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David spent 13 years in architecture before switching to data. He landed his first data job in about 90 days.

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⌚ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – 13 years in architecture

06:00 – The internship

08:39 – Study on your own time

14:24 – Networking pays off

21:24 – Advice if you're on the fence

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https://datacareerjumpstart.com/daa

I guess, did anyone think you were kind of crazy for

2

leaving this architecture career?

3

'Cause you had worked in architecture

for what, like 12, 13 years-ish?

4

David Kovacs: Data analysts are

just gonna be replaced with AI,

5

and the market is saturated.

6

Then I was DoorDashing between my

old job and finding my new job,

7

hitting the program hard, studying.

8

I'm living proof of that.

9

Avery: What does it actually look like

to go from, you know, architecture

10

and landscape design to data analyst?

11

All right, David, take me back before

you were a data analyst into this

12

architecture and landscape design life.

13

What did that career look like?

14

What were you actually doing?

15

David Kovacs: Uh, yeah, so I

went to, uh, college for, it's

16

called architectural technology.

17

Uh, really just a fancy way of

saying architectural drafting.

18

So my day-to-day looked like

finishing red lines for project

19

managers and filling requests.

20

Not quite the creativity that I

was looking forward to when I went

21

to school for it, but that's kinda

what my day-to-day looked like.

22

Avery: Okay.

23

David Kovacs: Th-

24

Avery: I- maybe I'm sensing this

wrong, but that sounds like you maybe

25

got kind of bored just doing that- Mm

26

and it wasn't, like, super

fulfilling necessarily.

27

David Kovacs: Eventually, yeah.

28

Yeah, boredom kicked in, for sure.

29

Avery: Yeah, and that makes sense.

30

I mean, that's how I was as

a chemical lab technician.

31

Um, you did have the chance to work

on $140 million, uh, baseball stadium.

32

What were you designing for them,

and I guess, where was that at?

33

David Kovacs: Yeah, again, just filling

the orders of the project managers

34

and it's actually about 25 miles

down the road from where I live, so

35

I took my, uh, my wife and my in-laws

to go see it this past weekend.

36

That is one cool thing about being in

architecture for so long and actually h-

37

seeing projects come to life and getting

to, like, go visit them and stuff.

38

Avery: You can be like, "I

drew lines on that," and it

39

eventually- … came to, to life.

40

Um, I guess at one point did you, like,

realize, "Okay, I no longer want to

41

be, you know, an architect anymore"?

42

David Kovacs: Ooh.

43

Really my whole career was a struggle

of, like, just wondering if I'd made

44

the right decision, even in college.

45

You know, I thought about changing in the

middle of it and I just kind of, I guess

46

you could say I white-knuckled my way

through college 'cause I just wanted to

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get done with it and start some kind of

career and- There was definitely a lot of

48

struggles over the years, job losses, so

it's been something I played around with

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a lot over the years, and just recently,

last year, kind of personal situation

50

with my wife being diagnosed with stage

two breast cancer kind of kicked it

51

into gear again that I just wanted to do

better for myself, better for my family.

52

Avery: It's really impressive, um,

and really a- admirable of you.

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Yeah, uh, amazing.

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I was gonna ask, like, what, at what

point was, you know, the tipping

55

point for you, but obviously that,

that was the tipping point for you.

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Um, I guess did anyone think

you were kind of crazy for

57

leaving this architecture career?

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'Cause you had worked in architecture

for what, like 12, 13 years-ish.

59

David Kovacs: Yeah, I got, uh, definitely,

uh, some comments about, oh, data analysts

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are just gonna be replaced with AI, and

the market is saturated, and it's not

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a good idea for you to do that, but I

think the data out there says otherwise,

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that analysts are still getting hired.

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I'm living proof of that.

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Avery: I would agree.

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Um, okay, so you didn't listen to

them, and you're like, "I'm still

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gonna pursue this data analytics."

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Um, why in data analytics in particular?

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Like, what drew you to data

as opposed to architecture?

69

David Kovacs: Right, so I did a lot

of kind of exploring and searching

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when I decided it was finally time

to leave my career in drafting.

