What is Surfalytics?
Surfalytics = Surfing 🏄♂️ + Analytics 📊.
1. What is Surfalytics?
Inspired by West Coast surfing spots 🏖️ and Pacific Ocean vibes 🌊. Created to help you start a new career in the data analytics space, and develop data engineering and analytics skills through coaching. It will teach you not just dry skills, but will keep your focus on delivering significant value to businesses in the analytics realm as well as help to get fair compensation 💰 for the work you’re passionate about ❤️🔥.
TL;DR: Surfalytics is a community-focused learning platform designed to assist individuals in launching and advancing their careers in data analytics and data engineering.
It offers practical skill development, career transition support, and guidance for securing top job offers, with a particular emphasis on achieving significant business value and fair compensation.
The platform targets a wide audience, from newcomers to veteran engineers, and is led by a founder with over 14 years of industry experience. Surfalytics emphasizes the power of community and collective learning to achieve professional growth and financial success in the data sector.
Ok, enough emojis and nice phrases, let’s be real and highlight the killer focus I provide with Surfalytics:
It is community. My goal to unite people with same goals and keep narrow focus on Data Analytics and Data Engineering covering several key data roles. They should extremely clear like Plumber or Electrician. Within community we can keep focus, learn together, elevate each other and achieve outstanding results in job searching, interview passing, offer negotiation, promotion path or career transitions.
With my 14 years of experience from analyst to staff data engineer, I know 100% how to:
Entry to the data with no prior knowledge. I helped dozen people to do this. I didn’t care what background they had. Only requirement is able to read and understand Excel spreadsheet. In Average takes 3-5 months to learn and land the job. Be the actor in your own “job hunting” theatre;)
Transition from Analyst or BI to data engineering role
Focus on promotion from Middle to Senior and beyond
Save money and avoid different kinds of certifications and courses. Especially nano degrees and Data Science and other non-sense.
Increase 50%-100% of total compensation.
Avoid burnout with false career expectations.
Choose the premium car or plan for mortgage to celebrate the success. I know, it is not a data topic, but I did this many time, I am partly expert here.
I am seriously planning real Surfing bootcamp in Canada, US, Australia and Europe. Morning for surfing, afternoon for data and career grow. Next one is planning on August 2024 in Tofino, BC.
2. Surfalytics Goals
The goal of Surfalytics is to assist you in achieving one of the following:
Land your first job in the data industry with literally zero experience. I have accomplished this many times across the globe.
Advance from a middle-level role to a senior position (as an Analyst or Engineer).
Transition from a non-technical Analyst role to a technical Engineer role.
Moreover, we will focus on creating a highly competitive CV and securing top job offers. We will not consider any lowball offers, focusing only on top-tier companies and well-paid opportunities.
Finally, Surfalytics is a results-driven community with a very narrow focus, resulting in a high return on investment (ROI). Here, ‘investment’ does not mean money but your time. I am literally fighting for your attention to encourage you to study and work hard, instead of watching Netflix or playing video games.
3. What is the target audience?
The primary audience for our services includes a diverse range of individuals at different stages in their data industry careers:
Newcomers to the data field with no prior experience, who are aiming to secure a job quickly with a competitive salary. Regardless of background, we focus on their end goal and the effort they are willing to put in, striving to make the impossible possible.
Analysts and developers eager to enhance their skills and advance toward a data engineer role, as well as non-technical professionals with experience in tools like Microsoft Excel who want to secure a brighter future.
Veteran engineers who feel they’ve reached a professional ceiling, are experiencing burnout, and are uncertain about their next steps. Drawing from personal experience, I offer guidance on navigating this phase and achieving more.
Immigrants and professionals looking to relocate from Asia, Eastern Europe, or South America to North America, Australia, or Europe. These individuals often need quick familiarization with new technologies, tools, and resume standards to meet market expectations, and may seek advice on salary benchmarks and cost-of-living adjustments in their new locations.
Master’s and MBA students ready to enter the market but unsure where to start or what skills they are missing.
