On May 29, 2024, South Africa had its 7thgeneral election. I found myself eagerly watching the poll numbers rise and fall, I looked at the visualizations and thought how interesting this could be for a data analyst. I also thought about all the ACN alumni who have completed their Data Analytics Professional Certification but are struggling to build a portfolio or project because they are probably struggling to find free and reliable datasets. So I decided to do a little research on how to create a portfolio for all the different Google Certifications offered by the ACN scholarship.
Creating/building portfolios for beginners
Data Analysts
Datasets are mostly protected to obey the data protection laws. As a result, it may become a little challenging to attain credible datasets to build a portfolio as you begin your Data Analyst journey. Fortunately, some organisations have their datasets accessible to everyone. We did a little digging and found this blog that has free datasets that may help a few to kick off their first project.
Project Management
This was one of the hardest to research. It is highly recommended that you get PMI certification to level up your Project management career. You may consider attaining the Certified Associate in Project Management certification. More on CAPM here. Maybe consider identifying a problem in and around your community e.g. garbage collection issues and build a project on how to solve that problem.
UX Design
This is a career field that allows you to express your creativity without having to work 9 to 5. Coursera recently published a detailed article on this.
Good luck! :)
IT Automation with Python
What I picked up while learning to code was everything made sense while I watched YouTube videos and tutorials online until I had to sit and think my projects through. We are very different as humans, I found reading documentation quite helpful.
By the time you decide to learn Python, millions have been there already and changes are the problems you will encounter - someone, somewhere on the internet has solved it. It takes a lot of discipline to take the time to think your code through as a beginner. You may have learnt about planning and understanding the problem before writing the code. I want to emphasize that this is the crucial part of coding.
I am currently doing my second qualification (BSc in Informatics), and I did accounting for the first time. With accounting, if you do not master and understand the basics of accounting you’re guaranteed to fail - dismally. Everything builds up from the basics. This same principle applies to coding. I struggled a lot with loops when I started coding until I had to write down how they worked, step by step. If you cannot implement what the video tutorial is guiding you on, consider finding documentation on that topic and reading through it. Everything becomes easy when you understand it.
Freecodecamp wrote an article on a few beginner Python projects.
IT Support
After taking the Google certificate, reflect on which topics you did well on and work on getting an internationally recognised certification. Here are some of the certifications you may look into obtaining.
In closing, our CTO, Sean O'Connell, organises weekly "geek out sessions" with the Umuzi tech team, where two colleagues must discuss something that interests them from the world of technology. This is a very encouraging concept that encourages everyone to find new topics to learn and talk about. This can be implemented in any career field, so find such platforms on the internet and join them. It might also inspire you to finish that project you've been putting off for a long time.