The claim, tested
Yes, people from history, commerce, zoology and every other degree become analysts; several are on our alumni wall. The degree matters less than most ads claim and more than the worst ads admit: what employers actually screen is evidence you can take messy data and produce a decision someone trusts.
That evidence has a specific shape, and it is the difference between a real route and a marketing one.
What the portfolio must contain
Three artefacts, minimum. A cleaning project that starts from genuinely messy data and documents every decision. A SQL project that joins and aggregates across tables too large for a spreadsheet. And a Power BI dashboard with five to seven connected visuals plus a one-page insights note written for a non-technical reader, because the writing is what managers forward.
A portfolio of screenshots from tutorial datasets reads as a tutorial. Recruiters see hundreds of Titanic notebooks; they remember the candidate who analysed Kerala vehicle registrations or their family shop’s billing data.
The honest timeline
A focused fresher doing fifteen to twenty hours a week needs four to seven months from first SQL query to interview-ready, including the portfolio. Anyone promising six weeks is selling the certificate, not the career. Our 90-day median placement clock starts after the work is done, not instead of it.
Who struggles
People who dislike spreadsheets rarely grow to like databases. If an afternoon of untangling a broken report sounds miserable rather than satisfying, choose another track; SAP functional or digital marketing routes may fit better. A twenty-minute counselling call sorts this honestly before any money moves.