Our goal is to cater to each individual’s unique needs and challenges, providing tailored support and guidance to help them achieve their career aspirations in the data industry.
4. Surfalytics Community
I firmly believe that community is the most powerful method of learning.
I have always been involved in various user groups and meetups. During my time at Amazon, I managed one of the largest Tableau User Groups (ATUG), boasting over 2,500 active members. Simultaneously, I took over the BI team’s user group, which connected more than 150 analytics teams worldwide. This led to exceptionally effective knowledge sharing, problem resolution, and job searching within Amazon.
Upon joining Microsoft, I promptly initiated a new community there. Additionally, since 2018, I have been leading the largest data engineering community in Russia, with 18,000 active members.
I understand the power of community and advocate for this method of education and coaching.
At Surfalytics, I created a membership subscription that provides access to a Discord chat, monthly projects in Data Engineering and Business Intelligence, the opportunity to ask questions at any time, and continuous support throughout your journey, including career planning.
The primary goal of our community is to elevate each other on social media, assist in interview preparation, engage in mock interviews, tackle LeetCode tasks, review interviews, and share weekly progress.
Moreover, every Saturday we ran data analytics and data engineering projects, learning new tools, discussing the solution architectures and etc.
Some of the recent projects:
Snowflake, dbt core, Hex
Docker 101, CLI 101, GitHub 101
FinTech containerized analytics with Airflow, dbt, Jupyter,
Network configuration for Azure Databricks
TrinoDb
Open Source analytics with DuckDb, Meltano, dbt and Metabase
Looker end-to-end project
Getting Started with Microsoft Fabric
5. Surfalytics Analytics and Data Engineering course
Firstly, I’ve distilled my 14 years of experience, transitioning from an analyst to a staff data engineer, into a comprehensive course Getting Started with Analytics and Data Engineering. I will publish the course on YouTube and upload hands-on labs to GitHub.
The course, designed in a bootcamp format, is ready, and I have taught it in the past. It is constantly improving and updating based on industry evolutions. I decided to open source it to help people globally improve their skills and their lives. Currently, it is in progress of recording.
This will be divided into 12 modules:
What, Why, Who, How Analytics?
Databases and SQL.
Business Intelligence with Tableau, Power BI, and Looker.
ETL Developer with dbt (ELT), Pentaho DI (classic UI ETL), and dimensional modelling.
Cloud Computing fundamentals with AWS and Azure.
Cloud Data Warehouse with Redshift, Synapse, Snowflake, BigQuery, Clickhouse.
Apache Spark and Databricks.
Hadoop on top of EMR, HDInsights with Hive.
Data Lake and Lakehouse with Trino, Athena, Synapse Serverless, and Databricks (Delta Lake and Spark Serverless).
Streaming with Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Kinesis, Spark Structured Streaming, and Delta Streaming.
ML fundamentals for Data Engineers.
Best practices for Data Engineers with DevOps and SoftSkills.
Notes:
- Modules 1 - 3 are for roles of BI Engineer and Data Analyst. Module about Cloud Computing is helful for everyone.
- Modules 1 - 6 are for Analytics Engineers and Gentle Data Engineers (no coding needed)
- Modules 1 - 9 are for modern Data Engineer
- Modules 10 and 11 are advanced topics and for more experienced folks
- Module 12 is for all.
CopyWhy is it free?
I don’t want to reinvent the wheel by creating yet another study platform. Knowledge is already freely available from vendors, books, and learning platforms. My goal is to guide you and help you learn the fundamentals of analytics and data engineering. You will acquire the right skills to learn effectively. Soon, you will realize that you can master any new topic and apply it at work. This is my approach to decentralizing education.
6. What is Club 500?
What is club 500
By “500”, I’m referring to an annual gross compensation of 500,000 CAD in Canada or 500,000 USD in the United States when I mention ‘500.’ Such a target is admirable, particularly within the data sector. To achieve this level of income, one must possess the necessary skills, accumulate several years of experience, and have a definitive aim to enhance their life and circumstances.
