Data Science and Business Analytics is a growing field. Whether you are from a technical background or not, upskilling in this area will help you advance your career. Read further to learn about Shivendra Sharma’s journey with Great Learning’s PGP Data Science and Business Analytics Course in his own words.
I’m an economics graduate with non-IT background. I did my PG in quantitative economics. Because of the limitations that social science degrees face, I had to hold roles related to education and allied services. I had entered the IT domain as a self-learner. My quantitative background served as a foundation for all my current and future endeavors.
Before joining the PG program, I was actually a job seeker but I was facing several obstacles (CV related) while applying for jobs. Not the same story now; it is in fact quite the opposite to a large extent. This PG course has altogether changed my profile’s characteristics.
The biggest professional challenge for me has been to transition from a non-analytic background to full-time analytics. I’m yet to overcome that obstacle but I feel I’m very near, a major portion of the credit of that transformation goes to Great Learning.
Before joining Great Learning, I felt helpless sometimes and I’ve had moments of utter frustration because I wasn’t able to plan out how I would stand out of the crowd.
I chose Great Learning based on some recent rankings of the best analytics programs offered in India. According to 2018-19 rankings by Analytics India Magazine, the PGP at Great Learning was ranked #1 as the best program to pursue, better than what IIMs or IITs offered. Since I had decided that I had to pursue a university-recognized course, and for that, I had started preparing for interviews and competitive exams, at that moment I decided to apply for Great Learning.
The mentored sessions are in my opinion a great feature of the whole learning process. It encourages several aspects – collaboration, communication within a team, and thought clarity. Best of all, we get access to hands-on industry projects. Some of these projects have been great experiences and these have touched some very advanced topics (in as little fees as possible). The quality of mentored sessions depends on the individual conducting the session. Every mentor at the GL fraternity is a highly experienced individual. I did not see anyone missing any point when it comes to their personal talent and exposure to the industry.
Our own mentor who conducted weekly sessions works at Deloitte and has 10+ years of exposure. Long story short, it’s been a quality experience. It has provided me with great confidence and expertise in tackling real-world problems and this in result helps me face interviews with a calm mind.
The advice I would give is ‘be focussed’. This is the only thing that will allow you to achieve your objectives. I would also advise students to develop a “practitioner’s” mindset. By that I mean to say that you should treat your journey and your domain as a field of art wherein continuous practice is the only key (aided by focus). And that is what also makes analytics a rewarding field; there is no end to the learning journey and you can keep practicing and sharpening your programming and problem-solving skills. Treat your domain as a playground where you are simply developing yourself continuously and you will keep achieving your goals.
