Career certificate
Program overview
Use spreadsheets, databases, visualization, and statistics to turn data into practical decisions.
Who this pathway serves
This certificate is intended for students who want to organize information, identify patterns, create dashboards, and communicate evidence for business or operational decisions.
Program focus areas
- Data preparation: Students learn to clean, organize, label, and check information before drawing conclusions from a dataset.
- Visualization and dashboards: Coursework emphasizes charts, dashboard layout, audience needs, and choosing the right visual for the question.
- Evidence-based communication: Students practice explaining findings, limitations, assumptions, and recommendations in plain language.
What students learn
- Clean and summarize datasets
- Create visual dashboards
- Communicate data findings
Courses in this pathway
| Course | Title | Units | Prerequisite | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUS 210 | Business Analytics and Decision Making | 3 | MATH 115 recommended | Uses spreadsheets, basic statistics, and case studies to support business planning and operations decisions. |
| CS 110 | Programming Fundamentals | 4 | MATH 115 recommended | Introduces logic, variables, control flow, functions, debugging, and project-based software development. |
| DATA 150 | Introduction to Data Analytics | 3 | CIS 105 or equivalent | Covers data cleaning, spreadsheets, visualization, descriptive statistics, and practical reporting. |
| DATA 220 | Dashboards and Data Storytelling | 3 | DATA 150 | Develops dashboard design, data narratives, stakeholder presentations, and applied analytics projects. |
| STAT 115 | Applied Statistics | 3 | MATH 115 or placement | Builds practical statistical reasoning, sampling, inference, correlation, and visualization. |
Program and schedule planning
Students benefit from completing computer applications and introductory statistics before advanced dashboard work. Projects require regular practice with datasets and presentation tools.
Applied work students may complete
Students may prepare a dashboard and short data story using a realistic operational dataset, then present what changed, what matters, and what decision the data supports.
Questions to discuss with advising
- Have you completed spreadsheet and statistics preparation?
- Are you more interested in business reporting, operations, or technology roles?
- Can you practice with datasets between class meetings?
Career and transfer direction
- Data assistant
- Operations analyst assistant
- Reporting coordinator
Support for program students
Students in Data Analytics should use advising before registration, tutoring or lab support when assignments become difficult, and library or technology help when projects require research, data, writing, or digital production.
Students should contact an instructor or advisor early if the pathway workload, schedule, language demands, field expectations, or prerequisite sequence becomes difficult to manage.