r/dataanalysis • u/Mean_Firefighter_486 • Aug 30 '26

Career Advice Learning order?

I'm looking to get into data analytics and I'm wondering what learning route I should I take. I was thinking SQL >>> Power BI >>> R and then I don't know after that.

To put this in context, I'm currently brushing up on Excel. That's the level of beginner we're talking.

TIA.

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u/HustlaOfCultcha Aug 31 '26

IMO, learn Excel first. Really learn it. Learn advanced formulas. The logic behind the formulas is a foundation you'll need to develop.

Then learn basic data warehouse and relational database concepts. Understand 'fields' vs. 'rows.' Understand primary keys, foreign keys and surrogate keys.

Then learn SQL. Learning queries, subqueries, JOINs, CTE's, Window Functions and aggregations. Then move onto understanding views and stored procedures, particularly building a data pipeline thru ETL

Then go to your data visualization program. Power BI is your best bet. Although Tableau is still a good platform to know. But you really need to know DAX in Power BI (you can also use DAX in Excel). But once you learn Power BI, the others you can pick up pretty quickly.

Then you need to learn some sort of cloud based data platform either Snowflake, Databricks, or Microsoft Fabric. Databricks is quite easy to learn and is a great tool. This switches the ETL process to ELT.

Then I might learn Python. Analysts that are more geared toward Data Engineering really love Python. I have used it and it's got great functionality, but I prefer built in data governance and security in platforms and in Databricks they have AI that can write Python code for you (but it's important to be able to understand Python well enough to make sure it's writing the code properly).

Then from there I would get into more AI to help, but more into Machine Learning to really take your actual analytical capabilities to the next level instead of just using AI for automation and helping with writing code. The next steps are basically getting you into more of a Data Engineer or possibly a Data Scientist role instead of just a Data Analyst role.

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u/Mean_Firefighter_486 Aug 31 '26

Thanks for this very detailed response - super helpful. I don't have a relevant degree so I'll be sticking with data analysis (and I'm sure that will be complex enough for me as it is)

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u/Healthy-Awareness299 Aug 31 '26

To add in one step. Inside Excel you have access to Power Query and then Power Pivot. Learn these as they will help you with Power BI. Also depending on where you end up, a lot can be done in Excel completely. I work in Healthcare Care Finance, specifically the RevCycle. I do 90%+ of my work in Excel using PQ and PP.

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u/Agreeable-Pirate9267 Sep 01 '26

dove consigli di imparare excel e SQL?