Amazing response to The Analysis Exchange
UPDATE: The compliments and willingness to help just keep coming in. Members of the Web Analytics Association Board of Directors, entire staffs from consulting groups around the globe, and too many individual students and practitioners to possibly mention. Thanks so much everyone!
Wow. Wow. Wow. I am at a total loss for words when it comes to the response from the web analytics community regarding our soft-launch for The Analysis Exchange on Tuesday. We’ve had over 250 people, largely from within the measurement community, sign up to participate and have seen the nicest emails imaginable. Clearly this is an idea that’s time has come, and clearly the lack of training opportunities in the sector was a “raw nerve” for many people.
But don’t take my word for it. The following are excerpts from emails we received over the past few days. These speak for themselves and only serve to reiterate the need for the Exchange. The first email is from Bryce in Georgia:
“I really want to do web analytics as a profession but am having a hard time breaking into the field. There’s not exactly anywhere to ‘get a degree’ doing this kind of thing and even with my business and accounting background, and decade of web development freelancing, my experience does not seem to be impressing any potential employers.
It would be awesome to get some real experience under the guide of professionals. I’ve been reading Avinash’s books, following several analytics blogs and I’ve set up numerous GA sites with funnels, goals, and KPI’s that are being tracked. The fact that we’ll be helping out non-profits and outreaches at the same time is super.Please pick me, :)”
“I was reading Eric Peterson’s blog entry about the Analysis Exchange and I would like to be a mentor and help contribute to the success of a company by empowering them with the awesomeness of web analytics.”
“I am very grateful for a “student” opportunity you might generate for and with me as you defined in your clear video today. Through WAW, your email kindnesses, and more, you have taught me “what I don’t know,” and what I do offer is a proven data smog to actionable wealth of knowledge capital “philosophy,” and an “attitude of gratitude of How May I Help You?” These are far more than just nice words to me.”
“This a great initiative!! Being an active student of web analytics, I encountered the same catch 22 when attempting to break into this industry. I have signed up and look forward to participating!!”
“Just been through the site after receiving the email and seeing the twitter alerts and I wanted to firstly pass on my congrats for initiating such a cool idea, it’s long overdue and will be greatly needed if we are to push the industry forward, as I responded a while back on twitter – resource (and quality resource in particular) remains the biggest weakness in the industry, so anything that helps improve that is only good in my eyes.I have no idea how you intend to select mentors, but as a leading practitioner in the UK for over 10 years on both the client and vendor side if I can help in this capacity I’d be delighted to put my name forward, I promise not to be offended if you decide not to use me initially!The application of web analytics, either in analysis or how to make it an integral part of a business is something I have done much work on over the last 2-3 years, so I’d like to think I have a lot to offer anyone new to the industry that’s trying to work out how to start pushing things forward
Anyone, good luck with exchange and hope I can help in any way.”
Finally, and this is the email that put a grin on my face for the entire day Tuesday, from Zach:
“I think this program sounds wonderful and wanted to be as early as possible in dedicating myself to this program. I am a student of analytics – I have taken courses at the University of British Columbia in Web Anlaytics, I’ve studied and will be taking the exam for Google Analytics certification soon, and I belong to the Web Analytics Association. Unfortunately, I have little “real” world application using web analytics tools and making sound recommendations using these tools.
I do have a career of experience as an advertising consultant so I am not a “traditional” student. I hope I can apply some of the experience I have and use it to develop myself and a new career in web analytics.
I am excited to be involved in this great opportunity – I feel like it was created just for me.”
Furthermore Zach reminded me that he is one of the thousands of people I have been fortunate enough to offer some small amount of advice to over my years:
“I took your advice you offered me some time ago to take the UBC classes and it was good advice, but they really lack real world application – especially for hands on learners like me. I’ve actually approached some Non-Profit organizations and boards that are willing to let me “practice” and If I could gain the experience of a mentor to work with that would be great. I know you will be sending out additional information in the coming year (right around the corner) but I am anxious to get started!”
Zach’s point is an excellent one — I have long been telling people who ask me “how do I get real-world experience” for years to reach out to their church, their kids school, their local animal hospital, or local charities. While this is good advice (sorry) it is also somewhat unpractical I suspect and falls into the category of things that are easy for me to say and hard for people to actually do.
The Analysis Exchange solves that problem. We will bring the mentors, we will bring the businesses, and we will provide the system. Our sincere hope is that by lowering the barriers as much as humanly possible we will be able to create the maximum number of opportunities for everyone — mentors, students, and causes.
The email keeps coming in so I will leave you with two thoughts:
- We’d love your help spreading the word about The Analysis Exchange! If you have a blog, a Twitter account, or just a bunch of like-minded friends in Facebook, please share the news about this effort by asking people to retweet this URL: http://bit.ly/analysis-exchange
- We’d love to hear from you! If you’re excited about the effort and want to pitch in or just share your thoughts please feel free to email us at exchange@analyticsdemystified.com or leave your comments below
Thanks again to everyone who has signed up and reached out so far. Just like Web Analytics Wednesday and the Web Analytics Forum, if we all work together amazing things can happen.
