Data Analytics Career Training in Reading
Turn Spreadsheet Skills into Data Career Opportunities
Our comprehensive 12-week Data Analytics course transforms people with existing spreadsheet skills into job-ready data analysts. Through hands-on, practical training, you'll build the technical capabilities and business understanding that employers in Reading and Berkshire actively seek.
The data skills gap continues to grow across all industries, creating exceptional opportunities for those who can effectively organise, analyse, and communicate insights from data. Our course focuses on the practical application of these skills in real business contexts, ensuring you graduate ready to add immediate value to employers.
The course runs twice weekly at our central Reading location, combining expert instruction with collaborative learning and real-world projects. This in-person format creates accountability, allows for personalised feedback, and builds a professional network that continues beyond graduation.
This career-transforming opportunity is fully funded for individuals and self-employed people, with no course fees to pay. For businesses sending employees, government co-funding means you typically pay just 10-30% of the course fee depending on company size.
Is This Course Right for You?
Success in this course requires comfortable spreadsheet skills as a foundation. This is not an introduction to spreadsheets – we'll be building on existing knowledge to develop professional data analytics capabilities.
You should already be comfortable with:
Creating and modifying formulas, including functions like VLOOKUP, IF statements, and text manipulation
Working confidently with multiple worksheets and relatively large datasets
Creating basic charts and visualisations to represent data
Using PivotTables to summarise and explore data relationships
Basic data cleaning and formatting techniques
These foundational skills allow us to focus on advancing your capabilities rather than covering basics. If you're unsure about your readiness, we offer a skills assessment to help determine if the course is right for you at this stage.
Our most successful students come from diverse backgrounds – administration, finance, marketing, operations, customer service, and many others – but share a common interest in working with data and a commitment to the twice-weekly schedule over 12 weeks.
What You'll Learn
Our curriculum is designed with input from employers to ensure you develop the practical skills needed in today's job market. The course progresses logically through increasingly sophisticated data skills:
Data Foundations We begin by establishing professional approaches to data handling, building on your existing spreadsheet skills to develop more rigorous and efficient techniques. You'll learn proper data organization principles, advanced cleaning methods, and the foundations of database concepts.
Analysis Techniques Moving beyond basic calculations, you'll develop the analytical mindset and statistical understanding to extract meaningful insights from data. This includes exploratory data analysis approaches, identifying trends and patterns, and applying appropriate analytical techniques to different business questions.
Data Visualisation & Communication Even the best analysis is worthless if it can't be understood by decision-makers. You'll master the principles of effective data visualization, learn to create impactful dashboards, and develop the ability to communicate insights in compelling, business-relevant ways.
SQL & Database Skills Many organization's most valuable data resides in databases. You'll learn to write SQL queries to extract exactly the data you need, join information from multiple sources, and work confidently with database structures – one of the most in-demand technical skills in the job market.
Introduction to Business Intelligence Tools You'll gain a basic introduction to modern BI tools like Power BI & Tableau to understand how they can be used for creating simple visualisations and reports. This provides a foundation for understanding how these tools fit into the data ecosystem, though comprehensive mastery of these tools extends beyond the scope of this course.
Career Preparation & Real-World Application Throughout the course, you'll work on realistic projects that build your portfolio. In the final module, we focus specifically on showcasing these skills, preparing for interviews, and developing your professional presence in the data space
Time Commitment
12 weeks part time in person
Three hours in-person learning at The Curious Lounge in Reading twice a week.
Additional self paced learning (compulsory) with 50 hours access a month to The Curious Lounge whilst studying
You must be able to commit to the full 72 hours learning.
Where This Course Can Take You?
The demand for data skills spans virtually every industry in the Reading and Berkshire area. Graduates of our Data Analytics course have moved into roles including:
Data Analyst
Business Intelligence Analyst
Reporting Analyst
Marketing Analyst
Operations Analyst
Finance Analyst
Sales Analyst
Customer Insight Analyst
Course Fees & Funding Options
Our Data Analytics course is fully funded for individuals and self-employed people, meaning there are no course fees to pay if you're taking the course for your own professional development.
For businesses sending employees for training, government initiatives supporting digital skills development mean you'll typically pay just 10-30% of the course fee depending on company size.
Eligibility Criteria:
UK/EU residency status
Age 19+ at the start of the course
Not currently enrolled in another government-funded course
Additional criteria apply – we'll guide you through the full eligibility check
The application process for funding is straightforward, and our team will support you through each step. We recommend applying early as places are limited and courses fill quickly.
Ready to Transform Your Career?
Take the first step toward a data analytics career with practical, hands-on training in Reading that's fully funded for individuals and self-employed people.
Our application process involves two initial stages before we progress to interviews:
Initial Application: Complete our straightforward application form to provide your basic information and background.
Skills Assessment & Eligibility Check: We'll review your CV and the information you provide about your experience and interest in the course to assess your readiness and verify your eligibility for funding.
Once these stages are complete, we'll invite qualified candidates to an interview where we can discuss how the course aligns with your career goals and answer any questions you may have about the training.