How Yuliya Upskilled on Essential SQL and Data Storytelling Skills to Become a Data Analyst at Allianz

Working with data has always been a common thread throughout Yuliya’s career as a business analyst and solutions designer.

Now, she's determined to pursue her dream job.

Yuliya wanted to bring more than 16 years of experience from different IT roles into the data analytics space—and make working with data the core of her job.

Learn how Yuliya Lagadrilliere transitioned from a solutions designer to a data analyst at Allianz Direct, sharpened her SQL and data storytelling skills, and bolstered her confidence through a DataCamp certification.

Journey into Data Analytics

Yuliya's career took her through various roles in the IT industry. — spending over 16 years as a Business Analyst and Solution Designer at global enterprises such as Nokia, IKEA, and Allianz.

Through the years, she mastered translating business requirements into IT specifications and developed a comprehensive understanding of how it all fits together. Yet, what captivated her the most was working with data and creating reports for internal stakeholders.

She first joined Allianz in 2020 as a solutions designer, where she would translate business needs into IT specifications and proceed with implementing projects. As working with data was key to understanding how systems work together, Yuliya immediately realized that her lack of SQL skills would limit her success in the role. She first signed up for a free online course to learn the basics of SQL and quickly applied her newly acquired knowledge. Excited to continue learning, Yuliya sought a more comprehensive learning experience to fit into her tight work schedule.

In April 2021, Allianz partnered with DataCamp for Business to launch the first pilot of Allianz’s Data Academy—and Yuliya was among the first to join the program.

Getting Hands-on SQL Skills with DataCamp

Yuliya started her learning on DataCamp with the Analytics Literacy track, a custom track designed in collaboration with the Allianz team and the curriculum experts from DataCamp.

The interactive nature of DataCamp immediately stood out to her, alongside the fact it provided short, bite-sized videos followed by interactive exercises to practice skills right away.

Yuliya embraced every DataCamp tool to gain hands-on experience. She used Assessments to identify skill gaps, DataCamp Workspace projects to practice data skills on real business problems, and Practice pools to challenge her knowledge daily.

She loved that the Analytics Literacy track provided an overview of topics such as Data Storytelling, Machine Learning, and Statistics. Next, Yuliya explored DataCamp at her own pace and bookmarked over 40 courses to gain mastery in SQL, Data Visualisation, and Statistics—completing one course after another.

After completing such courses as Intermediate SQL Queries, Joining Data in SQL, Exploratory Data Analysis in SQL, and Functions for Manipulating Data in SQL, Yuliya was able to level up her SQL reporting skills and significantly improve her query performance.

Learning SQL on DataCamp also helped Yuliya work with two different flavors of SQL at Allianz. Now, she can translate queries between IBM BD2 SQL client and Azure DataBricks SQL dialects.

Two years after starting learning on DataCamp, Yuliya was excited to secure her position as a Data Analyst in the Finance team at Allianz Direct.

Gaining Confidence with DataCamp Certifications

Yuliya never stopped learning. This year, she decided to challenge herself and get certified in Data Analytics. She signed up for the DataCamp Data Analyst Associate Certification and followed the preparation learning track.

Yuliya aspired to get certified by the end of May, needing to fit in almost 40 hours of learning in her schedule. After speaking with her manager, she secured Friday’s afternoon dedicated to learning. Also, she spent personal time in the evenings during the week learning new concepts.

While completing the Data Analyst Associate learning plan, Yuliya fell in love with data visualization and storytelling. Alongside her Certification learning plan, she took courses on Data Communication Concepts and Understanding Data Visualizations to explore these topics further.

After completing the learning program, Yuliya kick-started the 30 days to pass the Certification exams. DataCamp certifications consist of a timed theory exam and a practical exam—Yuliya decided to pass the first part right away.

The theory exam is an hour-long interactive test that consists of quizzes and coding questions to verify knowledge across Data Management in SQL, Exploratory Analysis Theory, Exploratory Analysis in SQL, and Statistical Experimentation Theory.

Despite being well-prepared, Yuliya found it challenging to answer questions without the possibility to research or double-check her answers. She wasn't sure if she would succeed before finishing the exam, but she was thrilled to receive the message that she had passed. One of the most challenging topics for her was Statistics, and Yuliya plans to spend more time in the coming months refreshing her understanding of this subject.

On the other hand, the practical exam was easier than she thought. As she already applies all her knowledge to her day-to-day tasks, submitting the project was relatively easy.

Advice for Fellow Learners

For anyone looking to fit learning into a busy schedule, Yuliya recommends five things:

1. Talk to your manager about fitting learning into the work schedule.
2. Find your own motivation.
3. Make yourself a plan—come up with a deadline for your learning goal and block time for learning in your weekly schedule.
4. Find a way to apply learnings at your work
5. Make learning fun!

Conclusion

Yuliya's journey from solutions designer to data analyst at Allianz is a powerful example of the transformative impact of learning and one’s curiosity. By mastering SQL and data storytelling through DataCamp, Yuliya secured her dream job and made her day-to-day reporting more efficient. Challenging herself to become certified made her feel more confident in her role and created a clear path for future skill improvement.