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Um, I found your YouTube channel, you

know, listened to how passionately you

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speak about your own career and listened

to other data analysts speak about how

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passionate they are about that business.

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Avery: That's, that's super cool to

hear that it was, it was via YouTube.

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So were you doing, like, a lot

of research via, via YouTube?

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Like, looking up different careers like

cybersecurity, I don't know, project

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management, those types of things?

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David Kovacs: Yeah, I kind of, like,

did the search of, you know, careers

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that, careers that you can get into

where you either don't need a degree

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or your degree is relevant to the

job that you're going to be doing.

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Um, web development is another path I went

down for a little bit as for deciding.

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It wasn't for me.

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I even took a career assessment,

and, like, three or four of my

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top 10 results were some form of

data analyst, so it was pretty-

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Avery: So you're like-

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… David Kovacs: obvious that

I should pursue that more

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Avery: Oh, perfect.

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That's, that's great.

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Um, okay, so you, you kind

of do some research online.

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You learn about data analytics.

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Um, you watch some YouTube videos.

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Um, obviously architecture, you know,

the tools you're using in architecture

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are a little bit different than the

tools you'd be using as a data analyst.

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What was, like, the first thing,

like, you, you did to, like, learn

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data analytics, and how did that go?

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David Kovacs: Yeah, again, just

watching a lot of videos and tutorials.

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Um, I did do the Google certificate

in my free time while we were-

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Avery: How, how was that experience?

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David Kovacs: It was good.

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I feel like it definitely gave

me a, like a peek into the world

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of what a data analyst does.

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I don't feel like it got

me quite all the way there.

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It was just really- I would say

it's that first- It was just really

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scratching the surface, you know.

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Avery: 100%.

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It's, it's kind of a, a very, uh,

not, not deep, uh, very shallow intro-

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introduction to analytics in general.

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Um, okay, so then, then I'm curious here

because, uh, you end up … You know,

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you're doing the Google Data Analytics

certificate, and then you join my

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program, the Data Analytics Accelerator.

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And obviously I don't have, like, a magic

eight ball to, to what's going on in your

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life and, you know, what's going on with,

with your brain and what's going on with

113

what you're thinking, but we all leave

traces of ourselves on the internet.

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So my marketing data tells me that you

first visited my website coming from

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Instagram, which is, I think is really

interesting because I don't really do much

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with Instagram currently at the moment.

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And then 100 days later, you revisited the

website after coming from a YouTube video,

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and you end up, you ended up joining.

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So I'm just curious, kind of like

what happened, if you can remember in

120

those 100 days, what made you end up

deciding, you know, "Okay, the Google

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Data Analytics certificate, it was a

great start, but it's not enough for me.

122

I want some more"?

123

David Kovacs: Oh, yeah.

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I, I had been watching you for a while

and followed you on all platforms and,

125

and yeah, I think I, um, I just wanted

to learn with a community and, you

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know, get help and job hunting and-

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Avery: Um, now when you, when you

were in the boot camp, you actually

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ended up doing an internship, and

I think that was just this, this

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last quarter, like our, our January

internship with the UK housing data.

130

I'm curious kind of what that

experience was, was like for you.

131

Uh, I guess tell about, like, what…

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how big was your group and what

kind of tools you guys used and

133

how that whole process was for you.

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David Kovacs: Yeah, so the…

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I think the day after I signed up

for the Accelerator, I had learned

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that you guys offer an internship,

and I kind of wrote Isaac.

137

Shout out to Isaac.

138

And asked, "Hey, am I too

late to join this internship?

139

'Cause I'd really like to do that."

140

And he said, "Not at all.

141

I'll put you in group seven."

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And, you know, we did our first meeting.

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I kind of became the, uh, business

intelligence portion of the project, where

144

I did, you know, charts and dashboards.

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It was a really good learning experience.

146

W- was definitely very hard, 'cause you

have four or five brand-new data analysts

147

who are all learning with you, and we're

all in different parts of the world.

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I think we had somebody in every time zone

in America, and then somebody in the UK.

149

So we were getting up at, like,

6:00 and 7:00 in the morning to,

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to do virtual meetings and talk

about where we go from here.

