Choosing the right education benefits program 

After earning his degree from the University of Kentucky and launching his career as a financial associate at a large financial services firm, Gavaskar Thavarajah sought further professional growth. To supplement his full-time role, he started a part-time job at Amazon’s Northern Kentucky AR hub, which opened the doors to further educational opportunities.

Both his employers offered educational benefits, but Gavaskar was drawn to Amazon’s Career Choice program. “Amazon’s program suited my needs perfectly at the time. It fully covered the cost of the Tableau Data Analytics Certificate program, sparing me from any immediate financial obligations, unlike the tuition reimbursement option from my other employer.”

Diving into Data Analytics with Pathstream

Gavaskas’s job has him diving deep into the intricacies of tax-exempt markets and pulling together data from client service interactions. He was looking for a program that could teach him new data skills to grow his career and improve his existing skillset. 

After exploring his options on Amazon’s A to Z portal, he chose the Pathstream program. “The Pathstream data courses struck me as highly practical, enabling me to employ my skills in simulated business situations. It was a good opportunity to improve my data analytics skills, even though the first course was very entry-level.” 

Pathstream: Cultivating a supportive environment for learning

Gavaskar found Pathstream to be incredibly supportive. His success coach, Anthony, regularly checked in with him, genuinely interested in his progress. 

“Anthony contacted me multiple times each week. The program even offered an ‘accountability buddy program,’ where reminders could be sent to a designated contact – in my case, my wife – to help keep me on track with coursework. This level of built-in support was truly unique.”

Despite already being a self-motivated learner, Gavaskar found the course instructors and the resources provided extremely helpful, mentioning the sessions that guided him through the projects and the regular office hours with his instructor, Mr. Rob, invaluable.

“Before we began, we were invited to an orientation where they thoroughly explained the program. During the first course, Pathstream provided sessions to review the projects. Additionally, I took advantage of the weekly office hours. I liked all the support and resources available.” 

Putting new skills into practice 

The certificate program enhanced Gavaskar’s proficiency in Excel and introduced him to new tools like Google Sheets and Tableau. He felt that his understanding of these tools would be instrumental in his pursuit of data analysis roles. 

But his learning didn’t stop at the end of the program; Gavaskar chose to extend his education by engaging with the optional mini SQL course Pathstream offered and by leveraging platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning to refine his SQL knowledge further.

Although his current role doesn’t require extensive use of Tableau, Gavaskar has found his improved Excel skills to be a major asset.

“I’ve applied my enhanced Excel skills to analyze our team’s performance metrics and create effective dashboards to analyze our customer handling time, team performance, and other details. My new skills elevated the way I present our performance data to managers.” 

Looking ahead, Gavaskar has big plans for his career. After receiving positive feedback from a recent interview within his organization for a data conversion analyst position, he feels better equipped for further data analytics advancement within his current company.

Advice for future Pathstream students

Drawing from his experience, Gavaskar recommends, “Take full advantage of all the resources provided by Pathstream, such as office hours, and stick to the suggested program schedule. Also, consider using additional resources like LinkedIn Learning to supplement your coursework.”

Gavaskar’s journey with Pathstream has empowered him with practical skills and set him on a promising path toward data analysis in the financial sector.