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Competition Entry · January 2025
WSDA Data Challenge
Same scenario as the free assessment. Competition entrants are prize-eligible and Walter personally reviews every top-10 submission.
Entry fee
$25
★Prize pool eligible — cash payout to top 3
★Walter personally reviews your evidence report
★Employer direct contact if you reach top 10
★Winner badge on your public portfolio page
Payment processing coming soon. To reserve your spot, email walter@wsdalearning.ai with subject line Competition Entry.
Prize pool: $875 · Round closes March 29
For data analysts · Free · No credit card
Finally, a way to show employers what you can actually do.
Most data analyst jobs ask for experience you can only get by having the job. PortfolioLab gives you a way out: do a real analysis on a real dataset, get a scored report, and post it to LinkedIn as your proof of ability.
Free · No credit card everCoached by Walter Shields, LinkedIn Learning instructor
What you get — completely free
✓
A real business scenario
An actual VP question with a messy dataset. The kind of problem you would face on day one of a real job.
✓
A scored evidence report
AI scores your data judgment, analytical workflow, and executive communication. You get a 0–100 score with specific coaching feedback.
✓
A permanent portfolio page
A public URL you post to LinkedIn. Hiring managers click it and see your actual score, your actual analysis, your actual coaching note.
Who this is for
Data analysts who need to prove they can do the job.
You have been studying SQL, Python, and Excel. Maybe you have a certificate or two. But every job posting asks for 2–3 years of experience, and you cannot get that experience without first getting the job.
PortfolioLab breaks that loop. You do real analytical work — cleaning messy data, catching AI errors, delivering a VP-ready recommendation — and walk away with a scored, public record of what you actually did.
"Recruiters kept asking for portfolio work. I had nothing to show. After PortfolioLab I had a scored evidence report I could link in every application."
— Maya Rodriguez, scored 94/100, hired 3 weeks later
The problem
Resumes are unverifiable. Certificates prove you watched videos. Take-home projects are unwitnessed. Hiring managers have no way to know if you can actually do the work.
The solution
PortfolioLab gives you a structured scenario, scores every decision you make, and produces a public evidence report. It is not a certificate. It is proof.
How it works
Four steps. About 30 minutes.
1
Get a real business problem
You receive a scenario brief and a messy dataset. A VP needs a root cause and a recommendation. Your job is to find it.
2
Work through 5 checkpoints
Frame the problem. Audit the data. Catch AI errors. State your root cause. Write the executive summary. Each step is scored.
3
Get your scored report
AI scores your work across three dimensions and generates a coaching note from Walter Shields — a specific, honest assessment of what you did well and what to improve.
4
Post it to LinkedIn
Your portfolio page is permanent and public. Share the URL in job applications, on LinkedIn, or anywhere you want employers to see evidence of your ability.
Pricing
Free to use. Optional competition.
The full assessment and portfolio are completely free. The competition is a separate optional layer for analysts who want to compete for cash prizes.
Free forever
Start here
Free Assessment
$0
No credit card. No expiry.
✓Full 5-checkpoint scenario
✓Scored evidence report (0–100)
✓Walter Shields coaching note
✓Permanent public portfolio page
✓Post to LinkedIn
✓Ranked on overall leaderboard
Add-on
Competition Entry
$25
One-time · January 2025 round
The monthly competition is completely optional. Same assessment — you just become eligible for cash prizes and Walter personally reviews your work if you reach the top 10.
★Cash prize eligibility
★Walter personally reviews top 10
★Employer direct contact if top 10
★Winner badge on portfolio
Prize pool: $875 this round. Free users are ranked alongside competition entrants — same leaderboard, same score.
Hiring data analysts?
Sponsor a competition round and get direct access to the top 10 ranked analysts — with full evidence reports. From $500/round.
WS
About the assessor
Walter Shields
LinkedIn Learning instructor with 500,000+ students. Creator of SQL Essential Training (4.8 stars). Founder of Walter Shields Data Academy. Walter wrote the coaching rubric, designed the scenarios, and personally reviews every top-10 competition submission.
500K+ LinkedIn Learning students4.8 star instructor rating11,000+ newsletter subscribers
Previous results
Analysts who used PortfolioLab to get hired.
🥇
Maya Rodriguez
Dec 2024 · HR Analytics round
94/100
Distinguished
"Caught all three AI errors. Exec summary was VP-ready in sentence one."
Won $847 · View report →
🥈
James Kim
Dec 2024 · HR Analytics round
88/100
Distinguished
"Strongest SQL workflow in the top 10. Caught two AI errors."
Won $242 · View report →
🥉
Priya Singh
Dec 2024 · HR Analytics round
83/100
Certified
"Built her own Python analysis from scratch. Communication standout."
Won $121 · View report →
Ready to prove it?
Stop applying with a resume. Start applying with evidence.
Free. Thirty minutes. A permanent record of what you can actually do.
All submissions ranked together · Prize pool: $875 · Free and paid entries compete on equal merit
COMP = paid competition entry, prize-eligible. Free participants ranked in the same list — ability determines rank, not payment.
