Interested in landing an internship as a data analyst? We've got your back.
To uncover the best ways to break into the field, we spoke with a seasoned data analyst who has personally interviewed and worked with interns. His career spans various tech companies, including Instacart.
γπ Degree(s) & grades
γπ¨ Skills & qualities
γπ§ Knowledge
γπ Certifications
2. What companies you can apply for
γπ Resumes
γπ Cover letters
γπ΄οΈInterviews
4. How to secure a return offer
Note: If you need a refresher on what data analysts are or what they do, check out:
I personally don't pay attention to students' degrees or grades. I had a friend who was an art major and became a lawyer. I also know people who had bad grades and still became really successful.
If someone's an engineering major or computer science major, that might make a bit of a difference, but it doesn't matter as much other factors, like having industry knowledge, being passionate about being a data analyst, or having a coursera certificate.
That said, HR might screen for these things. And if you have a bad GPA, you should be prepared to address it up front in an interview. Of course, don't bring it up unnecessarily, but be prepared to defend it if asked about it.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
Here are the hard skills, soft skills, and qualities our data analyst recommends you have!
Companies look for experience in these common tools.
- Excel (Be very good with with this! Know functions like Vlookup and index match)
- Programming languages like SQL and Python (A basic understanding is enough. Even if you're just taking a course on Coursera and and haven't completed it, you can mention it.
- Pandas (This is a statistical package in Python that lets you analyze data. It's a plus if you're familiar with it.)
- Data visualization tools like Tableau (Ideally, have some experience with this. Sometimes you'll need to make charts for managers' presentations)
Companies use slightly different tools, so make sure to study the job requirements. If they say they need someone who's an expert in SQL, they mean that. There's going to be a technical part of the interview where they test you on it.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
Have:
- Communication skills - both spoken and written.
- Empathy - You'll get lots of requests from your colleagues, and sometimes they won't know how to phrase them properly. You'll need empathy to understand what they want and where they're coming from.
Honestly, being pleasant to work with goes a long way! Nobody likes working with a know-it-all or a snob. Being amicable.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
People who are inquisitive have the right mindset for the role. I try to assess if a person is curious or likes solving puzzles.
Also as a junior-level person, don't be shy about asking questions. When you're mid-level and above, you'll need to be independent and able to find your own answers, but as a junior person , you can never ask too many questions. When I work with junior people, I encourage them to ask me as many questions as they want. The whole point of an internship is to learn so you need to be proactive.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
In addition to the tools I mentioned earlier, it's good to have a basic understanding of data science and statistics. In terms of what counts as as a "basic understanding," make sure you can answer questions like:
- "What's our percentage growth rate year over year?" (percentage increase in users)
- "What's the average time a user was logged in?"
- "What's our top 1% of user earnings?" (percentiles)
So be familiar with very basic statistical things like averages, best fit lines, percentage growth calculations, and percentiles. It's a plus if you can do linear regressions in Excel or Python!
Ideally, also have some idea of the company and what data is out there that the company could use.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
These days, some people get a bachelors or masters degree in data science. Some colleges offer online data science programs.
But you can learn all of this online. I've taken a bunch of courses on Coursera and Datacamp, including one called "Introduction to Data Science" which goes over Python and R. I also took a bunch of SQL courses, which I found these super helpful. You can get certifications from these online courses, which will show that you know the material and have the motivation to learn on your own.
In fact, if there's anything I would redo about my career, I would have done more self-learning early on. For example, if I had learned SQL and Excel earlier, it would have made my life a lot easier.
Plus, entry-level jobs are so competitive these days. You could learn how to code online in a couple months. So take advantage of the resources that you have to give yourself a leg up.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
What companies tend to hire entry-level data analysts? The answer is, basically any company in any industry!
Our data analyst recommends going for tech companies and start-ups.
Tech companies and start-ups offer lots of great learning opportunities. You'll have the opportunity to do more and you'll learn things faster.
Sometimes, at a lot of bigger companies, their processes are already in place, so you're just pushing buttons and tweaking things. But at a start-up, you're building dashboards and forecasts from scratch.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
You can find plenty of data internships on Prosple. We have a vast selection of internships curated for students like you.
Many companies go on campus to scout out tech and data analyst interns. Check out A student's guide to a great career fair for our best tips on leaving a good impression.
For junior people and interns, I mainly look for things that they do outside of school. At an internship level, you're not going to be doing that much "work work," so it's more about whether the person is a good fit for the company.
Here are the main things I check when reviewing resumes.
- Clubs and activities in college or even high school: If you were president of a club or had some leadership position, that tells me that you can work with a variety of people. In data, you work with people across the business, so you need to be able to deal with a lot of personalities and people with different needs.
- Online coursework: Even having a Coursera course or certificate in "Intro to Data Science" or "Intro to Python" on your resume shows that you're taking initiative and developing yourself. It shows you're more motivated. Data work is a lot of googling things and learning on the fly, so it's a big plus if you can show that you're willing to do some self-learning.