151

But it was definitely worth it, and

I think it did make a difference

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in getting the job that I have now.

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Avery: Very cool.

154

Were, were you guys

using a lot of Tableau?

155

I, I think, like, I remember group

seven using a decent amount of Tableau.

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David Kovacs: Yep.

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That was us.

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That was me.

159

Avery: Awesome.

160

Okay, perfect.

161

That was you.

162

Great.

163

Yeah, I do remember group seven

doing, um, doing some good work.

164

Um, yeah, and talk a little bit

more about, like, how it, how you

165

feel like the internship might

have helped you, uh, land the job.

166

Um, one thing I noticed is,

you know, I haven't seen…

167

I don't think I've seen your, your resume

maybe, maybe in a while or a l- ever.

168

Um, but I know on your LinkedIn you

have that you were a data analyst

169

intern for my company, Snowdata Science.

170

So I'm assuming that was on your

LinkedIn when you were applying for jobs.

171

David Kovacs: Yeah.

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Avery: Okay.

173

And did it pop up in the interview

at all, or did they ever ask

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you, like, what you did at that,

you know, at Snowdata Science?

175

David Kovacs: Hmm.

176

Yeah, it did pop up in the interview.

177

Yeah, and they wanted to

hear from you as a reference.

178

Avery: That's, that's what

I was actually gonna ask.

179

Um, the company that you ended up

landing this role with, is that

180

the company that I, I talked to via

email about the reference stuff?

181

David Kovacs: Yeah, it is.

182

Avery: Okay, awesome.

183

Okay, so it did play a, a decent part in

the interview process- Yeah … because,

184

you know, they wanted to hear a little

bit more what you did as, as an intern.

185

Um, okay, that's awesome.

186

I'm glad to hear, uh, plus

one for the internship.

187

Uh, our next- we're trying

to do four of those a year.

188

So, um, we're only at one, so we gotta

189

Um, I'm curious, like, you know,

you were still working while

190

you were doing the boot camp.

191

Is that correct?

192

David Kovacs: For a few weeks I was,

and then a situation arose at my job

193

where I had to leave, so I actually,

uh, finished up my two weeks at my job

194

and then I was just DoorDashing between

my old job and finding my new job.

195

And- I wanna talk more about that … over

the evenings, yeah, and then over the w-

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evenings and weekends I was, you know,

hitting the program hard, studying.

197

Avery: That's absolutely

amazing and really admirable.

198

I think I'd be very, I think I'd be

very stressed out in that situation.

199

Mm-hmm.

200

But I think a lot of people are in a s-

in a similar situation where, you know,

201

maybe they're doing gig work right now

and they're trying to land a data job.

202

Um, can you just tell me more about,

like, what your day-to-day looked like?

203

Like what time, like, w-

what time were you studying?

204

Was it in the evenings or in the mornings?

205

What did the w- day in the life

look like of someone who know, who

206

was, you know, doing these gig works

while trying to land a data job?

207

David Kovacs: Yeah, you just find

moments during the day to study

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whenever you have free time.

209

So I was out there, like, during peak

hours, you know, making deliveries.

210

Mm.

211

I'd, I'd come home and keep going through

the program, keep building projects.

212

Avery: That's super interesting to hear.

213

I'm gonna indulge myself in

a, in a selfish question here.

214

David Kovacs: Yeah.

215

Avery: Um, because you know,

one of the things I try to do in

216

the Accelerator is I'm like, you

know, people are busy, you know?

217

And not everyone has time to go through,

uh, a 12-week full-time boot camp.

218

Still try to make it fast, like

you can do it in, like, 12 weeks.

219

I think you were about, from, from

when you joined to when you landed your

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job, I think you were about 90 days.

221

Um, ish.

222

Um, so obviously it's possible to do still

part-time, but I also try to, like, cater

223

to people who have busy lives by making

the material as available as possible in

224

as many different avenues as possible.

225

So, you know, a lot of our lessons will

have a video lesson, um, but there's

226

also the text version with pictures

down below, and we try to do, like, the

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member only podcast, which is kind of

like the audio companion for each one

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of the modules we have in the program.

