Presenting your work
For those graduating with a degree in Analytics and Data Science, you have many resources to work with when it comes to presenting your skills to hiring managers.
Some examples below.
Search for filetype:pdf and case studies in your field. Identify the ones that stand out. Now go over to Google Dataset Search and find a dataset that seems relevant to your field. Break out your spreadsheet skills, SQL, R or Python chops. Extract a few key insights and useful visualizations. Put together a 1 to 2 page document in the style of a case study. A great way to discover what others have done with open datasets is to head over to Kaggle and check out the various kernels that folks have created exploring a dataset. See this as an example.
Tableau, PowerBI, Google Data Studio all allow users to post public dashboards. Find a dataset and develop dashboards and post it publicly. Take care to polish these dashboards and apply the same rigour you would if this were a course submission. These public dashboards you develop are a great way to showcase your skills to hiring managers.
Shiny contests are a great way to showcase your skills and work on an interesting project. Even if you do not wish to participate in a contest, developing a Shiny app and hosting it online should give you something substantial to point to in conversations with hiring mangers.
Your SQL skills can be put to use by analyzing public datasets. Identify a dataset of interest and analyze it with SQL. Not only will you learn a popular cloud service but will also get access to real world data. Colab is a great way to access BigQuery and develop your analysis.
If you'd like to showcase your ML chops, winning Kaggle competitions is a great way to get started. You can also develop an end to end data product. Use Dash to develop a web application with a simple front-end for users to interact with your model.
Looking for your first job can be made easier by showcasing your skills with some examples from the list above. This may not guarantee anything but does definitely help hiring managers learn more about your skills and capabilities. It also shows your resolve in improving your chances of success by doing more than is usually expected. Best of luck!
