0.1 What Makes a Great Data Analyst

When people picture a data analyst, they often imagine someone writing SQL queries, cleaning data in Python or Excel, and building dashboards in Tableau or Power BI.

And they’re not wrong — those are core parts of the job. The tools matter.

But tools alone won’t make you a great analyst.

Knowing how to write a query doesn’t tell you which questions are worth asking, why a problem is happening, or how to help a team make a better decision.

What Great Analysts Actually Do

Great analysts aren’t just data technicians — they’re problem solvers. They:

Ask sharp, focused questions
Understand how the business works
Prioritize the most important problems
Translate business goals into clear analytical tasks
Communicate insights in a way that drives action

In other words, they know how to think — not just analyze.

Your Role: Bridging Business and Data

Analysts operate at the intersection of two very different worlds:

Business teams care about outcomes — revenue, growth, user retention
Technical teams care about systems — databases, pipelines, infrastructure

Your job is to connect the two: turn vague business questions into structured problems, and messy data into useful insights.

A Mindset, Not a Job Description

Being an analyst is about more than charts and code.
It’s about judgment, structure, and clarity. It’s about knowing what matters, and how to use data to support it.

High-impact analysts don’t chase perfection — they prioritize impact.
They don’t just answer questions — they help teams ask better ones.

That’s the mindset this course will help you build.

What’s Next

In Part 1, we’ll start with the foundation: understanding how businesses work — how they make money, what customers care about, and why that context shapes everything you do as an analyst.

Let’s dive in.