How to google like a Pro for non-tech Data Analysts

“With great google-ability come great data analyst” — GOOGLE IT!

Well, It was not a quote from any celebrated genius, I just made it up. “Google it” is the most controversial things that one could say, in no context, this eventually creates a total mess for the audiences . As a modern Data Analyst, not only data analytical skills are required, you have to get involved in programming in order to use tools like R and Python effectively. Reading a chart could be easy, but plotting one is quite challenging, it’s an iterative process: doing research on data, choosing type of chart, asking for friend’s advice maybe, then writing code. Ironically, this could ended up with unwanted bugs (errors) in your programs, you have to resolve it over and over again. As being said, the worst scenario could takes you forever to fix. But don’t be panic! Instead, why not letting someone to “think” for you?

Let’s play a game: “Have you met Google?”

Note: In this article, I will assume that you have some exposure to coding and some common libraries for data analytics in Python.

WHEN TO USE GOOGLE?

1. Fetching knowledge

Google is well-known for its prominent feature: searching for knowledge. Students use it, doctors use it, even my grandma! As a data analysts, you might want to mess around with statistics and probability theory, or simply just something that you’re curious about.

Typical questions:

• What is standard deviation in normal distribution?

(Keywords: standard, deviation, normal, distribution)

• How to calculate a median of a distribution?

(Keywords: median, distribution)

• How to collect data for my company?

(Keywords: how to, collect, data)

2. Searching for code

You come up with an idea but you just don’t know how to code

Typical questions :

• How to plot a clustered stacked bar chart using matplotlib?

(Keywords: clustered, stacked, bar, chart, matplotlib)

• How can I calculate the mean of a column in a Dataframe?

(Keyboards: mean, column, dataframe)

3. Solving bugs/errors

Your code won’t always be perfect, there will always bugs and errors. But as long as you know your error code, you can always look up it on Google.

4. No, this list doesn’t stop at 4

The use of google could be versatile. As long as you have a question, you can always search it up!

HOW TO USE GOOGLE RIGHT

1. When you don’t know something, just google. Don’t expect yourself to remember or to know everything, google is your friend and he’s always there for looking up anything you desire.
2. USE RELEVANT KEYWORDS. Words like “thing” or “stuff” could be misleading.

3. USE SHORT & BRIEF KEYWORDS. Some trivial words like “and”, “using” ,“I” and “want” could may lead to unwanted result so you may want to get rid of them.

4. SPECIFY PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE. Some terminologies like “array” appear in other programming language besides Python, you might want to include “python” to your keywords for the sake of unambiguity. In case you already specify something like “matplotlib”, which is a part of python (it’s distinct!), then you don’t have to specify “python”.

5. SEARCH WITHIN A WEBSITE. Sometimes you only want to get the result from a certain reliable site only, you might want to add the keyword “site:<url>”. Say, Stackoverflow.

6. OPEN NEW TABS! Yes, right click and “open new tabs”, GO CRAZY! By that way you can switch between tabs and compare things to choose what is suitable for you.

ULTIMATE TIPS FOR STEP-BY-STEP GOOGLING

1. Come up with a question/problem in mind
2. Prepare a set of (right) keywords
3. Ensure that you play the right rule
4. Google it: Several rounds to pick up best content possible.
5. Sanity check for authentic and useful information, luckily that most of the time you won’t get some sort of “fake news” when you search for a technical article. It’s just like “Voila, here it is”.
6. Apply the solution to your problem. If it doesn’t work, just try another search result, this might take a little more of time.
7. Enjoy your coffee!

IS MAKING FRIEND WITH GOOGLE NECESSARILY A BAD THING?

The short answer is: “No.”

The long answer is: “It depends.”

I made a survey of group of people from junior to senior developer of how often do they use google on a daily basis in terms of programming. 91% of them responded “Always” to the survey, just like another 9% (lol). You can see how much impact have google placed on their life.

Remembering everything (say, every single line of code) is great, if you can, or else you should spend time for more important part like insights extraction, data visualization and business/domain expertise. Treat googling as a way to learn things that you have never put your hands on before, you’re not an eminent scientist! When you forget you can always search it up. The more you search, the more concrete your knowledge is as you learn by repetition and by solving problems simply by seeking answers.

So the next time when you have any questions, what should you do?

That’s right, just ask Google…with the right way!