Edmonds College to offer certification in data analytics starting in October

Edmonds College launched an affordable data analytics certification program that will start in October. No programming experience is necessary, and students can complete the program in as little as nine months.

Students can complete the data analytics program at Edmonds College in as little as nine months. (Photo Credit: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures)

“Edmonds College continues to introduce innovative programs designed to meet employers’ needs for more skilled workers,” said Dr. Carey Schroyer, dean of STEM at Edmonds College. “Short-term, skill-building programs like data analytics are critical to addressing current labor shortages.” 

Students will learn the key components of data analysis, including data collection and processing, hypothesis development and statistical analysis, data modeling, and synthesis. Prerequisites for the program include working knowledge of basic word processing and spreadsheet programs, completion of a college-level pre-calculus or statistical class or instructor permission, and an associate degree in STEM or business field or equivalent work experience. 

The program is designed to accommodate busy lives. Classes are held online, hybrid, and in the evenings, and can be completed quickly, even by part-time students. The program is also affordable, as Washington residents can earn a certificate for under $2,300. Similar online programs cost as much as $15,950.

Students will learn how to:

• Extract data from a database and use it to answer questions typical of data analysis exploration. 
• Apply advanced features of a spreadsheet program to create charts and pivot tables, conduct data matching, perform deduplication, and find operations. 
• Write code in a programming language commonly used by data analysts (such as R or Python) to read and process data. 
• Identify business domains to which data analytics can be applied and translate business questions into data questions.
• Employ basic statistical techniques for data analysis, including evaluating data with summary statistics, explaining patterns in data using statistical concepts, and principles of A/B testing. 
• Apply the fundamentals of machine learning.

Learn more about the data analytics program and how to enroll.