Being an analyst sounds cool, but most people do not understand what they do and should do. Planning to be one or already in the field? It’s a great thing there’s a one-of-a-kind training available here in the Philippines by Dan Meyer of DMAI.

We may not know it but we do analyst work in our daily lives:

• students who do research for their homework, papers, feasibility studies, or thesis;
• people who are looking into different airfare prices, comparing them and deciding which company to avail one’s service;
• people who invest their money on the stock market.

Analyst: a person who analyzes and skilled in analysis

There are different kinds of analysts (see Wikipedia), but according to Dan, their primary role is all about finding data, analyzing it, and communicating the results. What we see as random bunch of information, analysts use these raw data in making decisions involving careful analysis of facts/probabilities and coming up with the best outcome.

I was fortunate to be one of the participants for DMAI – Analytics for Decision Makers Training last February 28, 2013 at the Vista Center, Mandaluyong. In between lectures and video presentations, we had our first activity involving a sunscreen market research for the top 5 US states while another required us to come up with a business dashboard to demonstrate data visualization for a variety of fast food brands (our team tackled Wendy’s). I was able to use one of the analytics tools that were discussed: Tableau public.

I found myself listening intently to the discussion and I had fun participating in the activities because this is my kind of thing. You can’t also help but be infected by Dan’s energy and enthusiasm in sharing his love for analytics. Combining his 15 years of experience as an analyst for Wells Fargo Bank with an educational background, Dan Meyer knows how to engage his attendees and encourage them to participate and apply what they have learned. Being easy to approach and accommodating is a plus especially for people who are shy to ask questions like me 🙂

He says what separates a good analyst with great ones is the ability to explain the data — not only does someone have to be a good problem solver, he/she has to be a good communicator as well. Asked about how young can someone learn analytics, a fresh graduate with Computer Science or Information Technology background is an ideal trainee. But that doesn’t mean learning analytics is exclusively for them. As long as you need to make decisions – managers, supervisors, business owners, team leaders, accountants, HR, IT analyst, etc. – I highly recommend that you invest your time and money to attend one of his trainings.

Thank you Mr. Dan Meyer of DMAI, Ms. Janese Halabaso and Ms. Myra Sandico of PMCM for the invite! 🙂

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Daniel Meyer Analytics Inc. (DMAI)
DMAI : Decision-Making, Analytics and Intelligence
Website  – http://www.dmaiph.com
Youtube – http://www.youtube.com/bpoelitellc
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/dmaiph

– All my photos are stored in my soon to die HDD. Image credits to Ms. Janese and DMAI –