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Day 84 – BI Career Development and Capstone

This lesson closes Phase 5 by converting the roadmap insights into a polished career narrative. Pair it with Day 83 – BI Cloud and Modern Data Stack and the planning prompts in this lesson.

Why it matters

A strong capstone bridges your project experience with employer expectations. Using the roadmap ensures that the assets you build speak the language of BI hiring managers and stakeholders.

Capstone workflow

  1. Frame the business objective – state the business question, success metrics, and stakeholder audience that will anchor your presentation.
  2. Design the solution storyline – outline the analytics flow, highlight how each roadmap title becomes a tangible artifact, and document the collaboration or research you will showcase.
  3. Deliver and rehearse – package the assets, rehearse the pitch, and prepare follow-up material such as interview responses or stakeholder FAQs.

Career assets checklist

Use these roadmap-aligned prompts to plan the artifacts that demonstrate your value.

  • [ ] Building Your Portfolio – curate 2–3 projects that reflect the BI stack you want to be hired for and verify the links work end to end.
  • [ ] Portfolio presentation – craft a live walkthrough or video demo that emphasizes the business outcomes, not just the dashboards.
  • [ ] Open-Source Projects – contribute a small feature or documentation update to a BI tool and capture screenshots or pull requests.
  • [ ] BI Competitions – summarize results, lessons learned, and ranking; link to notebooks or dashboards.
  • [ ] BI Communities – list the meetups, Slack groups, or forums where you discuss trends and what you have learned.
  • [ ] Conferences & Webinars – log the events you attend, the insights gained, and how they influence your projects.
  • [ ] Networking – schedule outreach conversations with analysts or hiring managers and document the advice you receive.
  • [ ] Professional Development – document the courses, workshops, or mentoring sessions that sharpened your BI skills.
  • [ ] Certifications – track progress toward credentials, exam dates, and renewal plans.

Job readiness checklist

Focus your interview preparation with these roadmap tasks.

  • [ ] Resume optimization – align bullets with BI metrics, tools, and quantified outcomes.
  • [ ] Interview preparation – rehearse portfolio walkthroughs, stakeholder stories, and challenge questions that link to the capstone.
  • [ ] Salary negotiation strategies – research compensation benchmarks, benefits, and cost-of-living adjustments.
  • [ ] Job Preparation – outline your 30/60/90-day plan, onboarding priorities, and key relationships to build once you land the role.

Next steps

  • Run python Day_84_BI_Career_Development_and_Capstone/lesson.py to print the capstone phases and generate checklist templates.
  • Export the JSON checklist to your project management tool and update it as you complete each roadmap milestone.

Additional Topic: Strategic Roadmapping & Next Steps

This lesson is part of the Phase 5 Business Intelligence specialization. Use the Phase 5 overview to see how the developer-roadmap topics align across Days 68–84.

Why it matters

Synthesize the specialization into ongoing strategic roadmaps.

Developer-roadmap alignment

  • Professional Development
  • Key Business Functions
  • Types of BI Operations
  • Metrics and KPIs

Next steps

  • Draft case studies and notebooks that exercise these roadmap nodes.
  • Update the Phase 5 cheat sheet with the insights you capture here.

Previous: Day 83 – Day 83 – BI Cloud and Modern Data Stack β€’ Next: Day 85 – Day 85 – Advanced SQL and Performance Tuning

You are on lesson 84 of 108.

Additional Materials

lesson.py

View on GitHub

lesson.py
# %%
"""Day 84 – BI Career Development and Capstone classroom script."""

# %%
from __future__ import annotations

from textwrap import indent

from Day_84_BI_Career_Development_and_Capstone import (
    generate_checklists,
    serialize_checklists,
)

# %%
CAPSTONE_PHASES: list[tuple[str, str]] = [
    (
        "Phase 1 – Frame the business objective",
        (
            "Summarize the business question, BI success metrics, and stakeholders. "
            "Anchor your narrative in the developer-roadmap nodes you plan to demonstrate."
        ),
    ),
    (
        "Phase 2 – Design the solution storyline",
        (
            "Sketch a walkthrough that highlights your analytics workflow, decision checkpoints, "
            "and how you will showcase portfolio artifacts such as dashboards or notebooks."
        ),
    ),
    (
        "Phase 3 – Deliverables and rehearsal",
        (
            "Map roadmap titles to concrete deliverables, rehearse the presentation, and prepare "
            "supporting assets for interviews or stakeholder reviews."
        ),
    ),
]

