Alex Freberg

In this weeks PostgreSQL lesson we are learning about Order By, Limit, and Offset! youtube.com/watch?v=f_E9Kl…

How many of you got a Bachelors Degree that you absolutely did not use and are still paying off your student loans? I'm not saying college doesn't have its place, but for the vast majority of people it's not longer necessary. Unless you're a Doctor, Nurse, Lawyer, etc. where a degree is needed, most jobs can be learned hands-on. Yes, you can learn things in college. You can also learn a lot in 4 years working in a real job! I won't tell my kids not to go to college, but if they go and get a degree in Water Sportsmanship and go 100k in debt and never use it that's on them.

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on in my career was diving into the data right away. A client would ask me to do things and I would say "Okay" and get right to it! I didn't know what I didn't know - and it took me about 3-4 valuable life lessons to stop doing that. I once spent a week on a project only to present it to a client and it was not at all what they really needed. So now I always ask follow up questions. Things like: 1. What's your timeframe? 2. Why do you need this? 3. Could we use X instead of building Y? Of course, a lot of other questions depending on the scenario, but don't be the person that just goes and does. Understand it and push back if needed.

I've consulted with 20+ companies in the past 2 years. Every single one still writes SQL, Python, and other programming languages by hand. They use Power BI and Excel just like you and me. They have issues with duplicates, data migrations, making use of their data. They use AI, but it doesn't do everything for them. People get lost in the buzzword of AI and assume all problems are solved and Data Analysts, Data Scientists, and Data Engineers are no longer relevant. The real world is a great example of that not being the case. This is why I still stress knowing the basics!

@Tech_p001 @Analyst_Builder Very much so

@Alex_TheAnalyst @Analyst_Builder With AI writing code so well now, do you think statistics is becoming the real competitive advantage for data professionals?

Having a good foundation in Statistics is really important when working with just about any data! I'm recording my new course for @Analyst_Builder which will cover: 1. Foundations of Statistics 2. Describing Data (Spread, Outliers, Mean, Median) 3. Probability 4. Sampling Data 5. Relationships (Correlation, Pearson vs Spearman, Linear Regression) In the relationships chapter we actually learn how Linear Regressions are calculated and build our own from scratch! These are all things I wish I knew when I first started! This will be available next month once I finish recording and get it all edited :D I'll also be releasing a short Statistics series on YouTube that will launch after the PostgreSQL series!

@DavidWolfe Aliens

The question people need to ask is what is the real reason for the sudden massive need for data centers everywhere.

In this week PostgreSQL lesson we are learning about HAVING! Having is a way to filter on your data after you aggregate them - which you can't do with the WHERE clause like you normally would filter. youtube.com/watch?v=3pW1SP…

I started getting haters on YouTube after about 2 years. I didn't ignore them because - honestly, they were right. So I took their feedback and improved my content and now I have very few. I need to start trying some different things to get haters again to know what I'm doing wrong...

Happy 4th of July! To celebrate, we're taking 30% off everything at Analyst Builder. SQL, Python, Excel, Power BI, cloud platforms, data engineering - even including the LifeTime Membership! Use code "4TH" at checkout to get your discount.

Let's take a look at what a Data Analyst Workflow Looks Like! Data Analysts do a very wide variety of things - this is a simplification of a few of those things. We will: 1. Take raw data and get it into systems we can use 2. Transform the data and clean it 3. Create Business Rules and Semantic layers for them 4. Prepare data for consumers (dashboards, reports, etc) We do 100 different things, but this is a large part of the process for most analysts.

I have over 400+ videos on Data Analytics - that's too many for one person to watch. Here are the top 5 that I would watch: 1. How to Become a Data Analyst - youtube.com/watch?v=CUBfrd… 2. Complete FREE Data Analyst Bootcamp -  youtube.com/watch?v=cnjhHZ… 3. Learn Power BI in Under 3 Hours - youtube.com/watch?v=I0vQ_V… 4. Top 5 Reasons NOT to Become a Data Analyst - youtu.be/M2ySRYpo9S0 5. Learn SQL in 4 Hours - youtube.com/watch?v=OT1REr… Some of these videos are ones I made over 5 years ago, but they still hold true today.

In this weeks PostgreSQL lesson we are learning about Group By and Aggregations! youtube.com/watch?v=jOziX0…

Something that gives me a lot of hope for the future of analytics is seeing how incredibly reliant and trusting people are of every AI output. Almost no verification is going into it at all! It's a beautiful thing to see.

Today is my Birthday and I woke up the Richest Man Alive! I don't know how or why it happened, but when I woke up I had a number over my head - and so did everyone else. It was a pretty big number and I thought maybe I'd won the lottery. I went to look at my bank account, but nothing had changed. Soon after I did that my youngest son and daughter came into my room to wish me a Happy Birthday and climbed all over me giving me hugs. The day was passing and I couldn't stop staring at this number above me. On my way to my Birthday dinner, @elonmusk drove by and I caught a glimpse of his number. It was much lower than mine. I was very confused - I had to figure out what this number meant! I began Googling and trying to track down the reason for this. No one knew the origin. Some thought it was the government or a marketing trick by come big tech company. Everyone was posting their scores online, bragging about how big their number was, even though they didn't really know what it meant. Some numbers big and some small, but mine was bigger than the rest. That night I looked around. I had a family who all loved each other, family close by, a roof over my head, a job I loved, no major illnesses. I knew what the number was, but I wanted to hold onto it for just a little longer before everyone else found out. A Short Story by Alex Freberg. It actually is my birthday, just sharing how I'm feeling today - very grateful to be alive! :D

At some point can we all agree that at least 90% of posts online about AI are just a lie? That Mac mini you bought didn't magically transform your business overnight like you said it did. You didn't double your revenue in 2 months because of it. You didn't replace your entire workflow with AI and now you sit back and drink cold brews all day while your AI does everything. There are some real gains and use cases for AI, but most of it is fear-mongering and exaggerating online.

Count your days @Apple....

My Data Career Book Officially Launches Today! Check it out: amazon.com/Beyond-Intervi… In this book we go Beyond the Interview and talk in depth about how to Build your Data Career from Day 1. We talk about how to: - build a strong 30/60/90 day plan - avoid the common mistakes that derail new analysts - communicate with managers, stakeholders, and executives - position yourself for promotions, raises, and long-term career growth and a lot more. I share a lot of personal stories and experiences I've had along the way and I hope that this book really helps you in your Data Career!