Ask HN: Data visualization consultant

I'm working as a software engineer (mostly web, mostly backend). I've worked some years as a freelancer (now working at a part time job + contractor job) always working on the backend side.

I'm getting bored of this kind of job and I'm exploring data visualization. In my job (news media) my boss started to ask me to make some things with d3.js and I liked it, with the plus side that the "deliverable" is something people can see and if it's done well it could be easily shared and generate visits.

So I started to think about learning more about d3.js, build and show some things with it in my free time and then start looking for clients.

Anyone here already doing something like this? what do you think about it? what are your experiences?

Sure, there are a bunch of places and ways you can do this.

For a start, companies of all shapes and sizes have or are building internal data technology teams. Almost any large company wants to do things with data that exceed what they can achieve by buying services. So they chuck all the data in a warehouse, and then find themselves in need of a way of interpreting and visualising it. You get fully-fledged internal facing products built on that premise all the time.

Alternatively, visualising data is a huge part of what modern media companies do. Examples range from Quartz, who built Atlas[0], amongst other things, to Bloomberg, whose business facing financial intelligence services have to make large volumes of data intelligible at a glance.

Beyond just the media, if you look at products like Facebook's Ad Platform or Google's DFP or Analytics, the UIs devote a ton of effort towards visualising data. It's probably harder to find tech companies that don't do large amounts of this than companies that do.

I haven't seen it as a consultancy role, but it is certainly something you could do on a contract basis with some companies if you wanted to. As with any software contracting, if you can show a great strength in a narrow niche you will command near-monopoly pricing for your services.

[0] http://atlas.qz.com/

I would recommend starting with Stephen Few's books: Show Me the Numbers and Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring to get an idea of visualization from a business needs perspective. These are easy reads.

Few is heavily influenced (and cites) Edward Tufte - Tufte is probably the definitive reference for communicating data with visual techniques. If you are interested in pursuing scientific visualization, you probably need to spend some time with Tufte. I never have properly done this myself.

These sources will give you a solid foundation without being tied to specific tech. You'll probably find lots of libraries built on top of d3.js that implement the basic ideas of both authors. I have been meaning to look at data exploration examples (e.g., stuff with visualization examples in R) and translate to different front/backend. That might be neat too.

Build some examples where the visualization provides real insight to a defined business problem and you will probably score some new opportunities for yourself.

Good luck.

FYI there is indeed a strong demand, and having the ability to develop full-stacked web apps is a nice plus as well.

You can check this Google Group[0] to see actual requests (full-time jobs, part-time jobs and limited prestations).

[0] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/data-vis-jobs

I've been learning this stuff for work some. I've found that Good Charts: The HBR Guide to making Smarter More Persuasive Data Visualizations[1] to be helpful.

Also the Wall Street Guide to Info Graphics[2] is a good 'recipe' book for graphs/charts.

1. https://www.amazon.com/Good-Charts-Smarter-Persuasive-Visual... 2. https://www.amazon.com/Street-Journal-Guide-Information-Grap...