Looking for real world data to practice your data skills and showcase in your portfolio?

Interested in gaining insights into the long term implications of remote work?

If this sounds like you, we have just what you need, and it comes with another chance to win a free all-access membership to Maven Analytics!

We’ve just added a brand new data set to the Data Playground, containing survey data from remote workers in Australia collected in 2020 and 2021.

There is a ton to explore, analyze, and visualize here, so fire up your favorite BI tool (Excel, MySQL, Power BI, Tableau, etc.), and dig into the responses!

To go along with this release, we’re launching the Maven Remote Work Challenge and giving away a free all-access membership to the winner.

We’ll share more about the challenge details below, but first let’s talk about the data…

About the dataset

This dataset contains the results of two surveys of 1,500 remote workers commissioned by the state of New South Wales (NSW). The first took place in August and September 2020, and aimed to capture the remote work experiences and attitudes at the height of the COVID lockdown. Once health restrictions were reduced and a return to lockdown seemed unlikely, a similar survey was conducted between March and April 2021.

To be eligible, survey respondents had to be employed NSW residents with remote working experience in their current job. This means that both unemployed people and those whose job cannot be done remotely were not taken into account. The resulting sample represents roughly 59% of the NSW workforce.

The responses are stored in 2 csv tables, one for each survey.

Each record represents a single respondent, and contains answers to questions on:

• Their employers’ policies, practices, and attitudes for remote work

• Their own attitude towards working remotely

• The amount of time they spent working remotely, and how they spent it

• The barriers they faced when working remotely, and how they have changed

• The best and worst aspects of working remotely

• Their expectations for working remotely in the future

How to play the Maven Remote Work Challenge

For this challenge, your task is to assess the productivity and morale implications of working remotely and outline an ideal policy for the post-pandemic future, presented in the form of a single-page report or dashboard.

Here’s how to submit your entry:

1. Share a LinkedIn post mentioning @Maven Analytics and the hashtag #mavenremoteworkchallenge, with your single-page visual based on the challenge objective above

2. Complete the official challenge submission form to make sure you are entered for a chance to win

Make sure to follow Maven Analytics on LinkedIn for updates on the challenge and invite your connections to play along!

How to win

Finalists will be chosen by the Maven team based on insights, creativity, design, visualizations, and overall storytelling ability. The winner will be selected from the finalist pool by the Maven team, via live voting.

What you can win

As part of the Maven Remote Work Challenge, we'll be giving away 1 annual all-access Maven membership completely free of charge. The winner will get access to all of our Excel, Power BI, Tableau, and SQL courses, as well as our ongoing Machine Learning series, all with direct support and coaching from our expert instructors.

No purchase is necessary to participate. As always, this challenge is open to both current Maven subscribers and everyone else.

Check out the official rules below...

Official Terms (Maven Remote Work Challenge)

• Maven Analytics will give away 1 Annual subscription for an Individual account. After the one year period, the subscription will expire.

• No purchase is necessary to enter.

• Data Analyst Bootcamp is not included in this prize. That is a separate offering, and not eligible.

• The challenge will close to new entries on Thursday, March 31st, 2022, at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. All entries must be submitted prior.

• After the submission deadline, finalists will be chosen by the Maven team.

• Maven Analytics will select 1 winner from the finalists, and will announce the winner on Wednesday, April 13th, 2022 at 10:00am Eastern Standard Time. The official announcement will be posted on LinkedIn from the Maven Analytics LinkedIn account.

Don't want to participate in the Maven Remote Work Challenge? No problem. You can still analyze the data on your own. All of the Data Playground datasets are completely free and are available for everyone to learn with. Feel free to dig in anytime.

Check out the NSW Remote Work Survey dataset, and many more, at the Data Playground.

Happy analyzing!