# %%
CHECKLISTS = generate_checklists()


# %%
def outline_capstone(phases: list[tuple[str, str]] = CAPSTONE_PHASES) -> None:
    """Print the recommended capstone phases and guidance."""

    print("\nDay 84 capstone planning guide\n")
    for phase, description in phases:
        print(f"{phase}\n{indent(description, '  ')}\n")


# %%
def display_checklists(checklists=CHECKLISTS) -> None:
    """Print actionable checklists for learners."""

    print("Roadmap-aligned checklists\n")
    for group, items in checklists.items():
        print(f"## {group}")
        for item in items:
            print(f"- [ ] {item.title}")
        print()


# %%
def main() -> None:
    """Guide the learner through the Day 84 facilitation."""

    outline_capstone()
    display_checklists()
    print("Serialized checklist template (copy into your notes tool):\n")
    print(serialize_checklists(CHECKLISTS))


# %%
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()
solutions.py

View on GitHub

solutions.py
"""Utilities for Day 84 – BI Career Development and Capstone."""

from __future__ import annotations

import json
from dataclasses import dataclass
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Iterable, Mapping, MutableMapping

from mypackage.bi_curriculum import BiTopic, group_topics_by_titles

CAREER_ASSET_TITLES: list[str] = [
    "Building Your Portfolio",
    "Portfolio presentation",
    "Open-Source Projects",
    "BI Competitions",
    "BI Communities",
    "Conferences & Webinars",
    "Networking",
    "Professional Development",
    "Certifications",
]

JOB_READINESS_TITLES: list[str] = [
    "Resume optimization",
    "Interview preparation",
    "Salary negotiation strategies",
    "Job Preparation",
]

ROADMAP_GROUPS: Mapping[str, list[str]] = {
    "Career assets": CAREER_ASSET_TITLES,
    "Job readiness": JOB_READINESS_TITLES,
}


@dataclass(slots=True)
class ChecklistItem:
    """A simple representation of a learner checklist item."""

    title: str
    status: str = "Not started"
    notes: str = ""

    def to_dict(self) -> dict[str, str]:
        """Return a serializable representation of the checklist item."""

        return {"title": self.title, "status": self.status, "notes": self.notes}


def load_career_topics(
    *, groups: Mapping[str, Iterable[str]] = ROADMAP_GROUPS
) -> dict[str, list[BiTopic]]:
    """Return the roadmap topics grouped for the capstone."""

    return group_topics_by_titles(groups)


def _build_checklist(topics: Iterable[BiTopic]) -> list[ChecklistItem]:
    """Create checklist items from BI topics."""

    return [ChecklistItem(title=topic.title) for topic in topics]


def generate_checklists(
    *, groups: Mapping[str, Iterable[str]] = ROADMAP_GROUPS
) -> dict[str, list[ChecklistItem]]:
    """Return checklist templates for career assets and job readiness."""

    grouped_topics = load_career_topics(groups=groups)
    return {group: _build_checklist(topics) for group, topics in grouped_topics.items()}


def _checklists_to_serializable(
    checklists: Mapping[str, Iterable[ChecklistItem]],
) -> dict[str, list[dict[str, str]]]:
    """Convert checklist dataclasses into JSON serializable dictionaries."""

    payload: MutableMapping[str, list[dict[str, str]]] = {}
    for group, items in checklists.items():
        payload[group] = [item.to_dict() for item in items]
    return dict(payload)


def serialize_checklists(
    checklists: Mapping[str, Iterable[ChecklistItem]] | None = None,
    *,
    groups: Mapping[str, Iterable[str]] = ROADMAP_GROUPS,
    path: str | Path | None = None,
    indent: int = 2,
) -> str:
    """Return JSON for the grouped checklists and optionally persist it."""

    resolved = (
        checklists if checklists is not None else generate_checklists(groups=groups)
    )
    serializable = _checklists_to_serializable(resolved)
    json_text = json.dumps(serializable, indent=indent)
    if path is not None:
        destination = Path(path)
        destination.write_text(json_text, encoding="utf-8")
    return json_text


__all__ = [
    "CAREER_ASSET_TITLES",
    "JOB_READINESS_TITLES",
    "ChecklistItem",
    "generate_checklists",
    "load_career_topics",
    "serialize_checklists",
]