Safiya - Doctor & Data Analyst

thanni

📣 Hey guys, meet @Sa3eeya

I’d love to introduce Safiya Tafida, a doctor currently serving her NYSC in Kaduna State.

She’s officially starting her journey into data analysis - with the goal of building a nice portfolio, learning the fundamentals fast, and positioning herself for high-paying remote jobs within the next few months.

She’s a complete beginner, but she’s committed to an 8-week intense learning sprint, and we’ll be keeping her accountable right here in the forum.

@Sa3eeya Here's what a Data Analyst does. Watch and reply with a summary of what you learned.

Sa3eeya

Thank you. I’m happy to be here

What I’ve learnt is that a data analyst is a person who renders solutions to their clients problems through the following steps

 • by determining their needs,

- Identifying the source of data

- Collecting data

- Clean data

- Create data reports and visualizations

Most jobs require a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree. The data analyst salary can range from 45k-110k

thanni

@Sa3eeya That's good.

Here's your first video and task. Watch this 16 min tutorial. Then complete the task below.

🧠 Week 1 Task 1 – Excel Practice Project

📊 Project Title: "Analyze a Simple Sales Sheet"

⏰ Deadline - 24 hours
🎯 Goal: Practice everything from the Excel intro video — including formatting, formulas, charts, filtering, and pivot tables.

🛠️ Instructions:

You’re the new analyst at a small retail store. You’ve received a basic sales report. Your job is to clean, organize, and analyze it.

Step 1: Create the Dataset

Open Excel or Google Sheets based on the sample sent in the academy.

Step 2: Perform These Tasks

✅ Format the headers (bold, center) and freeze the top row
✅ Adjust column widths so everything is visible
✅ Add a new column: Total Sales = Quantity * Price
✅ Use Conditional Formatting to highlight rows with Total Sales above 50
✅ Sort by Region or Total Sales
✅ Filter to show only "Clothing" category
✅ Insert a bar chart showing Total Sales per Product
✅ Create a Pivot Table:

Total Sales per Region
Total Quantity per Category

📤 What to Submit:

A screenshot (or short Loom video) showing:
- Your sheet with formulas visible
- One chart
- One pivot table
A short sentence on what you discovered (e.g., "Shoes had the highest sales overall.")

Let me know if you get stuck.

Sa3eeya

Please I’m having issues with the bar chart. I don’t know how to go about it

thanni

@Sa3eeya

Week 2 Task – Business Questions Challenge

📊 Project Title: "Answer Business Questions with Data"
⏰ Deadline: 48 hours
🎯 Goal: Use Google Sheets (or Excel uploaded to Google Sheets) to apply formulas, pivot tables, charts, and conditional formatting to answer business questions and summarize insights.

Scenario

You work as a junior analyst at the retail store. Your manager wants answers to specific business questions using last year’s sales data.

Step 1 – Dataset

Use the expanded sales dataset provided in the academy (contains: Date, Region, Category, Product, Quantity, Price, Discount).

Step 2 – Tasks

✅ Create New Columns:

Total Sales = Quantity × Price
Discount Amount = (Use IF to give 10% for Electronics, 5% for Clothing, 0% for others)
Net Sales = Total Sales − Discount Amount

✅ Answer These Business Questions in a Separate "Answers" Sheet:

Which region had the highest Net Sales last year? (Pivot Table)
What was the top-selling product by quantity overall? (Pivot Table)
Which category had the highest average price? (AVERAGE + Pivot Table)
How many transactions had Net Sales above $200? (COUNTIF)
Use VLOOKUP or INDEX-MATCH to find the price of "Shoes" from the dataset.
In which month did we sell the most units? (Pivot Table)

✅ Create These Visuals:

Stacked Column Chart – Net Sales by Category over months
Bar Chart – Top 5 products by Net Sales
Pie Chart – Category share of Total Sales

✅ Apply These Skills:

Conditional Formatting: Highlight Net Sales above $500
Filters/Slicers: Add a slicer for Region or Category
Custom Sort: Show best-selling products first

Step 3 – Summary Report

On a new sheet or short Google Doc, write:

3–5 bullet points summarizing your findings
Any surprising trends or anomalies
A recommendation for the business (e.g., focus on a specific product or region)

📤 Submission Format

Share a Google Sheets link (View or Comment access)
Keep all work in one file with separate sheets for:
- Dataset
- Pivot Tables
- Answers
- Summary Report

Sa3eeya

link to my second task

Sa3eeya

@thanni

thanni

Well done @Sa3eeya. For people who don't understand what you did, this leads to the next task:

Week 2.5 Task – Write a Blog on Your Analysis

📌 Project Title: “From Data to Insights: My Retail Sales Analysis”
⏰ Deadline: 48 hours
🎯 Goal: Transform your Week 2 spreadsheet project into a clear, engaging blog post (500–1000 words) that explains your process, findings, and recommendations in plain English.

📝 Task Instructions

Blog Structure
- Introduction (100–150 words): Briefly explain the dataset and the business problem you were solving.
- Approach (150–250 words): Describe the steps you took—new columns created, pivot tables, charts, formulas. Show that you didn’t just “get answers,” but thought through the process.
- Findings & Visuals (200–300 words): Highlight key insights with charts/screenshots (Net Sales by region, top products, monthly trends, etc.).
- Summary & Recommendations (100–200 words): Wrap up with bullet points, surprising patterns, and at least one recommendation for the business.
Writing Style
- Write as if you’re presenting to a manager with no technical background.
- Keep it clear, simple, and insight-driven.
- Include at least 2–3 visuals (screenshots of your charts or tables).
Submission Format
- Publish your blog on medium.com
- Share the published link as a reply below

While you're at it, watch this SQL tutorial video for next week's Monday update. I'll send details to the academy.