If you've seen “data analyst”, “data engineer”, or “BI developer” on job ads and wondered what those people actually do, this page is for you. No assumed knowledge, no jargon.
Every company collects information — customer records, sales, machine readings, NHS appointments, parcel deliveries. Data people turn that information into decisions: they clean it, organise it, draw charts that managers can read, and build the plumbing that moves data between systems.
You don't need a maths PhD. You don't need to be a coder. The day-to-day skills are closer to careful spreadsheet work with better tools, plus enough programming-like skills to ask the data the right questions.
Roles split roughly into analysts (turn data into charts and reports), engineers (build the pipes that move data around), and BI developers (build the dashboards that executives stare at every Monday).
Pick one to specialise in — you don't need to learn them all. The assessment at the bottom of this page recommends a starting point.
If a database holds 2 million customer records and your manager asks "how many in London bought last month?", SQL is the tool that answers in seconds. It's the most-asked-for data skill on UK job ads.
Drag-and-drop charts and tables that update automatically when the underlying numbers change. If you've ever made a chart in Excel, you're already halfway there — Power BI is the same idea but built for a whole company, not one spreadsheet.
When SQL and Excel run out, Python takes over: automating reports, cleaning messy data, calling external systems, and building the "pipelines" that move data overnight while you're asleep.
When the dataset doesn't fit on one computer — e.g. every transaction across a national retailer — Databricks runs the work across many machines at once. Heavy hitters: banks, energy, NHS Trusts.
Every track has three levels. They're the same idea as Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced — we use these names because they better match the kind of work you'll be able to do after each one.
You can confidently complete the most common tasks: write SQL queries, build a dashboard, write a small script.
You can solve realistic, messy problems end-to-end — the kind a junior or mid-level data role would ask of you on day one.
You can design and run systems that businesses depend on, including the engineering quality (testing, monitoring) that senior roles require.
Ten short questions about your background, hours per week, and what kind of work appeals to you. Comes back with a recommended track, starting level, and a realistic time plan. No signup, no email capture — just a plan.