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We have, like, an audio

version of the module kind of.

230

I'm curious, and, and also we have,

you know, all of our, our community and

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also all of the lessons are on an app.

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I'm just curious, were you using,

like, any of, any of that, like, on

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your phone, like, while you were in

the car, like, listening to member

234

only podcasts or, like, maybe you were

waiting for your next order, like,

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you did some of the lessons on your

phone, or was it mostly at your desk?

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David Kovacs: Oh, yeah, definitely.

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When I was out driving around, I

listened to just about every episode

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of the podcast, both, well, one

on Spotify and the members only.

239

Did a lot of passive learning

while I was out on the road.

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Avery: Awesome to hear.

241

I'm super glad to hear that because

you, you create this thing and you're

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like, "I think this is gonna be

useful for people," but you don't

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always hear how people are using it.

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So, um, I'm super excited to, to

hear that it was useful for you.

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Um, I'm curious, like, what you thought

was maybe the hardest part about landing

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a data job in general and, and maybe in

the boot camp or outside the boot camp.

247

David Kovacs: Definitely coming from

a completely unrelated field was

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pretty hard to, um, I guess find that

first opportunity in this, in this

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new industry I'm trying to get in.

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Avery: That makes a lot of sense.

251

I can't even really imagine, like,

how many vocabulary words that

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architecture and landscape design

have in common with data analytics.

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Like-

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David Kovacs: Not many

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. Avery: May- yeah, like, did you

guys, do you guys use Excel in, in

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your industry at all or not really?

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David Kovacs: Uh, very little.

258

Yeah.

259

N- in the last job I, no I think we

talk about it on, on the podcast every

260

so often, like if you opened Excel

like once a year for the past X amount

261

of years, put that on your resume.

262

That's probably where I was at.

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Okay.

264

Yeah,

265

Avery: that's, that's some

years of experience, right?

266

Uh, I love that.

267

Um, okay, so let's talk about, yeah,

the hardest part was actually, you know,

268

transitioning out of your, your current

industry to a completely new industry and

269

getting someone to take a chance on you.

270

At what point did you start

applying for data jobs?

271

David Kovacs: I started applying

around the beginning of the year.

272

I got my resume together

and a portfolio together.

273

Definitely wasn't perfect, but I

knew at the beginning of the year

274

I just had to start doing it.

275

Avery: Well, I think you joined

the accelerator like, like almost

276

mid-January or early January, and I

think you started this role in April.

277

So like were you basically-

Yeah … applying for jobs in January?

278

David Kovacs: Yeah, I was applying

for jobs before I even started the

279

accelerator, and I was applying-

I lo- … the whole way through.

280

Avery: I love that.

281

Okay.

282

Um, and how many like applications

do you feel like that you sent before

283

you started landing interviews?

284

David Kovacs: So I didn't do a very

good job at tracking that, but I had

285

to have applied for well over 100,

maybe 200 jobs before landing my role.

286

Avery: Okay.

287

That's not bad.

288

Did you have like a lot of o- other

interviews, only a few other interviews?

289

David Kovacs: Only two other interviews.

290

Avery: Okay.

291

That's still, that's still pretty good.

292

Um, like a, an app- like if you've

applied for 200 jobs and you had like

293

three interviews, I mean, that's not,

not terrible, especially, especially like

294

coming from someone who doesn't have a

degree, who doesn't have prior experience.

295

Like the, the usual, like an average

for, for data analysts right now

296

is for every 100 applications you

send out, you get four interviews.

297

So the job you ended up landing,

where did you find that job?

298

Like what platform did you find it on?

299

Do you remember applying for that job?

300

David Kovacs: Uh, yeah,

found it on Indeed.

301

Avery: Okay.

302

On Indeed, and you applied for it.

303

Um, and then do you remember, like,

how quickly they reached out to you

304

and, and what that process was like?

305

David Kovacs: So they reached

out to me pretty quickly.

306

Avery: And then you had, like, a, a

phone interview with, like, a recruiter?

307

Is that what it was?

308

David Kovacs: Uh, I had a virtual

interview with my now supervisor and

309

another person in the company where

we, you know, talked about the role and

310

my experience, if it'd be a good fit.

