Coursera: Data Analytics Certifications Review

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The field of data science, including data analytics, has one of the biggest skill gaps of employees transitioning in the space, according to “The Future of Jobs Report” by the World Economic Forum in 2020.

Companies aren’t waiting on the talent pool to grow, as 99% of firms are investing in data science, according to the “Insights From Data Leaders” report by DataCamp.

Tech education platforms, such as Coursera, are offering education, skill training, and certificates in data analytics, where the median annual salary is $63,295, according to PayScale.

See below to learn all about the data analytics certificates being offered through Coursera:

Coursera and the data analytics certification market

Data analytics requires many skills: in communication, data visualization, creative and critical thinking, attention to detail, math, and technical tools. A data analyst needs education or training to develop many of the essential skills for the role.

When it comes to different massive open online courses (MOOCs), Coursera has three well-known competitors, such as Udemy, Skillshare, and LinkedIn Learning. 

Coursera helps any level of worker earn a professional certification in data analytics and increase their knowledge in the field as well as create a portfolio and get live feedback. By getting a certificate, students of data analytics should be better equipped for positions in the growing data market. In about three to 11 months, depending on the certificate program, students can develop their data analytics experience and help the many businesses in need of a data analyst.

Google Data Analytics Certificate

• Skills acquired: gain immersive understanding of practices and processes used by a junior or associate data analyst daily; learn key analytical skills and tools; how to clean and organize data for analysis; complete analysis and calculations; how to visualize and present data findings in dashboards, presentations, and commonly used virtualization platforms
• Requirements: N/A
• Duration: Six+ months
• Location: Online
• Cost: $39 a month or $234 for six months

Coursera reviews: 4.8 out of 5

“Creating portfolio is something I was missing even though I have eight years of work experience as a data analytics & visualization specialist. This remains a big takeaway for me.” -Student, 5-star review

“I learned a lot from the course. It really added value on me, and I am glad I joined. Instructors were very encouraging, and the way the videos are presented is very short and easy to refer back.” -Student, 5-star review

IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate

• Skills acquired: Proficiency in spreadsheets and utilizing Excel for data analysis tasks; create various charts and plots in Excel and IBM Cognos Analytics to create dashboards; develop working knowledge of Python language; describe data ecosystem; compose queries to access data in cloud databases

• Requirements: Basic computer skills, high school math, and comfort with numbers
• Duration: 11+ months
• Location: Online
• Cost: $39 a month or $429 for 11 months
• Coursera reviews: 4.6 out of 5

“I learned so much from this course about data analysis process. I gain skills like, Python language and libraries, SQL, advance excel, and data visualization tools. I got a junior level data analyst job.” -Student, 5-star review

Another five-star review from Muhammad S reads, “Overall, this bundle of courses is one of the best to start learning data analysis. It’s well structured and designed. A lot of self-learning too and not everything is given to you on a platter, which is good. All components of this course together can give you sufficient skills to start an entry-level role or your own project.” -Student, 5-star review

Meta Marketing Analytics Professional Certificate

• Skills acquired: collect, sort, evaluate, and visualize marketing data; design experiments and test hypotheses to evaluate ad effectiveness; summarize and analyze data using market analysis; use Meta ad manager to test and see ad results
• Requirements: N/A

• Duration: 7+ months
• Location: Online
• Cost: $49 a month or $343 for five months
• Coursera reviews: 4.8 out of 5

“It was valuable and full of insights! I do recommend it if you are just a beginner in this field!” -Student, 5-star review

Another five-star review reads, “The course helped me to summarize all the knowledge and skills learned during the previous courses within the program.” -Student, 5-star review

SAS Visual Business Analytics Certificate

• Skills acquired: how to explore data using SAS visual analytics; prepare data using SAS data studio; create interactive reports using SAS visual analytics; describe the data structure needed for network analysis, path analysis, and text analytics

• Requirements: N/A

• Duration: Three+ months

• Location: Online

• Cost: $180
• TekSlate reviews: 4.1 out of 5

“SAS Visual Analytics Training is one of the best things that I have done for myself in a long time! I have been working in data for a number of years already, but this course really helped me learn the ins and outs of all the features SAS offers. It provided me with a much stronger understanding of how to use it to its fullest potential.” -Student, 5-star review

“I loved SAS Visual Analytics for its ease of use and access to a wide variety of training materials in the field of visual analytics. I first started using the training materials in the SAS Visual Analytics program because I had no previous experience in this field. I gained a very detailed knowledge in a short time thanks to the careful preparation of the training materials, the full content of the curriculum, the fact that the curriculum is specially designed for beginners, it is easy to understand and contains many examples. In addition, when I want to get support about products, being able to contact the responsible people in a very short time has helped me a lot in using SAS Visual Analytics.” -Student, 5-star review

Finance, Analysis & Modeling MasterTrack Certificate

• Skills acquired: learn financial management, data analysis, financial literacy, data models, data processing, employee management, market insights

• Requirements: At least five years of work experience in leading teams or projects, or  processes, English proficiency

• Duration: Four+ months

• Location: Online

• Cost: $6,600

Data analyst job paths

Here are some potential roles  the data analytics certifications can support, according to Coursera:

• Data scientists need to master multiple skills as they advance. The certifications can help them succeed through:
  • Advancing programming skills
  • Learning more advanced mathematical skills
  • Developing an understanding of machine learning (ML)

• Management positions in data, such as analytics manager, director of analytics, or chief data officer (CDO) require leadership skills as well as advanced data analytics skills. A certificate can help them:
  • Improve leadership skills
  • Employee management
  • Financial literacy
  • Data processing

• Data specialists, from business to health care, all require focused skills that can benefit from extra education. Certificates will help them:
  • Analyze data using market analysis
  • Describe a data ecosystem
  • Learn network analysis, path analysis, and text analytics
  • Complete analysis and calculations

• Data consultants usually have several years of experience to help clients leverage data. A certificate will let them:
• • Conduct analysis for a variety of clients
  • Teach analytical skills and tools
  • Learn more advanced mathematical skills
  • Learn data processing

How to use Coursera

To sign up for one of these certification courses:

• Pick the certification course you want and click the Enroll button
• Log in or sign up using your name, email address, and password
• Pick a payment option:
• Pay for a Course Certificate
• Subscribe to a Specialization
• Subscribe to Coursera Plus
• Financial aid or scholarship
• Read the instructions given for the course

When it comes to the time of receiving a certificate, a student should:

1. Pass all required assignments in the course or meet the course passing threshold for a cumulative graded course
2. Check if their program requires ID verification, which includes submitting a photo and verified ID

Conclusions

Coursera’s certifications in data analytics can be tools for anyone looking to gain specialized education in the growing field. 

“Our learners tell us that online courses are particularly useful for learning and demonstrating proficiency in skills in relatively fast growing fields, like data science, software engineering, digital marketing, and interaction design, that have changed significantly or maybe didn’t even exist when they were in school,” says Julia Stiglitz, director of business development, Coursera, in a post at The Muse. 

With Coursera, 26% of students report landing new job, The Muse reports.

Data analytics is a tech sector with a major need for skilled employees, and Coursera can help candidates prepare for those open positions.