- Hobbies & interests: For instance, I played a lot of chess and I think it's a great sign if you like puzzles, Sudoku, or other things that are intellectually stimulating. But you don't have to have "stereotypically nerdy" hobbies. I also work with people who do track and field, and I'd love to work with a data nerd who's also into, say, weightlifting. This tells me you're well-rounded and probably more pleasant to work with.
Ideally, you want someone who's a mix of introvert and extrovert. You want to have them be able to talk to other people, but you also want them to be able to lock down, be introspective, and solve problems. Being well-rounded shows that you probably have both of those sides to you.
Also, there's a social aspect to any job. You don't want to be socially awkward as that may make it difficult for you to understand people's needs. If someone has social anxiety, I'd advise them to work on that. Join some clubs and get used to talking to people.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
For our best tips on writing resumes, check out How to craft a winning resume as a college student.
I don't pay much attention to cover letters. Everyone kind of says the same thing β especially interns, since they don't have work experience. I prefer learning about you (1) through your resume and (2) in person.
What to do if a cover letter is optional? I think this depends on your resume. If you have a really strong resume, don't feel pressured to submit one.
That said, it probably doesn't hurt to submit one as a student. As a student, I always submitted a cover letter to be safe. At this stage in my career, I usually don't submit cover letters.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
For internships, there were usually 1-2 rounds of interviews. At one company, we had an intern come to meet with a bunch of us in 10-15 minute one-on-ones.
For entry-level roles, there were usually 2-3 rounds of interviews.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
Be prepared for a mix of technical and behavioral questions. Here's what to expect for the technical side of the interview.
Some companies will have a whole technical interview where you solve a problem while sharing your screen with the interviewer. It's a little nerve-wracking even if you're good at code. But it's OK if you don't arrive at the right answer they want to see your thought process and if you're thinking about things in the right way.
At companies that didn't have technical interviews, I'd still ask some technical questions. For example:
- What is your favorite excel function?
- Can you do a Vlookup?
- Have you used ranks and partitions?
- Are you familiar with subqueries?
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
Here's what you can expect in terms of non-technical questions.
- What do you do in your free time? (mainly to gauge how well-rounded they are)
- Have there been any situations in your life where you used data to arrive at some kind of solution to a problem? (This can be any time you used data to figure something out. It's not a serious question, it just gives you some insight into whether you're naturally data-oriented.)
- Give me a time when you've experienced conflict in a club or organization that you belonged to. (Or a conflict that occurred with a classmate during a project. When you work as a data analyst, you work with a lot of people and there's going to be conflict.)
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
Here are our best tips for answering the most common interview questions:
A great question to ask is "I've read that [company X] is working on this. Does that mean I'll be involved with [blank]?" Try to insert yourself into what kind of project you'll be working on or something that shows you're picturing yourself at the company and wondering about what you'll be doing.
For example, I was interviewing for a start-up that helps people navigate their student loans. I had no personal experience with student loans myself, so when I was interviewing, I did some research on student loan regulations. The question I asked was, "When you're doing forecasting for users for the next couple years, do you make adjustments to your forecasts to take changing regulations into account?" Questions like this show you've done your homework, you're genuinely interested in what the company does, and you're thinking about the company on a higher level.
β Former data analyst @ Instacart
For more tips, see Smart questions to ask at your next internship interview.
Assuming you like the company you're interning at, how do you go about securing a return offer?
I've worked with 7-8 interns up to now. The ones who came back as full-timers had a few things in common.
- Adding value whenever possible. We're not expecting you to making homeruns. But do try to make contributions whenever you can. If you can improve something by 1%, that's great! For example, we might give you some raw data in Excel and ask you to reformat it before we send it out to someone. Or we might ask you to pretty up a powerpoint or clean up a query. Whatever it is, give it your 100% and don't half-ass anything. This shows that you want to come back.
- Proactively seeking out work. The best interns don't wait for work to come to them. They proactively seek it out. For example, they'd come in in the morning and ask me what they could do for the day. And when they had downtime (as most interns do), they didn't just sit at their desk. They walked around, asking people if they needed help with anything. (For context, most people can do things themselves. They don't need an intern to do it for them. In fact, it usually takes more work to assign something to an intern, since you may need to get them up to speed. But when I see an intern proactively asking for work, I'm happy to assign them something.)
- Being likeable. Even if you're good at your job, if people don't like you, they're not just going to want you back. That's just the reality β especially for internships. Since we're going to invest in you as a person, you have to be a good fit.
- Asking questions. As a junior person, it's better to ask more questions than too few. If you ask too few, it seems like you don't care, so it's actually better to be annoying than to seem like you don't care. Though the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. (There was an intern who asked me an unusual amount of questions, but that's not something I held aginst them. I figured that they didn't know much about the job, so I went out of my way to sit down with them to go over stuff to pre-empt any questions. Internships at the end of the day are a learning opportunity.)
β Former data analyst @ Instacart