311

Avery: And, and this company that you're

interviewing with, I guess we should say

312

what the company is and, and what they do.

313

What- Yeah … what does

your company do, actually?

314

David Kovacs: So the company I work

for is called SmartPro Financial.

315

We're Dave Ramsey SmartVestors,

if you've heard of Dave Ramsey.

316

I've been listening to Dave Ramsey for

several years, so I was able to speak

317

very enthusiastically in my interview

and my cover letter that I did.

318

And the very first interview that I did,

my supervisor told me about how he…

319

I forget the exact number he gave me,

but it was well over 100 applicants

320

that he reviewed, and he said I

was the only one who even mentioned

321

Dave Ramsey in my cover letter, so.

322

Avery: Very nice.

323

Okay.

324

So I'm, I'm hearing two things.

325

One, you actually wrote, like, a

cover letter, like, as a PDF and, and

326

just submitted it with your resume.

327

Is that right?

328

David Kovacs: Yeah, I

did the cover letter.

329

I even found the CEO on LinkedIn

and wrote him a DM- Okay

330

… Avery: cold

331

David Kovacs: message.

332

Avery: Very cool.

333

Very nice.

334

So you did a, a cold message

and just a cover letter.

335

And in your cover letter you mentioned

Dave Ramsey, which this company, you know,

336

has, has lots to do with Dave Ramsey.

337

And so that's probably one thing that made

you stand out, is you actually connected

338

to the business on the business' level.

339

You weren't just, like, another,

you know, data analyst applying.

340

You were a data analyst who was, you know,

was familiar with and, and intrigued and

341

interested in this Dave Ramsey world.

342

So that kind of set you apart, you think.

343

Is, is that what you're saying?

344

David Kovacs: Yeah, and they,

they even do their own podcast

345

and YouTube channel, and I…

346

When I found out about them, I just

immediately started binging in, finding

347

out about who they were and, you know,

what they stood for as a company.

348

And at that point, I think, like, all

other options went out the window for me.

349

It was, "I have to work for this company."

350

So I sent my resume, sent a

cover letter, sent cold messages.

351

I was even going to go show

up at their office with my

352

resume if that's what it took.

353

Like, I wanted to get in front

of somebody and talk to them,

354

be like, "I wanna do this."

355

Avery: Awesome.

356

That goes to the whole, uh,

quality over quantity, right?

357

And, like, you need to, you need to

apply to a lot of data jobs, but the

358

ones you are really, really interested

in, the more effort you put into them,

359

the higher chance you have of actually,

you know, moving forward with that.

360

So that's really cool that

that, that paid off for you.

361

Um, in the interview, did they

mention, like, uh, the bootcamp?

362

Did they mention, you know,

being an architect previously?

363

Did they mention your portfolio?

364

You know, what did they

mention in the interview?

365

What…

366

You know, obviously your interest in,

in the whole- their whole world was

367

really impressive, but did they say

anything else about, like, why they

368

w- were interested in you, David?

369

David Kovacs: Yeah, they did question

about the bootcamp, about the internship.

370

My supervisor did look at my

portfolio and questioned me about one

371

particular project that I did in it.

372

Avery: Super cool.

373

Do you remember what project it was?

374

I'm just curious, like, what

caught, what caught their eye.

375

David Kovacs: So it was actually a random

Google Sheet project that I did that

376

was completely unrelated to the program,

but that's primarily the program that

377

we use at SmartPro is Google Sheets,

'cause we have a lot of people in our

378

office and a lot of advisors outside of

our office that we need to collaborate

379

with, so that's the tool that we use.

380

Avery: Perfect, that makes sense.

381

I love that.

382

So you had a project off of the tool.

383

I- I imagine that was listed

in the job description.

384

So whenever you can have a project with a

tool they mention in the job description,

385

that's great, and I think it's fantastic

that it was a project outside of the

386

program because that's what I want, and

that's, like, the importance of, you know,

387

the, the program in general is, like,

okay, you're gonna- I'm gonna show you the

388

pattern of taking data and turning it into

a, a published project, you know, nine

389

times in a row, and then you do that more

in the future, and you take what you've

390

done in the past and you package them up.

