Kushal Patel believes studying in the Data Analytics for Business program at St. Clair College gave him the skillset to climb the ladder of success from being a parking lot attendant to a data engineer at The Home Depot.
Patel grew up in Indore, the most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh with 2 million people. In September of 2019, Patel decided to leave India and travel across the world to Canada to enroll in the Data Analytics Program at St. Clair College in Windsor.
When Patel moved to Windsor, he quickly started looking for a job in the area but said he found it very difficult at first. After nine months Patel found employment at a nearby Home Depot store and began to thrive in his role as a parking lot associate, learning everything he could about the do-it-yourself home renovation business while learning the Data Analytics skillset he sought to gain in class at St. Clair.
Once the 27-year-old Patel graduated from the College, a full-time position as a Data Engineer at Home Depot Canada was quickly offered to him, and he accepted. Patel believes the wide skillset he gained at St. Clair gave him an advantage over a lot of other candidates and earned him the job.
"There is no specialist program for Data Analytics like this in the country," Patel said. "If anyone doesn’t know anything about data analytics, they can learn a lot in a short amount of time. In this program we learn about marketing, supply chain, finance, business, healthcare and all other specific types of analytics available across the industry with data."
Patel had experience working as a business analyst in India prior to moving to Canada, but chose to leave his job, family and friends to enroll at St. Clair in his pursuit to become an expert in data analytics.
"I had to leave everything back home in India and come here because I wanted to learn the skills that they weren’t teaching anywhere else but here in this program at St. Clair," Patel said. "You can go and pursue a Masters degree but you won’t have the kind of domain knowledge you learn in this program."
Ali El-Sharif is one of Patel’s Data Analytics professors in the Zekelman School of Business & IT at St. Clair College and believes Kushal is a great role model for any student, not just international students.
"Kushal transitioned from a parking lot associate to a Data Engineer working with a high-caliber team in a short time span, El-Sharif said. He did so by staying focused on his goals, excelling in his classes, seeking out mentors and engaging with his professional community by volunteering for conferences. I fully expect him to excel in his new role as a Data Engineer for Home Depot."
In today's business world, data analysis plays a role in making decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively. Graduates of the Data Analytics program at St. Clair College have the potential for a career in the public or private sector as a data analyst, business analyst, quantitative analyst, digital marketing, project manager, operations analyst, transportation logistics or systems analyst.
Anyone interested in the two-year Data Analytics for Business program at St. Clair College can find more information here: Data Analytics for Business | St. Clair College (stclaircollege.ca)
- Brett Hedges