Axel H. As Ansh A. suggested, simulating real work is the best way to beat the "no experience" paradox. Here are three concrete projects you can build right now that directly address the skills recruiters look for:
1. The "Whiteboard" Project: Instrumentation & Tracking Plan This directly prepares you for the technical assessments you are worried about.
The Task: Pick a well-known product (e.g., Spotify, Uber, or Airbnb).
The Goal: Define their North Star Metric and break it down into input KPIs.
The Output: Create a "Tracking Plan" spreadsheet. Map which events (buttons clicked, pages viewed) and properties (user ID, price, region) are needed to calculate those KPIs.
2. The Dashboard Build (Using Demo Data) You don’t need to imagine the data. Mixpanel has public "Media" and "E-commerce" demo datasets pre-loaded with millions of events.
The Task: Access the Mixpanel Demo Data (in project settings).
The Goal: Build the KPIs you defined in step 1.
The Output: A comprehensive dashboard showing the health of the product/teams performance.
3. The "Insight" Case Study (The Differentiator) This is the most important step. Many candidates can build a chart; very few can tell me what to do with it.
The Scenario: Imagine a SaaS company trying to improve its First Purchase Rate.
The Analysis: Don't just show the funnel drop-off. Segment the data. Is it mobile users dropping off? Is it users coming from Facebook Ads? is there any particular behaviour that dictates the drop-off?
The Recommendation: Translate the data into a product change. Example: "I found that users who complete the tutorial convert at 20%, while those who skip it convert at 2%. Recommendation: A/B test making the tutorial unskippable."
Most candidates stop at step 2. If you can show step 3, a clear recommendation based on data, you will set yourself apart from the "tool experts."
