Go beyond and be a champion in your BI career!

I’m a BI Analyst and Consultant with a background in Civil Engineering. My passion is exceeding expectations by understanding people’s needs and offering personalized and effective solutions. Within 6 months, I participated in 4 different dashboard contests and received awards in all of them.

The dashboard with historical data from the World Cup soccer was originally developed for a contest held in Brazil in September 2022. It was a very different theme from other projects I had developed, but I really enjoyed participating in this challenge because themes that deviate from the norm we are used to are opportunities to expand and apply our creativity. This work brought me a lot of recognition and helped me win the Arena DATAB contest, as well as being responsible for my first international achievement, the Data2Speak award.

Sketch and final version of the first page.

I like to surprise people with my work, seeking to create differentiated analyses in order to transform the user experience into something enjoyable and engaging. Allowing them to explore, easily see insights and, at the same time, not notice the time passing.

The database I received for this project was very rich in information, which allowed me to conduct in-depth analyses on the subject. For example, I was able to include in the dashboard the complete history of all matches between the teams that have competed in the World Cup, including information about the teams, goals, substitutions, and more. The idea was to make the user experience similar to playing a video game.

Here, you can select two national teams and compare all of their World Cup matches with each other.

But I didn’t limit myself to just the database I received. I wanted to go beyond that, researching and bringing additional information to the project, such as photos of all the stadiums that have hosted the World Cups (in the year they occurred) and their exact locations, including latitude and longitude, through a completely manual process.

Location of all World Cup stadiums and pictures of them from the year the events took place.

But wasn’t that very laborious?

Yes! It was quite laborious, but at the same time rewarding to imagine the result that it would bring (and it did). So it ended up being something enjoyable and that brought me even more knowledge about the subject.

I could have done something less sophisticated and average, but among so many strong competitors, I wanted to stand out, and for that, I knew I needed to deliver excellence and differentiation.

If you aim to stand out as a BI analyst or in any other career of your life, you don’t need to be an expert or develop highly complex projects. You just need to avoid limiting yourself to the basics. Seek more information, learn about the business, and make the process enjoyable, imagining the story that will be told and the amazing results that will come from it. Above all, put yourself in the place of the user who will enjoy your project.

After all, Business Intelligence is not just about the tool, business, storytelling, or even art, but mainly about empathy, in order to understand people, their needs, and their pains.

To conclude, I would like to share some tips for those who, like me, are passionate about the world of data analysis:

1. Seek to understand the business or project theme that will be developed and align with the needs of the end-user, but don’t limit yourself to that. Use the knowledge you have acquired in previous projects and research you have done on the business in question to bring new ideas to it. Thus, there is a good chance that you will reveal customer needs that they did not even know they had. Bring differentiation!
2. Carry out data treatment and modelling carefully, thinking about data performance, clarity, and organization. Remember that although the end-user does not see it, this is like the foundation that supports a building or the engine that makes a car run. Dedicate time to ensure that this step is well-done. Errors at this stage can bring incorrect information and slow down your project.
3. Know the visualization tool you are using and what it can offer, regardless of whether it’s Power BI, Qlik, Tableau, or any other tool. This will make you feel confident and know that it’s possible to apply the analysis ideas you have had throughout the process. If you still have doubts about how to do something with these tools, use the wonders of the internet, such as Google or ChatGPT, to find answers in minutes.
4. Stimulate your creativity. You can do this by exploring projects from other people on websites such as Pinterest, Instagram, Dribble, etc. But don’t limit yourself to just searching for dashboards! Website designs, applications, and even works of art can provide incredible insights for your data visualization, whether it’s through colors or shapes. And speaking of not limiting ourselves, this applies to other aspects of our lives as well. The internet can put us in a bubble, so it’s important to burst it. Watch different things, get to know new places, and read about subjects you’re not accustomed to. We are shaped by the environment we live in, and new experiences are a stimulus to our creativity. It’s like when we have one of those surreal dreams, and when we wake up the next day, we realize that it was a crazy mix of small things we experienced that had no relation to each other. And this can apply to our projects. Small experiences and inspirations from different places can help us create something totally original and of high value.
5. Don’t be afraid to experiment and test different approaches. Often, the best ideas come during the trial-and-error process. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. Also, don’t get too attached to an idea or a specific path. Be open to changes and adaptations throughout the development process.
6. Communicate your insights clearly and objectively. Remember that your goal is to convey important information to the end-user in a way that they understand and can make decisions based on it. Use appropriate graphs and visualizations for each type of analysis that facilitate understanding of the information. To delve deeper into this, I recommend the book “Storytelling with Data” by Cole Knaflic.
7. Always stay updated and constantly learn. The world of data is constantly evolving, and new tools and techniques emerge all the time. Be always willing to learn new technologies and stay up-to-date on market trends. Participate in online data analysis communities, watch webinars, and read articles from experts.
8. Don’t forget about ethics and data privacy. As data experts, we constantly deal with sensitive information, so it’s important to be careful about how it’s collected, stored, and shared. Make sure you are compliant with data protection laws and regulations, and always prioritize privacy and information security.

With these tips and a lot of hard work and dedication, it’s possible to become a standout BI analyst in the market, delivering excellence.

Enjoy the World Cups dashboard here.

You can also check out some of my other projects, such as Pokémon, and my portfolio on my website www.dashlab.com.br (in Portuguese).

Thank you for reading!

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