DATA WITH SARAH
You need a break.
Data analytics can be a lot.
Meetings. Fixing things. Weird numbers. Broken dashboards. Requests that somehow become three more requests.
So this week, I thought we could have a little fun with the trauma.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Would You Rather: Data Analyst Edition
Think of it as a tiny simulation of real life data work.
Two options. You have to pick one.
If you've already survived some of these, congratulations. Here's some more trauma.
ROUND 01
Pick your poison.
We're starting with two classics.
One has you reverse engineering someone else's logic line by line.
The other probably has one mysterious cell on Sheet27 keeping the entire company afloat.
ROUND 02
Hope you like awkward conversations.
Because eventually the data is going to tell you something nobody wanted it to.
With one, you have to explain what broke.
With the other, nothing technically broke. Now you get to explain why the answer still isn't quite what everyone thought it was.
Enjoy that meeting. 😅

Before I continue, just sharing a small ad. A simple click helps support my newsletter, so thank you! 😊

Stop typing what you could say in 10 seconds.

Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text inside any app. Emails, Slack, client updates — speak once, send without editing. 4x faster than typing.

Try Wispr Flow free

ROUND 03
Something looks weird.
You knew this day was coming.
At least one gives you an obvious suspect.
The other sends you into a deep dive through five-year old Slack threads and documentation that was never updated.
ROUND 04
Ah yes, a “small” dashboard request.
Surely nothing can go wrong here.
Both sound harmless.
Both could also end with you rebuilding half the dashboard by Friday.
“Quick” is doing a lot of work here.
ROUND 05
Interview time.
Your brain always finds this to be the perfect time to forget something important.
One makes you question whether you've ever written SQL before.
The other somehow makes you forget you've ever had a job.
FINAL ROUND
You've made it this far.
Naturally, we're ending on a Friday afternoon.
One threatens your weekend.
The other also threatens your weekend. No win here.
You survived. 🎉
Hopefully that was a little more fun than whatever is currently sitting in your backlog.
Now I want to know which one made you stare at your screen the longest before voting.
Hit reply and tell me which round hurt the most. 😂
Back to our regularly scheduled data chaos next week.

Talk soon,

Sarah

P.S. You can browse the full blog here:
https://datawithsarah.com/

And if you missed the free checklist, grab it here:

FREE Job Search Checklist
Affiliate disclosure: I may earn a commission if you purchase through links in this post, at no extra cost to you.

Start your own newsletter!

20% off the first 3 months with this link

Reply

Avatar

or to participate

Keep Reading

View more
caret-right
© 2026 Data With Sarah.
beehiivPowered by beehiiv