# Learning and Becoming By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-08-31 One can learn about analytics. One can learn how to use various analytic techniques. One can learn the jargon associated with analysis. One can learn all these things and not be an analyst. There is a difference between learning about something and becoming something. Being an analyst is more than simply understanding analytics or being employed as an analyst. One can be an analyst without formal training or employment. Being an analyst has to do with how one behaves in the world. If one questions perceived reality, collects data on the topic, subjects the data to various forms of interrogation, and interprets the results to form one’s thinking rather than interpreting the results consistent with one’s preferences, then one is an analyst. This is an inclination. This is how some people face uncertainty in their existence. Education and experience can improve one’s ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data, but education won’t make one an analyst. Becoming an analyst requires giving up certainties and admitting that one knows very little. One might have assumptions and theories, but until one collects and analyzes the data oneself, one doesn’t know. The first step to becoming an analyst is when one stops taking other people’s word for things and embarks on finding out for oneself. Learning is often helpful, but one can’t learn one’s way into becoming. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Learning]] [[Understanding]] [[Living]] [[Questions]] [[Being]]