I have a confession: I wasn’t sure about my Business Analytics course until the first day I attended the classes. I can still remember contemplating my choice regarding the course. I was keen on developing my analytical and technical knowledge, since I only had a general management degree. I am not a math fanatic, nor am I the most tech-savvy person around. Due to this reason, I was unsure if I could really do well in a technical course but went for it anyways.

Settling in 

As a pure management student, the technical aspects of the course were completely foreign to me and I did struggle a little when I was being taught coding for the very first time. However, after meeting the professors and attending a few of the classes, I can tell you that the transition has not been as difficult as I thought. The induction classes will help you set the base and guide you with the course, regardless of your background.

Small class size 

I belong to the MSc Business Analytics batch of 2019-2020, which is the first batch of this course at Queen’s University. As the first batch, the class size was comparatively small, which allowed for better interaction with the professors. The professors are considerate of the fact that the students belong to various backgrounds and teach accordingly. If you are able to communicate your difficulties to the professor, they will happily clarify your doubts and make sure you understand it. You just might need to be a bit more proactive and be willing to learn and understand. And if you’re concerned about not having done a relevant course previously, you can find plenty of others who haven’t done anything related to analytics before as well.

My first day coding

This area might be the most dreadful to many management or non-computer science students. However, even for the technical students, there are chances that you have not done the language before. Although not as technical as the Data Science course, Business Analytics does have extensive use of statistics and probability. It’s helpful to perceive your non-coding background as a diverse learning experience, rather than a disadvantage.

Ask questions

The first language we were taught was R programming. I was able to do fairly well with the help of my friends who had coded before. However, the learning curve is quite steep, but that only means that I am learning a valuable skill. I was also constantly asking questions every time I was confused. By that, I mean you should ask questions EVERY TIME you don’t understand something. You get a better understanding if you ask as you learn in the class. This will help you because every mistake you make helps you remember what not to do the next time you code.

Getting the hang of it

As the weeks progressed, I started getting more familiar with the codes and the technical aspects. As they say, “Practice makes perfect”, and this phrase has indeed proved to be true. If you persevere and invest your time to learn, you will see light at the end of the tunnel. I was initially skeptical when my professor first told me that I will eventually learn the codes and make sense of it. The jargon and technicalities felt daunting at times. However, as I attended classes and learned more about the subject, I was better able to understand the code. Today, I have definitely become more ‘code fluent’.

A bright future

The statistics and the insights of the course is something I can see myself using in a practical business scenario. There are plenty of roles in Business Intelligence where you are responsible for developing insights and creating interesting visualizations. Being able to solve a complex business problem using aesthetical graphs and bars will be an interesting skill to have.

In today’s world, many companies are sitting on piles of data. The skills that we gain in the course will help companies turn this pile into treasure.

Overall, it is an interesting course for anyone who wants to gain a business perspective and a technical skill, which is imperative in today’s age of information. Especially for business students looking to gain knowledge about the data world, the Business Analytics course is definitely the starting point.

Discover Business Analytics at Queen’s

 

Suvekshya Dhunganai, Nepal

MSc Business Analytics