How Rachel Amplified Her Skills with a General Assembly Short Course

When Rachel Yen started encountering more complicated datasets in her job at HubSpot, she turned to the Data Analytics Short Course at General Assembly to level up her skills. Over 10 weeks, Rachel got hands-on experience with SQL, Snowflake, Tableau, and Excel by building industry-relevant projects. Although Rachel has never considered herself a fan of traditional school, she explains why General Assembly’s project-based approach is more engaging. Plus, Rachel shares how she’s already applying the data analytics skills to large data sets in her PeopleOps role!

Why was now the right time in your career to take a data analytics course? 

I've been at HubSpot for almost ten years, and I have seen HubSpot from many different lenses. I started at the front desk, then moved to our customer success team before moving to our People team. When I started, my role was more operation-heavy, helping our employees with logistics like moving. This role has evolved, and lately I've had the opportunity to dive into data. Getting a better understanding of how to use data to tell compelling stories was something I wanted to strengthen, and I felt the only way I could do that was through a course.

There are many online course providers, such as Coursera and Udemy. What set General Assembly apart from the rest?

Many of my colleagues have taken General Assembly courses and really enjoyed them, such as a Group Product Manager who took a Python course back when she was a technical consultant. I've seen how General Assembly shapes folks' careers into what they want them to be. 

I loved that I could complete the course during my work day, which HubSpot was willing to let me do, and that there was live classroom time. A lot of short online courses are held at night, or they are self-paced learning, and I wanted something live online to hold me accountable. 

Why did you choose the Data Analytics Short Course over the Data Analytics Bootcamp at General Assembly? 

I did look at both programs, but I wanted to continue working my full-time job. The short course fit nicely into my work schedule. 

Did you get any financial assistance from General Assembly or a learning stipend from HubSpot?

General Assembly was running an offer when I applied, which made the course less expensive. This was great because HubSpot gives employees a specific amount for education tuition reimbursement. This short course fits within that budget.

What did you learn in the Data Analytics Short Course at General Assembly?

We started with Excel, which was the only kind of data analytics tool I had ever used. Then we moved to SQL, which was helpful in getting a basic understanding of how things work, particularly in this age of AI. You can rely on AI to help strengthen your skills or help write the code for you. SQL has some coding elements, like if-then statements. 

At the end of the course, we moved into Tableau. HubSpot uses Looker as its data visualization tool, but it was still helpful to learn Tableau because they are similar. Now I will have all of these skills under my belt. 

Did the curriculum feel up-to-date?

It felt relevant no matter where you're working. Every step of the way I was learning new tools that I could easily apply to what I was doing in my job.

What kinds of projects did you work on in this course?

We did three projects, each one focused on a different tool – one Excel project, one SQL project, and finally a capstone that brought all of the tools together. The projects kept me honest by making sure I understood what we were learning as opposed to just showing up for class each week.

You could bring your own dataset to use for a project, and folks in our class did, but General Assembly provides datasets at different difficulty levels for students to use, too. I tried to aim for using the medium-level dataset in my projects. One of my projects had me learning more about the BlueBikes system in Boston, which was fascinating! For another project, I worked on a dataset about overtime in San Francisco. Overall, General Assembly gave us real-life data sets that we could use in our jobs. As students, it was our job to shape the project around us.

Did you present your projects in a demo day?

We presented all of our projects to our class. Our instructors graded our presentation skills, since presentation is key to data analytics and an important skill for data analysts. General Assembly taught us that visual storytelling compels people to buy in or be engaged with your findings. In your presentation, it’s your job to make the data understandable and convincing. 

What was the teaching style like in the short course?

I am not the type of person who has the self-discipline to carve out time to teach myself. I need the accountability of deadlines to get things done. This is why the General Assembly short course was perfect because we had two, three-hour sessions during the week in class where attendance was required. Our instructor, Harry, who is a data scientist as well as a teacher, understood what we would need if we wanted to move into this field. He was very approachable. You could ask him questions if you didn’t understand something, and he was empathetic. Harry helped us get through a lot of information in a short amount of time.

How is learning in a General Assembly short course different from a traditional classroom?

I'm not someone who loves school, but this short course was really engaging for me because I chose to dive into this topic and had some interest in it. I also liked the balance of a more traditional lesson followed by hands-on experience with the tools. It made the course much more stimulating and exciting than traditional school.

If you were struggling with an assignment outside of live class hours, how could you get support?

General Assembly is great because they have a Slack channel community. You could speak to the instructor as well as your peers in that channel. If you needed one-on-one time, our instructor Harry held office hours either before or after class. 

What was your cohort like in the short course? 

Everyone in my class came from varied backgrounds, which brought together many different real-life examples. I thought that was great! Some people had similar career backgrounds to mine: working full-time jobs in the tech space while doing the course. We also had folks who were working full-time jobs outside of the tech industry, and there were people looking to upskill in general. Some folks were still in college and this course was in addition to their university classwork.

Since our cohort was in a Slack channel together, we were able to reach out to each other and chat about what we were learning. I also set up one-on-ones with my peers to go over assignments and projects. Overall, we had a good blend of diverse backgrounds that helped make the course come to life.

How did you balance the short course with work?

We had class Mondays and Wednesdays, and my employer was great about letting me attend those classes during the workday. Most of my cohort was based in the UK, so class was happening in the evening for them, but it was midday for me. 

I tried hard to keep up with the assignments that we received through General Assembly’s student portal and our instructor. In addition to class, I spent at least an hour doing assignments. 

Our projects took a bit longer to complete. Our instructor told us to spend five hours maximum on a project. Project times were definitely crunch times, but I think it also depends on what you have going on at work. If you're transparent with your employer that this course is important to you, I think that's a good precedent to set from the start.

As a Senior Program Manager at HubSpot, how are you integrating these new data analytics skills into the job?

I am in the hybrid enablement space and hybrid experience team, and we sit under the Culture Experience team. I love to dive into data to make sure we're seeing a full picture of the HubSpot workforce, whether they’re working at home, in the office, or flex. Part of that is diving into metrics like office attendance and office usage. I'm already using so many of the skills that I learned in the course, particularly on the Excel side, to make my life so much easier. Having a basic understanding of tools like Snowflake and SQL helps me look at huge data sets. I have not yet started using the data visualization tool in my job, but understanding its purpose has been great in conceptualizing what it would mean to take a story full circle.

Looking back on this experience, was General Assembly worth it for you?

General Assembly is a 10 out of 10! I've already recommended it to my colleagues who are interested in data. Even though my tuition was funded by HubSpot, I would have never reached the skill level or the understanding of these individual tools had I not dedicated the time and resources to take this course.

What is your advice to incoming short course students at General Assembly?

I was nervous coming into this course because this was the first time I'd been back in an educational environment since college. School had never been my favorite, and I graduated early because I was ready to be out in the real world. I was nervous about homework, projects, and the learning environment. After the first class, though, I realized how unintimidating it truly is! The instructors are there to help you understand the materials. The projects may seem scary and looming, but they help you apply the tools in real life. My advice is to remember that your peers and your instructors are people, too, and if things get overwhelming, they are there for you. It’s a great experience to be in this community, learning together.

Find out more and read General Assembly reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with General Assembly.