A dataviz project idea

One of the most common questions I get is from people wanting to break into data analysis or dataviz, and wondering where to start.

It's a tough one to answer. There are so many moving parts, and honestly, I'm not sure I'm the best person to give a definitive answer.

What's sure

But one thing is obvious to me: you need a way to prove to the world that you can take a project from A to Z and deliver a polished, professional outcome.

That's why I always tell people to create a GitHub account and push a few good-looking projects to it. Take my Data to Viz project as an example: it's fully open source on GitHub, the website looks great, and it has brought me a lot of job opportunities. If you check my GitHub profile, you'll see 99 repositories showcasing my skills. I never have to write a resume — I show this instead 😀!

An idea for you

The Pacific Dataviz Challenge is about to kick off. It's a free, open-to-anyone competition that invites you to turn Pacific open data into compelling visualisations, with more than $15,000 USD in prizes across static and interactive categories. The 2026 edition is themed around climate change.

I won the challenge two years ago. You can check out my project, the GitHub repo, and a short write-up where I explain how I pulled it together. This year, I'm on the jury! So I'm trying to spread the word, and I'd love to see your submission.

Do it!

You can read all the books and take all the courses, but the only real way to get better at dataviz and data analysis is practice. And with AI making everything easier, there's no excuse. Take a few days, build something insightful, and put it out there!

Check the challenge

All the best,
Yan