Wife wants to switch to Data Analytics after a 6-year career break — looking for advice on courses/career path

Hi everyone,

Looking for some honest advice from people working in data/analytics.

My wife is planning to restart her career and move into **Data Analytics / Business Analytics**, and we're trying to figure out the best way to approach it.

A bit of background:

* She has a **Master's in Physiotherapy (Neurological Disorders)**

* Around **7–8 years of experience in healthcare/physiotherapy** in India

* She also worked as a physiotherapist in Singapore

* She has been on a **career break for around 6 years**

* We're currently based in **Singapore**

* She doesn't have an IT/CS background, so she'd basically be starting the technical side from scratch.

We're not thinking about jumping straight into Data Science/ML. The initial goal is something like:

**Data Analyst → BI/Business Analyst → potentially Healthcare/Clinical Data or Healthcare IT**

The healthcare background could hopefully be useful later for roles in health-tech, hospitals, clinical systems, healthcare analytics, etc.

### What we're considering

We're currently looking at **Indian classroom/live-online courses**, preferably **weekday classes**, because we'd like something structured with an instructor rather than just buying a self-paced course.

Ideally the course would cover:

* Excel

* SQL

* Power BI + DAX

* Python/Pandas

* Basic statistics

* Data cleaning/visualisation

* Real-world projects

* Portfolio/GitHub

* Interview/job preparation

I've come across places like **Intellipaat, upGrad, Simplilearn, BEPEC, AnalytixLabs, Imarticus, Scaler**, etc., but it's really difficult to tell what's genuinely good versus just good marketing.

### Would love some advice

For someone in her situation:

1. **Is Data Analytics a realistic career switch after a 6-year break?**

2. Would you recommend joining a structured classroom program or learning independently?

3. What should the learning order be — **Excel → SQL → Power BI → Python**, or something else?

4. How important is Python for getting the **first Data Analyst job**?

5. Are there any **Indian classroom/live-online institutes** you'd genuinely recommend?

6. Has anyone here actually taken courses from Intellipaat/upGrad/Simplilearn/BEPEC/AnalytixLabs/Imarticus/Scaler? What was your experience?

7. Would her healthcare background give her an advantage when applying for **healthcare analytics/health-tech roles**, or should she first target generic Data Analyst jobs?

8. And if you were in her position, **what would you do over the next 6–12 months?**

Not particularly interested in the fanciest certificate. We'd much rather pay for **good teaching, hands-on work and projects that actually help her become employable**.

Would really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who have made a similar career switch.

Thanks!