfolio ready to showcase your skills to your future employers, along with the verified certificate of completion you earn upon graduation.

Noble Desktop also offers a Data Analytics Certificate that provides students with hands-on experience in essential data analytics tools and techniques and practical lessons in quantitative and qualitative analysis. Throughout the course, you will master Excel, Python, and SQL to build, query, and organize databases effectively. As you become proficient with these tools, you will advance to more complex Python programming, utitlizing it for automating data collection, creating visualizations, and developing machine learning algorithms for data analysis. The certificate program also includes training in Tableau, enabling students to create compelling visual representations like graphs, maps, and charts. Real-world projects will help you build a robust data analytics portfolio, which, with your certificate of completion and career support during one-on-one mentorship sessions, will help you land your first Data Analyst job after graduating from the program.

Noble’s Tableau Bootcamp is perfect for beginners eager to dive into data visualization using Tableau Public. Participants will learn to identify datasets and connect to them, exploring and analyzing the data to create powerful visualizations. As you progress, you will master the creation of maps and custom visualizations, culminating in the ability to manipulate and publish diverse types of visualizations.

The Power BI Bootcamp at Noble Desktop equips businesses to leverage their data more effectively and become more adept at reading and interpreting it. This professional skills bootcamp covers all features of Microsoft’s Power BI, teaching participants to transform data into interactive dashboards and connect multiple databases for relational insights. Students will also learn to publish their findings, sharing valuable data insights with others.

Noble Desktop’s Python for Data Science Bootcamp guides beginners from the basics of Python programming to the fundamentals of machine learning. The course starts with foundational concepts like writing basic statements, creating variables, and understanding data types before moving on to more advanced topics like program structures, arrays, and dataframes. In the final section, you’ll explore the skill sets of data analysis and visualization in preparation for a future in machine learning.

The Python Programming and Machine Learning Bootcamp at Noble Desktop focuses on Python, the most widely used language in data science. This intensive course covers Python programming and automation with machine learning, utilizing libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib. As with all Noble Desktop courses, you will receive a certificate licensed by the New York State Department of Education upon completion.

Noble Desktop’s SQL Bootcamp trains students to work with databases, teaching them to filter, group, and derive insights from raw data. As a participant in this skills-focused bootcamp, you will learn to combine information from multiple tables using join statements and explore advanced techniques like aggregate functions and subqueries. The course uses PostgreSQL and the free DBeaver app to explore the database and execute SQL queries. The concepts you’ll learn on PostgreSQL can be applied to other flavors of SQL—such as Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL—with minor syntax differences.

The Excel Bootcamp from Noble Desktop covers beginner, intermediate, and advanced data analytics skills, including basic functions, essential calculations, VLOOKUP Pivot Tables, and advanced features like macros and database functions. This comprehensive three-day bootcamp ensures you’ll reach an expert proficiency in Microsoft Excel and be ready to use it professionally in as little time as possible.