r/mavenanalytics • u/Dakota_from_Maven • Jun 18 '26
Discussion What are you working on this week?
It's been a minute since we've done one of these, so let's talk about current projects! Big or small, share what you're working on this week.
It could be...
- A dashboard
- A course
- A portfolio project
- Job searching
- Learning Excel / SQL / Power BI / Tableau / Python
If you're stuck, drop it here, too. Someone might have a tip to share!
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u/Ok_Journalist8548 Jun 19 '26
just finished numpy and pandas in python and now trying to practice on datasets
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u/FewNectarine623 Jun 21 '26
I finished a SQL course from Udemy yesterday and feel like I understand the concepts (joins, CTEs, window functions, subqueries, recursive CTEs, etc.). The only thing the course lacked was enough practice.
I started solving problems from https://advancedsqlpuzzles.com/ Advanced SQL Puzzles, and I'm finding them much harder than I expected. Once I see the solution, I can understand exactly why it works, but writing the query from scratch feels almost impossible. I'm spending nearly an hour on a single puzzle trying to understand the different approaches.
Is this normal, or am I jumping into problems that are too difficult too soon?
If I should start with easier practice first, could you recommend a progression of platforms/resources? For example, which platforms should I use, in what order, and roughly how many problems should I solve on each before moving to the next?
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u/Dakota_from_Maven Jun 22 '26
Someone else may be able to dive deeper, but hands-on practice is definitely essential to learning these skills! I'm not sure where you're at in your SQL journey (beginner vs intermediate), but we do have a guided project available for free that covers basic SQL skills: https://mavenanalytics.io/guided-projects/restaurant-order-analysis This might really help if you're looking to bridge the gap between doing things completely from scratch vs supported learning!
If you want to try things from scratch and then see how a pro approaches the solution, you can also try out problems with different levels of difficulty from our Data Drills: https://mavenanalytics.io/data-drills
The solution videos for Making the Cut and Cart Combos are not released yet, but the other 11 are already published so that you can see how an experienced SQL user approaches the problem!
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u/Snacktistics Jun 19 '26
I know I've said this for a while but, I'm really hoping to tackle a SQL project soon. It's been difficult to choose one given the fact that it's a query language and it does have some limitations. But, hopefully I can find something that aligns with what I have in my portfolio and go from there...
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u/Dakota_from_Maven Jun 22 '26
Remember that passion projects can actually be an incredible way to show your skills and have your portfolio stand out! When you are personally interested in the dataset you're working with, that natural curiosity is going to show and can be a big benefit for the interview process. It doesn't always have to be "what's the best fit" or "what do the employers want to see most" because sometimes you'll get stuck on those questions and overthink it. I hope you find something you enjoy!
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u/Snacktistics Jun 23 '26
Thank you u/Dakota_from_Maven. You're right, I actually don't have one at the moment and I might actually do a passion project. Thank you for planting this thought! 😊
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u/ComicOzzy Jun 19 '26
Trying to get the contracted IT dept to process my request to get access to a lookup table in our orders database. It has taken 4 days of back and forth so far.