I've recently been entertaining the idea of learning some software programming languages like SQL, Python, etc. Nothing too crazy and not trying to go work for apple or a huge tech company.
I am just wondering if going back and maybe completing another bachelor's degree in Comp Sci or completing a programming course and learning that would be beneficial in the short term as well as the long term? I feel like it's one thing to be an excel jockey but it would be great to know how to use SQL for databases and being able to handle data dumps and turn it into meaningful information.
Or maybe I should just focus on trying to network and grow myself that way?
What’s your RE role like now?
Python is a hobby of mine and I use it whenever I can to automate tasks. Unfortunately I’ve found it to be more trouble than it’s worth at work, and not for want of trying. Couple of thoughts:
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python and Practical Business Python are two good resources that show you what scripting can and can’t help you with in a business environment.
Would love to hear what others have done outside of VBA/Excel macros.
My $0.02 on your other questions:
> I am just wondering if going back and maybe completing another bachelor’s degree in Comp Sci
No, so many online resources. Would be a waste of time and money.
> Or maybe I should just focus on trying to network and grow myself that way?
This no matter what else you do.
Great response. Would your advice be to master VBA instead? If so, any recommended resources?
Yes, but don’t worry about mastering it. I would say the most important thing is to think systematically and take inventory of the tasks you do regularly. Then figure out the 3-4 macros that will help with those. One step back from that is to ask, “Can I start with a template/previous file for this?”
Re: learning, I would Google any and every thought you have. There’s an amazing cottage industry around online Excel tutorials. You can even Google two terms you think would work + “excel” and probably end up with something useful. That’s how I ended up learning about functions as basic as =today() back in day.
One thing to avoid (speaking from experience) is the “solution searching for a problem.” I would learn how to create a seemingly useful script at home when tinkering around, then want to apply it at work. I’d even spend time reading through APIs just to automate one thing. Like the xkcd on Automation:
I'm sorta going this route currently. I'm in real estate and I can see data analytics playing a much larger role in certain areas in the future.
I'll chime in as a lot of what my team does is data migration/data cleansing in big data sets.
Most of what we use is :
vba
sql.
If you are working with big data sets sql is pretty helpful. I would say it is a decent first language to learn as it is pretty much typed like it is spoken.
VBA automates a lot of the smaller tasks that we have to do, and if you learn it well can save you a ton of time. Side note I read an online stat somewhere that said somewhere around 50% of jobs can be automated with excel. Not sure how true that is but still pretty interesting.
Re Learning programming: Learning a language or two is always going to be beneficial. In the real estate world I am unsure of how much it will be beneficial as everything in this industry seems to be pretty slow and hasn't really caught on to new technology yet.
One way you could benefit by knowing a programming language is by building a web scraper. Basically it searches websites that you tell it to, and returns a list of things within your parameter.
For instance you could build a web scraper that searches loop net, and returns properties with the following parameters:
Asset Class: Multi-family
units: 2m
etc. Just a quick example.
Also.... just a small anecdote. I got a minor in computer science during my undergrad days. I fell in to the trap of reading online that programming was easy and that all I needed was a few languages with my degree and I was on my way to six figure salaries. YMMV but I really didn't enjoy programming at all. It was the greatest feeling in the world when your code works, but spending three hours trying to figure out why your program won't compile just because of a misplaced semi colon was the most frustrating thing ever. Also a lot of the comp sci starting salaries are a little inflated. For every new grad that gets out making 100k there is another grad that is taking a coding position that barely pays 50k. Just some things to keep in mind.
If you decide you want to learn let us know. No need to go back to school, there are plenty of online resources that are great. If you look on the web there are numerous stories of people learning online and going to work for google, apple etc.
There is another thread asking about the usefulness of GIS. Is scraping data from GIS a realistic idea?
I am unsure. I have never used GIS so I am unsure if it is a program or a website.
If it is a website based application such as google maps, MapQuest etc then in theory yes you could scrape data from it. You would need to see if they have a public api which allows you to pull data, and then make your program to pull the data you want from the GIS api.
Depends on the scope of the work, and what you think it would add to the work you’re already doing. I think GIS is cool, but could be a huge rabbit hole to go down for one project when, like press107 mentioned, using Google Maps API might be a more straightforward and time effective way of accomplishing the task at hand.
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