Independent Learners

Hi!   I am a graduate of the ADAPT program (which was the earliest iteration of SparkED when the pandemic started.)  I also took the Udacity Predictive Analytics course using Alteryx. Because of these programs I got a 1 year contract as a data analyst at a major company. I am ever grateful! Before that I worked at a thrift store, so this has been a life-changing program for me. 🙌 I just needed someone to give me a chance and Alteryx did that.   Now I'm studying for my Alteryx Advanced Certification, however my contract has ended and with it my Alteryx license. Would I be eligible for a temporary license for continuing education? (The Advanced test requires me to have a license to do the practical portion. I also need some hands-on practice with the Weekly Challenges to get deeply familiar with the advanced tools' functionalities.)   I understand that a year license is quite a lot of money, but is there some way I could buy a portion of a license for one or two months just to get these goals accomplished? I love this product and am trying to make it the centerpiece of my skillset so I can have a job I really love doing every day.    Thanks for any insights or direction you can offer!   StellaBon ... View more

Born to solve began with a few videos in the Alteryx Academy, as a way to understand how someone thinks through a problem in Alteryx, and comes to a solution. We went live at Inspire Nashville, where I got to solve a new-to-me challenge in front of about 300 of my closest data friends. We were so excited to present this at Analyticon in New Orleans. And then the world changed. But with the Herculean efforts of @TuvyL, we were given an online platform. Born to Solve, ADAPT edition, features one of our community’s top contributors, @danilang. Year after year, Dan blows us away with his contributions to the community, whether answering questions (over 500 accepted solutions!!), solving weekly challenges, getting stars, or having great conversations, Dan is a fountain of knowledge. Just like every other Born to Solve event, we began with a problem that Dan hadn’t seen before. This one called on New Orleans, the original location for Analyticon this year. Given the location of a hotel, and the locations of entertainment venues in New Orleans, find the three closest to the hotel (excluding adult establishments to keep things G-rated, and no admission because I'm spending way too much on the New Orleans food scene) and solve for how many miles it will take to go from the hotel to the first venue, then from venue to venue, and finally back to the hotel. So here’s the challenge:   We all had a glimpse into Dan’s solving prowess as he talked us through his thought process. Catch the replay here Dan’s solution:     Another solution, my first approach:   Take a look at our preparation of the venue data. Same approach, just a different order of the tools. Neither order is faster than the other. And yes, I crossed the streams. (For those missing out on the reference, please take the time to watch the original Ghostbusters. You can thank Dan and me later for the laughs). After the Find Nearest tools, our approaches diverge. Both approaches take only .9 seconds to run. So is one solution better than the other? Nope! Both work, and both work quickly. We think and solve differently and that's a great thing. But what if the spatial category is such an unknown to you that you’re put off from solving? Not to fear, this challenge can be solved with Favorites tools only. Take a look at the wonderful spatial formulae available in the Formula tool, and you may find you prefer to solve with those.   The point here is that there is no single correct solution. There isn't even a best solution here as all take about the same time to run. Three different approaches, all get to the same answer. That’s the beauty of Alteryx. It supports your individual thought and solving processes. Let’s see together how many ways we can get through this. Give this challenge a go, and please share your solution in the comments! You, too, are born to solve. Cheers! Esther PS - I've attached the solutions to this post. The original workflow, unsolved, is entitled NewOrleans.yxmd ... View more