How a recent college graduate began his data career

Karrim Omer loves his new career. As an associate analyst at Infosys, he enjoys collaborating with his teammates — using data-driven insights to solve complex problems for the company.

But the road to a career in data analytics wasn’t always easy. In fact, when Karrim graduated with a bachelor’s degree in management information systems in December 2020, he wasn’t sure what might come next. During his job search, he started to explore the data analytics career path and enrolled in the Google Data Analytics Certificate. With his new skills came newfound confidence, and within a month of earning his certificate, he landed his job with Infosys — one of the more than 150 companies in our employer consortium who are ready to hire certificate graduates.

It’s been an exciting year for Karrim, and his career is just getting started. We caught up with him about his new career and his 2022 new year’s resolution:

What was your proudest professional moment in 2021?

I would definitely say getting the job at Infosys. Once I got that offer, it felt like all the hard work I put in wasn’t for nothing. It felt like a big accomplishment.

At the beginning of 2021, I didn’t see myself getting a job as a data analyst within the year. I thought it would be hard to do. When I graduated from college, I thought having my degree would be enough, but after weeks of putting in applications and looking through requirements, I noticed that I didn’t have enough of the necessary skills.

Taking the Google Data Analytics Certificate course showed me all the skills I needed in order to get an entry-level position and helped me add things to my resume. I was learning every day, starting to build more confidence and feeling more and more like I was ready for the challenge of getting a job. And for me to actually get the job made me feel like I can do anything I set out to do.

How has your new career changed things for you personally?

It’s boosted my confidence. I was unemployed early in the year and I started questioning if I was working hard enough. It was such a weight lifted off my shoulders when I received an offer from Infosys.

I remember I was like, OK, finally I’m going to have money to pay for things I need to pay for. And then I started thinking about the future. This is a stepping stone for my career and I can grow with this. I’m thinking about all the endless possibilities — from networking to seeing what positions I can move up to. I went from not knowing if I was going to get a job to then getting the job, and I was like, OK, I know what I’m doing, I’m on the right path. Now I just have to keep going.

Do you have a professional New Year’s resolution going into 2022? Anything you’re looking forward to, or hoping to achieve in 2022?

In 2022, I’m looking to get more into product analysis and trends. Using data to see cities where a product’s most popular, how much time people are spending with the product and trying to find more ways to get people involved — I feel like that’s the kind of information you can use to help a product grow. It’s fulfilling for me to see that.

What would you say to anyone considering a Google Career Certificate?

Keep going and keep trying. I know what it feels like to think it’s not working out. At the beginning of the course you’re on a high. But then — I think it was the third course — that’s when it dives deep into more technical concepts. That’s when you have to think, how badly do you want it?

You have to keep in mind what you’re working towards — just finish this course and see what happens. That helped me get through it. I tried to put in an hour or two every day, and if I couldn’t wrap my brain around something, I could just take a break and come back fresh a couple hours later. That definitely helped during times when it got a little bit rough. A Google Career Certificate can take you from zero to 100, so as long as you put the work in, you will go as far as you can go.