It's clearly challenging to earn such an amount, but the key is not the amount itself; rather, it's the mindset and goal. Beyond our primary work, we can invest in stocks, real estate, and other assets.
Ultimately, it all boils down to one’s mindset. We should aim for significant achievements and take pride in our professional contributions. Our dedication is for our personal growth and the wellbeing of our families. As high achievers and dedicated professionals, we consistently deliver exceptional results.
Why 500?
Somehow, 500k has become the de facto benchmark for M(F)AANG companies, and every analyst, data scientist, and engineer dreams of this salary. Some of them achieved this easily, while others chose a different path.
What is the goal of the club 500?
I truly believe that to become the best version of ourselves, we should surround ourselves with smart, motivated, and ambitious individuals. The club provides an opportunity to connect with people who have reached significant milestones (and, indeed, paid a lot in taxes). More importantly, it offers a chance to engage with intelligent individuals on various topics:
How to achieve even more: is it possible to double or scale your income?
Leveraging income: where should one invest, be it in real estate, stocks, or cryptocurrency?
What legal avenues exist to maximize tax benefits or credits?
Car choices: should one opt for a Mercedes or a Porsche?
Which businesses to start and how to go about it?
Contemplating the F.I.R.E (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement?
And much more… Just name the topic.
To earn more, we must allow ourselves to desire more and be willing to spend more. Money dislikes stagnancy; it thrives in circulation.
Let’s collaborate and assist one another in becoming better versions of ourselves! The guiding principle is clear: we are committed to constant professional and financial growth.
7. About founder of Surfalytics?
I have been lucky enough to work for over 14 years in analytics. I started my data career in Moscow as a BI engineer working with traditional Oracle Data Warehouse, Informatica, and SAP Business Objects. Later I joined Teradata. It was a very rewarding experience. I instantly got access to a worldwide knowledge base of leaders in the data warehousing space.
Later, I realized that it would be boring to spend all my life in Moscow so moved to Montenegro and then immigrated to Canada where I joined Amazon where I spent 5 years. I’ve worked in several teams, including Alexa AI (in Boston) and Customer Behaviour Analytics (in Seattle). I participated in genuinely innovative projects where data is the driving force. I’ve witnessed Big Data and Machine Learning in action at the scale of the world’s largest company.
After Amazon, I worked for 3 years at Microsoft Xbox and Microsoft Azure Data&AI. I actively participated in the development and implementation of Microsoft products for analytics - Synapse, Fabric, and Azure Databricks. Now, I help create innovative analytical solutions, build data teams, and modernize outdated solutions. And of course, I teach those interested all over the world.
I have written several books on analytics:
Jumpstart Snowflake: A Step-by-Step Guide to Modern Cloud Analytics
Azure Data Factory Cookbook: Build and manage ETL and ELT pipelines with Microsoft Azure’s serverless data integration service (there new release is available)
Tableau 2019.x Cookbook: Over 115 recipes to build end-to-end analytical solutions using Tableau
Since 2021 I have been teaching a Cloud Computing Fundamentals course at the University of Victoria.
I will run next cohort in January 2024 with University of Victoria and you can enrol to close all gaps in Cloud Computing and understand both AWS and Azure. This is what modern job market requires. Since it official university course, you can expense it with your employer. I promise you lots of hands on!
I have extensive experience in developing data communities and speaking at conferences, meetups, and user groups. I was leading Snowflake, and Tableau user groups in Vancouver and presented myself across North America at local meetups or biggest data conferences. In 2017 I started a Canadian consulting company Rock Your Data with the goal to help companies adopt cloud analytics and migrate to the cloud. However, I realized that my primary passion is building and teaching.
In 2018 I started consulting company Rock Your Data in North America with a focus with focus on modern cloud analytics and data engineering.
8. How to Get Started
Define your goal. If you feel that a career as a successful data professional is for you, then you are in the right place.
Join community. You can find more information under the services
Optional: Don’t know where to start? Book a 1 hour consultation.