During these unprecedented times, we are faced with extra stress and a flood of information. It’s easy to go to the “dark side” of this info and focus on the things you can’t control. However, I strongly believe that you will feel better, settled, and less stressed if you focus on the things you can control. As Tony Robbins says, “Where your attention goes, your energy flows.”
Our team has identified two ways in which you can spend your time and boost your positive energy: contributing and upskilling.
In this article, we’ll focus on upskilling. (Look for an article on contributing soon!)
What Analytics Pros Can Do to Upskill During the COVID-19 Pandemic
There is some silver lining when a global quarantine happens: experts have more time to create content and contribute to their communities. With vast amounts of information already online, you can take this time to upskill or re-tool. We polled our employees and our networks via social media about the resources they’re turning to right now:
Classes
- Moz has always provided some great free resources. In response to COVID-19, the Seattle-based company is providing access to all of their classes for free until the end of May. Use code: wegotthis
- Google Cloud is providing free on-demand training for 30 days.
- Coursera features content from leading companies and universities. With the most up-to-date information, you can enroll in courses, degree, and certifications.
- Learn Google Analytics for free at Google Analytics Academy.
- Although not free, LinkedIn Learning courses are affordable. Once you enroll, you are able to share the course with your connections, therefore making it free for them. For example, check out the “Salesforce for Marketers” for $34.99.
- Facebook offers free online training, resources, and certification on things like Facebook ads, business pages, and Instagram ads.
- Ivy League schools! One of the best-kept secrets is that many Ivy League institutions offer access to online coursework, sometimes for free. Penn’s Wharton School has programs that you pick a’la carte. MIT (not an Ivy League school, but still) also has some excellent (and free) content on analytics.
- HubSpot Academy offers free online courses on inbound marketing.
- Udemy features 100,000 courses on a wide breadth of topics.
- DAA community members are posting some excellent content, from webinars to coursework.
Meetups
Local meetups are great. They are a way for the community to teach and share with one another. Most meetups are now moving online, so you can attend them from anywhere in the world! Check out Meetup.com and Eventbrite for up-to-date lists of virtual events happening globally. Here are some specific meetup groups recommended to us (and who are still meeting virtually):
- American Marketing Association (AMA)
- Together Digital: “A network of women with power to share. Through our Asks & Gives Exchange, we’re helping women succeed in digital and in life.”
- Berlin Digital Analytics Meetup
- DAA Regional Meetups: Atlanta, Dallas, DC, and Boston have continued online events.
- Web Analytics Wednesday (WAW) Columbus
- Web Analytics Wednesday (WAW) Cincinnati
- Data and Analytics Wednesday Sydney
- GDG (Google Developer Groups) and GDG Cloud
Thought Leaders
“Personally, I have taken the time to clean up my social media accounts to follow the right thought leaders for growth.”
– Amanda Jacobs, Inbound Marketing Specialist at InfoTrust
As we know, making sure we are following the correct thought leaders can really ensure that we are able to digest the best and more pertinent information to our industry. Check out @MeasureCamp, @wia_conference, @SimoAhava, or check in and contribute to the conversations on Measure Slack.
Books
Sometimes at the end of the day, there just isn’t enough content on Netflix to keep you entertained. Why not check out these great books?
- Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis is a great book for digital marketers, with commentary on analytics, CRMs, and A/B testing.
- Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik has been referred to as the “bible” of web analytics.
- Practical Tableau: 100 Tips, Tutorials, and Strategies for Tableau Zen Master by Ryan Sleeper teaches readers about data visualization in Tableau.
- Adobe Analytics for Dummies by Eric Matisoff gives practical advice on using Adobe Analytics.
- Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring by Steven Few.
- #MakeoverMonday by Andy Kriebel and Eva Murray.
We hope these resources enable you to grow your professional knowledge and skillset during this strange period. As musician B.B. King once said, “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it from you.”
