Description of Program

Data Analytics and predictive analysis play an important role in facilitating strategic decision-making, enhancing organizational performance and efficiency, and designing new products by understanding customers’ needs and improving relationships. Due to data-driven decision-making, the demand for data experts has seen a surge across different sectors such as finance, human resources, IT, product development, government departments, and research among others harnessing the power of big data. Many leading companies rely on data-driven decision-making creating a large-scale trend and demand for data analysts. The scale and scope of analytical abilities involved in the process of analyzing data requires in-depth knowledge and training in programming languages and visualization tools making it one of the most sought-after skills set.

There is a noticeable gap between the job opportunities in big data and talent supply. The Skills for Change Data Analytics program funded by TD Bank is an attempt to address this gap. This program is open to professionals looking to hone their data analytical skills and use data insights to help advance in their careers.

The program, led by expert practitioners, is designed as a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical experience to build data analytics concepts and foundation, analytical tools and methods to interpret data, and solve problems using data insights and patterns.

Participants will also have access to the mentoring programs at Skills for Change where they will be matched with sector experts to guide them towards career development. At the close of the program, Skills for Change will organize networking sessions with TD to connect potential employers and participants.

Number of Workshops and Events

68 events and workshops that focused on Data Analytics including:

• Introduction to Business Data Analytics

• Statistics for Analytics

• Programming for Analytics

• Data Management, Manipulation, and Big Data

• Storytelling and Data Visualization

• Ethical Considerations in Data Analytics

Client Testimonials

Anonymous Participant : Of course, it went beyond my expectations. I assumed that it was just an introduction program. In the term of the fact that the program is intensive, lots of update technology involved, and relevant to the real practical data world. I am amazed at the instructors’ teaching skills. The speeches by guests give me the different points of view re current job marketing.

Anonymous Participant : I had never done Statistics, Python, R or Tableau before starting the SFC Data Analytics Bridging program. I found the instructors to be knowledgeable and inspiring, exuding a passion and love for the field! After an intense 8 weeks, I am confidently performing data cleaning and analysis in Python and R and visualization in Tableau. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pursue my own passion for data analytics.

Key Successes/Outcomes

The need for bridging programs wildly exceeded our expected impact, with an initial waitlist of 400 potential participants to the program. To accommodate the high need, we exceeded our intended impact of 40 participants to 71 over 2 cohorts. We were able to leverage the virtual platform to add an extra cohort into the next fiscal year, resulting in a further 33 participants to this highly sough after program.

Funder for the Program