Balaji SR

An indelible part of my journey in this program has been the Industry exposure that helped me bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Why I decided to Upskill

Before joining the Great Lakes analytics program, I was in Data warehousing and Business Intelligence in data intensive Banking Domain. During this time I was keen to move into a techno functional role as I felt that understanding both the business and technology is highly important to develop better solutions. The exposure, knowledge and competencies I gained in the program helped me transition my career into an analytics/data scientist role.

I Chose Great Learning PGP-BABI Over Several Other Programs/Courses

Before joining Great Lakes I did a lot of research on other institutes as well, including IIMs and even had an admissions offer from IIM Bangalore. However, I ended up choosing Great Lakes as it’s one program that prepares you to take up Business roles and it’s very important that before doing Analytics, one should understand the business well. Just for e.g. without knowledge of Risk and Finance orientation, doing Risk Analytics would not be possible. In addition to this Great Lakes excellent credentials, faculty profile, collaboration with various companies and the curriculum were my few reasons to choose Great Lakes Business Analytics Program.

My Journey at Great Learning

An indelible part of my journey in this program has been the Industry exposure that helped me bridge the gap between the theory and practice. There is a saying that In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is. Industry exposure during the program allowed me to get end to end knowledge right from data extraction to storytelling. I learnt about the latest industry trends, as to why a particular technique is used for a situation, challenges faced, case studies, model development and validation etc.

My Advice to Aspiring Candidates

Today, when I am working in analytics and have had the good fortune of making a transition, if there is some advice that Id love to share with all the aspiring data analysts, then it would be to Be Curious always and not to underestimate the need for understanding the Business. Understanding a domain is just half the battle won. Simultaneously, it is also important that one has a strong grasp of statistical concepts and understands end to end process of Analytics right from Data extraction to Story Telling.