Interview preparation becomes overwhelming when every day is random. This 30-day plan creates a repeatable rhythm. Adjust the hours to your schedule, but keep the sequence and review loop.
Week 1: Build the technical baseline
Practise SQL every day using one business dataset. Cover filtering, joins, grouping, CASE expressions, common table expressions, and window functions. Explain each solution aloud.
Review spreadsheet formulas, pivot tables, data cleaning, and common analytics measures. Choose one dashboard and prepare to explain its model, measures, design decisions, and limitations.
At the end of the week, take one timed SQL exercise and document every mistake.
Week 2: Practise business cases
Work through questions such as:
- Revenue fell in one region. How would you investigate?
- Customer cancellations increased. Which data would you request?
- A dashboard shows conflicting totals. How would you debug it?
- A campaign has more clicks but fewer purchases. What might be happening?
Structure your response: clarify the objective, define the metric, segment the problem, check data quality, test explanations, and recommend the next action.
Week 3: Build your story bank
Prepare six stories from work, education, or projects:
- A difficult problem.
- A mistake and correction.
- A disagreement or stakeholder challenge.
- A time you learned quickly.
- A project you owned.
- A result you are proud of.
Use a simple situation-action-result structure, but speak naturally. Never invent numbers. If the outcome was learning or a better process, say that clearly.
Prepare a 60-second story for each portfolio project: question, data, approach, insight, action, limitation.
Week 4: Simulate the real interview
Complete at least three mock interviews with different focus areas: technical, case, and behavioural. Record yourself if possible. Review clarity, pace, filler words, and whether your answers reached a point.
Research each company and role. Understand the product, customer, likely metrics, and how the analytics team may contribute. Prepare thoughtful questions.
Use a daily 90-minute block
- 30 minutes technical practice.
- 20 minutes case thinking.
- 20 minutes project or behavioural storytelling.
- 10 minutes company research.
- 10 minutes reviewing mistakes.
Confidence is not the absence of difficult questions. It is knowing how you will think when one arrives.
On day 30, create a one-page interview sheet with your project stories, key metrics, questions for the interviewer, and reminders from mock feedback. Preparation should reduce noise so you can be present in the conversation.