#AnalystScoreJOBadge
Rankings update in real time. Walter personally reviews the top 10 AI-scored entries before declaring winners.
Scenario 01 · Retail E-Commerce · Entry–Mid
Cartify Inc. · VP Revenue Operations · Slack
"Hey — I need to understand what happened to our Q3 numbers. Revenue was down and I can't tell if it's a product issue, a channel issue, or something in the data. I need a clean answer by end of week with a recommendation we can take to the exec team. The raw transaction file is in the shared drive. Fair warning — it's messy."
Your Interpretation — Before You Open the Data
Please share your interpretation before continuing — this is the first scored dimension of your assessment.
Analysts who frame the problem before diving into data consistently produce better analyses. This is carried into your evidence report.
Loom (free), QuickTime, Xbox Game Bar, or OBS. Record full screen. Aim for 15–30 min of genuine work.
2
Work through the scenario in your tools
Open the data, clean it, explore it, analyze it. Use AI tools — that is expected and assessed. Narrate your decisions out loud.
3
Write your executive summary
Root cause in sentence one. Three specific recommendations. Numbers from your cleaned data. VP-ready — no jargon.
4
Stop recording and come back here
Upload your recording and paste your exec summary below. AI analyzes your workflow and your portfolio goes live immediately.
Final step
Submit your work
Upload your recording and executive summary. AI analyzes your workflow, generates your evidence report, and posts your public portfolio page.
▶
Click to upload your screen recording
MP4, MOV, WEBM — up to 2GB
▶
0 chars
Ready to generate your evidence report
AI analyzes your workflow and produces the kind of evidence report a hiring manager actually wants to see.
Analysis takes 60–120 seconds
Uploading recording…
Analyzing your workflow…
Cartify Scenario · Jan 2025
Step 1 of 5
FramingData AuditAI TrapRoot CauseExec Summary
Cartify Inc. · VP Revenue Operations · Slack
"Hey — I need to understand what happened to our Q3 numbers. Revenue was down and I can't tell if it's a product issue, a channel issue, or something in the data. I need a clean answer by end of week with a recommendation we can take to the exec team. The raw transaction file is in the shared drive. Fair warning — it's messy."
Dataset
228 rows · 12 columns · 7 quality issues
Checkpoint 1 of 5 · Judgment
Problem Framing
Scored ✓
Before opening the data — what is the VP actually asking? What is your first hypothesis about root cause? What will you check first and why? Write at least two sentences.
Please write at least two sentences before continuing.
● Walter's feedback on your framing
Checkpoint 2 of 5 · Judgment
Data Quality Audit
Scored ✓
Open the dataset. Examine it carefully. List every data quality issue you find — be specific about which rows, columns, or values are affected. There are exactly 7 issues in this dataset.
Please identify at least 3 issues before submitting.
Checkpoint 3 of 5 · Judgment
AI Validation
Scored ✓
A colleague used AI to generate a quick summary of the dataset. Review it carefully. Identify everything that is incorrect, misleading, or unverified — and explain why it is wrong.
AI Generated
AI Analysis Summary · Cartify Dataset
After analyzing the Cartify dataset, here are the key findings:
Revenue Performance: Q3 2023 showed a 23% revenue decline across all three product lines. HomeEssentials was the hardest hit, with TechAccessories and FitnessBundles both showing similar declines.
Top Performing Channel: The Amazon channel generated the highest average order value at $312 per order, significantly outperforming Direct sales at $47 per order.
Data Quality: The dataset is largely clean with only 2 null values identified in the region field. All order IDs are unique with no duplicates found.
Recommendation: Focus recovery efforts equally across all three product lines, as the data shows uniform decline.
Please identify at least one specific error before submitting.
Checkpoint 4 of 5 · Orchestration + Translation
Root Cause Finding
Scored ✓
State your root cause in one sentence. Then provide exactly three numbers from your cleaned dataset that support it. These numbers must be verifiable — if they include the outlier-inflated values, your score will reflect that.
Please complete the root cause statement and at least 2 supporting numbers.
Checkpoint 5 of 5 · Translation
Executive Summary
Scored ✓
Write the one-page summary you will send to the VP. Lead with root cause in sentence one. Include three specific, actionable recommendations with numbers. Write for the VP — not for a data team.
Checklist before submitting: Root cause in sentence 1 · Three recommendations · At least 2 numbers · No data jargon · Written for the VP
0 chars
Quick verification — one question from your dataset
Answer from your actual dataset work. Takes under 60 seconds if you have the data open.
Upload your screen recording
Optional · Adds Witnessed badge · MP4, MOV, WEBM
▶
Please write your executive summary (at least 100 characters).
Ready to generate your evidence report
AI scores all 5 checkpoints and produces your evidence report with Walter's coaching note on each dimension.
Each scenario is a real business problem from a different industry. Same assessment structure, different data, different domain. Complete multiple scenarios to build a broader portfolio.