How Smitha became a Business Analyst I Accredian Success Story

Q1: Tell us about your current role and background.

I’m currently working as a Business Analyst at Connected Clinic, which is a subsidiary part of Alkem Laboratories. 

I use the Excel tool to draw the insights from the platform, like what’s the maximum usage and minimum usage and how long has a person using this platform and for what exact reason he or she is using this platform. 

The platform is called as Collective Training, which is a subsidiary part of Alkem Laboratories, located in Mumbai, which is a huge pharma company. So this platform was launched during COVID to provide virtual information and consultation for the patients who were unable to reach the physical, clinic and everything. 

So that’s, that’s about the platform that has been going on. So this is similar many apps but with this we tried Webinar information, Patient education and Doctor education. 

So patient education includes do’s and don’ts and facts about any new diseases, because, as you know, since COVID, is our first pandemic and there are many variants in and around the world. So it’s like giving the right information to people.

Q2: What challenges did you face while switching to Data Science?

The challenges were a bit tough as well as interesting at the same time. I went through a lot of interviews, asked a lot about ML related automation as well as coding because coding was not my cup of tea at that time. SQL database was also a challenge and everything was a rollercoaster that time. 

But, it was interesting to learn from different perspectives, because you get to know the data perspective, when you attend a lot of interviews and understand everything.

Q3. How has Data Science helped you in your new role?

Yes, Data Science has helped in a lot of different ways. For me, as I come from a healthcare background, I knew nothing about the importance of data, though I have studied medical databases.

So now, when I get a data set, I see it with a different perspective, not just as a number in terms of insights as well, because every data has a story to tell. Numbers play an important role in data.

Q4. What was the interview like at your current company?

My interview experience at the current company was a different experience, because I had never worked with Excel. So whenever I used to get a dataset I used to put it in my Jupyter notebook or in tabular format. 

So this was quite interesting because cleaning data in Excel was very important for me to understand as the initial step towards data cleaning and data mining as well. 

So, the interview process was very smooth and comfortable for me to go through. Initially they were looking for a business analyst who could understand and implement a regression and classification in Excel itself, though we have learned regression classification and other algorithms through Python programs. 

So they were looking for the candidate who could do that in Excel itself, like if you know the basics of that particular subject, so you can implement it in any tool because the logic is the same, but the approach is different. 

They even asked about my approach to problems with Data and how I will do it differently than others. That’s what they were looking for.

Q5. Why Accredian? How did it help you?

I’ve been researching a lot about institutes during the lockdown. I asked a couple of my friends who have done data science. Though there are many institutes that have been providing this course. 

I had attended Accredian’s free webinars for more than three times just for my understanding of where I stand and am I really capable of doing this or not. Accredian changed my perspective and made me believe that I can also do it.

I didn’t enroll in the program just for the sake of trying out a new field, but I wanted to give myself a new opportunity which will help me with the healthcare domain, as I want to do something related to healthcare and not just with software tools.

Q6. What advice would you give to Data Science Beginners?

Basics are very important before you jump into this. Data Science is very vast, and that’s the future which everyone is aware of. So just don’t ignore the basics because I had done that too. And it was pretty challenging for me to crack an interview. 

You know the upper ladder, but how do you figure out the path? How you reach it, is something that everyone has to know before joining Data Science. That is what you should strive to figure out.

We hope you found this success story interesting. If you have any Data Science questions, please fill this form and we will get back to you.