thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $99

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

thinQcompass

Tell us where you are standing and which way you want to go. We will lay out which certifications to take, in what order, and how long each one is likely to take you — including the ones we do not teach.

Plan my direction
Have a job in mind? Paste the details and we will read them

Paste the details of the position or offer — the requirements section is the part that matters. We will pull out the job title, the certifications it asks for, the experience and the pay, show you what we matched, and build the route from there.

Data Analyst

Turning messy data into answers people act on. SQL, dashboards, and the hard part - asking the right question first.

$120,230Median pay
12 moYour horizon
8 hrsPer week
5Steps in range

Pay is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics median for Data Scientists, May 2025 — the occupation this job is counted inside, which is usually broader than the job title itself. BLS does not publish data analysts separately. Data scientists is the nearest occupation and it skews higher, so treat this as a ceiling rather than a starting salary. Study times are our own estimates for someone working 8 hours a week, and they are ranges for a reason.

We do not teach Python for data work (self-study or college) and CompTIA DataSys+. They are on your plan because you need them, not because we sell them.
Most postings for Data Analyst name a bachelor's degree. Plenty of people hold this job without one, and certifications plus demonstrable experience are how they got there - but expect the résumé screen to be the hard part, not the interview.
Data Analyst is not usually a first job. The realistic route is a reporting, operations or business analyst role. This one is reachable from outside IT if you can already work with numbers. The plan below is still the right study order for getting there - it is the timeline to the title that is longer than the timeline to the certifications.

What are you aiming to earn?

$120,000
$62,000 $176,000

Data Analyst reaches this. Its median is $120,230.

Your sequence

In order. Each step assumes the one above it.
Scroll the steps — the marker follows  
$62,890 · Computer Support Specialists $120,230 · Data Scientists

Both ends are US Bureau of Labor Statistics medians, May 2025. Everything between them is a straight line we drew, not data: nobody publishes pay per certification, and real pay moves when you change job, not when you pass an exam.

  1. 1

    CompTIA Data+

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 1

    Analysis fundamentals without assuming you can already code.

    ~$74,358 modelled Associate We teach this See dates →
  2. 2

    Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900)

    2-4 weeks · from month 3

    Quick orientation to how data is stored and served in Azure.

    ~$85,826 modelled Foundational We teach this See dates →
  3. 3

    Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst (PL-300)

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 4

    The reporting tool most employers actually run. Very direct route to an analyst job.

    ~$97,294 modelled Associate We teach this See dates →
  4. 4

    Python for data work (self-study or college)

    2.8-4.6 months · from month 7

    Not a certification, but data and ML roles will test it. A community college course or a structured online track is the usual route.

    ~$108,762 modelled Associate We do not teach this
  5. 5

    CompTIA DataSys+

    1.8-2.8 months · from month 12

    Database administration, vendor-neutral.

    ~$120,230 modelled Associate We do not teach this

    On the model, this is the step that reaches your $120,000 goal.

Same interests, different destination

Change your answers

Nothing is saved and no account is needed. Your answers live in the page address.

What interests you?

Pick as many as apply. If you are not sure, pick the one you would read about on a Saturday.

Where you are now

Both of these change the plan. Experience especially — it decides what we skip and how fast we think you will move.

How much time you have

Be honest rather than optimistic. A plan built on hours you will not find is a plan you abandon in week five.

$62,000 $120,000 $176,000

Anything you already hold

Tick these and we will not sell you a course you do not need.

I already hold some certifications

Free, and it will tell you about certifications we do not sell. If the honest answer is that you need something we do not teach, the plan says so.