Roadmap for data analyst

Did You Know❓

Python's int type has no size limit (unlike many languages with fixed-size integers like 32-bit or 64-bit). It can handle arbitrarily large integers, constrained only by your system's memory. This is due to Python's internal use of a variable-length encoding for integers.

Excel vs SQL vs Python (pandas):

1️⃣ Filtering Data
↳ Excel: =FILTER(A2:D100, B2:B100>50) (Excel 365 users)
↳ SQL: SELECT * FROM table WHERE column > 50;
↳ Python: df_filtered = df[df['column'] > 50]

2️⃣ Sorting Data
↳ Excel: Data → Sort (or =SORT(A2:A100, 1, TRUE))
↳ SQL: SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY column ASC;
↳ Python: df_sorted = df.sort_values(by="column")

3️⃣ Counting Rows
↳ Excel: =COUNTA(A:A)
↳ SQL: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table;
↳ Python: row_count = len(df)

4️⃣ Removing Duplicates
↳ Excel: Data → Remove Duplicates
↳ SQL: SELECT DISTINCT * FROM table;
↳ Python: df_unique = df.drop_duplicates()

5️⃣ Joining Tables
↳ Excel: Power Query → Merge Queries (or VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP)
↳ SQL: SELECT * FROM table1 JOIN table2 ON table1.id = table2.id;
↳ Python: df_merged = pd.merge(df1, df2, on="id")

6️⃣ Ranking Data
↳ Excel: =RANK.EQ(A2, $A$2:$A$100)
↳ SQL: SELECT column, RANK() OVER (ORDER BY column DESC) AS rank FROM table;
↳ Python: df["rank"] = df["column"].rank(method="min", ascending=False)

7️⃣ Moving Average Calculation
↳ Excel: =AVERAGE(B2:B4) (manually for rolling window)
↳ SQL: SELECT date, AVG(value) OVER (ORDER BY date ROWS BETWEEN 2 PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS moving_avg FROM table;
↳ Python: df["moving_avg"] = df["value"].rolling(window=3).mean()

8️⃣ Running Total
↳ Excel: =SUM($B$2:B2) (drag down)
↳ SQL: SELECT date, SUM(value) OVER (ORDER BY date) AS running_total FROM table;
↳ Python: df["running_total"] = df["value"].cumsum()