If you're trying to build a successful career in data and want to hear the best advice from an industry veteran, this one is for you.

I was very fortunate to get to grill Alex Freberg (YouTube's Alex The Analyst) and get him to share some fantastic career advice, with personal insights and major inflection points from his own career.

It's a can't miss, with tons of stuff I wish I had heard when I was early in my career. You can read all about it here!

Most of our audience knows you as Alex the Analyst, the creator of the 1M+ subscriber YouTube channel, and the founder of Analyst Builder. Could you tell us a bit about your data career before becoming a full-time educator?

I got started at a non-profit as a Data Collection Specialist and Analyst. I had no idea what I was doing, but I learned a lot of Excel. I learned SQL in my spare time after work and after about a year I landed a role at a Healthcare Analytics company as a Data Analyst. I learned so much at that job and had a great mentor. I learned a lot of advanced SQL, Excel, and Tableau which were great skills to learn! After a year there, I was having some issues getting paid on time and decided to look for another role where I got a job at a Fortune 10 company as a Data Analyst. I worked in that role and received a few promotions within the same team for 3 years. I got a big promotion within the same company, but in a different department, as a Manager of Data Analytics. I now do mostly consulting for Tech Startups and Tech companies while I run my YouTube channel and Analyst Builder.

It seems like you were able to move up really quickly from Analyst into a Manager role. What do you think was the secret to your rapid rise? If you could give one piece of advice to folks who are in that first Analyst role right now, what would it be?

I think the biggest things were making connections and taking on big projects. I met a lot of people and was quite outgoing to coworkers and managers and even senior managers. These connections helped them want to keep me on the team and promote me because they enjoyed working with me. I started taking on higher visibility projects and more important projects fairly early on in my career as well. These projects gave me visibility to decision makers far higher in the organization than me and when I did well on them that put me on their radar.

Now let’s jump back in time to when you got your first data role. How were you able to get that first job offer? What advice would you give to folks who are trying to get their first data job right now and are struggling to break in?

My first role at the non-profit was an internal hire. The lady who was working on the grant data was leaving after 15 years and I was the only person who applied for the job. They knew me there and liked me and gave me a chance. So I think it was more right place, right time, right connections. My biggest advice to people trying to land their first role with data is to look within their current company. It's where they have the best chance if they apply. After that I would reach out to connections and people you know personally to look for roles. Next, reach out to recruiters - their whole job is to help companies hire talented people. Working with them will help you skip the never-ending applying to random jobs.

Is there one specific technical skill that you leaned on most heavily in your data career? Do you think it’s as important today is it was when you were getting started? What advice would you give aspiring or entry level Analysts about technical skills?

Definitely SQL. It's done more for my career than any other skill and I still think it is the most important skill for every Data Analyst getting started today. Technical skills are very important. Learn as much as you can before you land your first role, but understand you can't learn everything. Once you land a job you'll get hands-on experience that will take your skills farther than anything you could do on your own.

How about non-technical skills? What does it take to succeed in data outside of databases and dashboards?

Confidence, Communication, and Collaboration. The Big Cs of soft skills (although there are many more). Confidence is a tough one especially when you're first starting out. Confidence to ask questions, confidence to admit when you're not sure or are wrong, and confidence to ask for help is so important to help you grow and get better. Communication is important in every job. Communicating where you are in projects, with supervisors, with clients, etc. Knowing how to talk to people and communicate in the workplace is crucial. Collaboration is sometimes shocking to many people because they think data roles are often solitary. I thought that when I first started - that I would sit on my computer and do all my work alone. That happens at times, but most of the time you're working in a team so learning to ask for help, work with your team, and knowing your strengths will take you far.

If you could have one do-over in your data career, what would it be?

I would not have taken the Manager of Data Analytics Role. It was great for my career, but I didn't enjoy it. It was mostly people managing and working on high-level stuff, but I learned I really like being hands-on and coding. When those were not part of my role I didn't enjoy it. I would go back and continue to rise up in my current role and not get into management too early.

Now the flip side of that…other than starting a YouTube channel and founding Analyst Builder, what’s the biggest thing that you got right in your data career? Was there a major inflection point for you anywhere?

There were 2 things that I think I did well and at the right time. The first is looking for and applying to jobs at the right time. This was applying for jobs, not necessarily when I absolutely had to, but when my skills and experience were good enough to warrant it. Taking on different jobs at different companies helped me earn a lot more than staying at one place. The other was upskilling in my free time. When I did that I learned so many new things and could implement them at my work, even if they didn't ask me to. This lead to a lot of opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

Why did you decide to start your YouTube channel? Did you ever imagine you’d have a million subscribers? Was there ever a moment when you almost stopped creating on YouTube?

When I was first learning there were only a handful of Data Analyst YouTubers and none that I really clicked with. I learned a lot from YouTube, but it was all scattered and hard to organize. I wanted to make a channel where everything was all in one place and was easy to follow. I really enjoyed making the videos so even though I didn't get much traction at first I just kept going because I was really enjoying it! I haven't ever thought about stopping!

Can you tell us a little bit about Analyst Builder? What was your motivation here and what are you most proud of on the platform?

Analyst Builder is a platform I created for people who want to become Data Analysts. It has integrated coding so people can practice right on the platform. And the courses go really in-depth and focus on the things that I know are very important because I used them myself as an Analyst. The thing that I'm most proud of is how user-friendly it is. It's all in one place and someone can learn just about everything they need on there including learning the skills, building a portfolio, creating a resume, and practice for technical interviews.

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Alex's advice here is gold! If you've read this far, I hope you were able to take away at least two things that you'll be able to apply to your data career.

If you haven't come across Alex on YouTube, definitely check him out. He's spent years putting out really high quality learning content, and it's all up on his channel for free.

And for those of you who are looking for a fully structured learning experience, definitely check out Analyst Builder.