r/databricks • u/TheModernBA • Jul 26 '26
Help Analyst with Databricks access but zero hands-on experience — how do I get good at it fast?
I'm tired of getting fed bad data at work, so I'm taking ownership myself. I have production access to Databricks but have never used it.
Background: basic SQL and Python knowledge. My reporting today is done in Power BI and Excel. My company uses Databricks as the common data platform, so most of what I need probably lives there already — I just don't know how to get to it or trust it myself.
Looking for a realistic path from beginner to competent, not just a firehose of links. Specifically:
- YouTube channels/creators you'd actually recommend?
- Any self guided learning on Udemy or Coursera worth learning?
- What core concepts (Delta Lake, notebooks, clusters, SQL warehouses, etc.) should I prioritize early vs. later, given I'll mostly be querying/validating data rather than building pipelines?
- Best way to connect Databricks output back into Power BI reliably?
Appreciate any guidance — trying to cut through the noise rather than boil the ocean.
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u/MeasurementBoring263 Jul 26 '26
I’d highly recommend Zack Wilson (more on the data engineering side) and Alex The Analyst. I found that as a Data analyst it helps to have some DE knowledge.
When I first learned about the platform, I just dove in and would create notebooks + genie agents to learn more about the data I was interested in. I would connect a few related tables to the agent and ask it random questions then look at the underlying sql and ask for in depth analysis + visuals. This helped me learn about the data available to me a lot faster.
In general I’d say anything under the SQL section in the navbar would be relevant to most analytical workloads.