391

Like, that's part of the process

of just learning to do a portfolio.

392

So I absolutely love that, and

I love that it's Google Sheets.

393

Um, I'm a big fan.

394

I like Google Sheets more than

Excel, but, um, Excel is just

395

used- Yeah … more, more often,

which is why we, we teach Excel.

396

But they're basically the same,

so that's, that's perfect.

397

Um, amazing.

398

We talked about how we did a reference.

399

Uh, I mentioned all the good work you did,

uh, in the, uh, on the internship project,

400

and then you got, you got the offer.

401

And then this is something, um, as

well that I think was useful to you.

402

Um, you and I did some DMs back and

forth about the offer you got, and,

403

like, what we thought maybe was a market

fair offer, and I think we were able

404

to get you a, a little bit of a raise.

405

Is that correct?

406

David Kovacs: That's correct.

407

Yeah, yeah.

408

Avery: Love to hear it.

409

Um-

410

David Kovacs: Yeah, I told, me, I

told them an amount that I wanted,

411

and we, we met, kind of met halfway

412

Avery: Perfect.

413

Yeah, that's, that's something

that I think a lot of

414

negotiations kind of go that way.

415

They say a number, you say a high number,

and we both compromise in the middle.

416

But I think that's a win-win 'cause, you

know, we're making, we're making more

417

that way and, um- Sure … yeah, I think

that's what we talked about over, over DM.

418

Um, okay, so now you have the job.

419

I'm curious, like, what your job actually

looks like now on the day-to-day.

420

Um, you mentioned you're

using Google Sheets a lot.

421

Um, I guess what type of

problems are you doing?

422

Are you interacting a lot with

internal people, with external people?

423

What is the, the day in the life

look like for, of David now?

424

David Kovacs: So I've been building a

lot of tools inside of Google Sheets to

425

help us run reports more efficiently,

working with, um, the team I'm on.

426

It's called OSJ, Office of Supervisory

Jurisdiction, where we're responsible

427

for compliance and training.

428

Mm.

429

Avery: That sounds super cool.

430

Um, so I love that- Well, I'm- … you're

doing, like, the internal tools.

431

That's always, like, a, a good role for,

for someone to have, is, like, they're

432

the internal, uh, data tool person, and

you're making everyone's life easier.

433

Uh, I think that's, that's really awesome.

434

And the company and, like,

the team, how has that been?

435

Like, have you enjoyed working with them?

436

Do you feel like they, like, ever judge

you because you come from, you know, you

437

don't come from a data background, you

don't come from a financial background.

438

Uh, you come from, like,

this architecture background.

439

Do you feel like that's ever

present in the company at all or no?

440

David Kovacs: Uh, yeah,

so the culture's great.

441

I've been getting along with everybody.

442

Bosses, supervisors are very helpful,

as well as all the other employees.

443

Uh, actually, a lot of us don't

come from a finance background.

444

Um, and it was kind of explained to

me in the interview that they almost

445

prefer that you do not come from a

financial background, because the

446

way that we do things is very much

different than other financial firms.

447

Avery: That's very cool to hear.

448

So it's almost like your, your

inexperience or your untraditional

449

background ended up being an

advantage for you, uh, in the end.

450

Right.

451

I'm curious if you could go back to,

you know, David as the architect,

452

you know, like a year ago, unhappy,

looking to, to pivot, you know,

453

deciding on data analytics.

454

Um, like, what's something that you

would tell that David a year ago,

455

the aspiring data analyst that he was

like, "Can I actually go from being

456

an architect to, to data analyst?"

457

What would you tell them?

458

David Kovacs: I would say it's totally

possible, and don't wait to start

459

Avery: I love it.

460

Straightforward, straightforward,

and you can do it.

461

That's, that's so glad

to, to hear it, yeah.

462

Is there anything about your

career, your previous career,

463

that you actually miss at all?

464

David Kovacs: No, not really.

465

I mean, um, I guess to speak to something

I said earlier about, like, being able

466

to, like, go to the sites and see the,

uh, see the project that you work on come

467

to life, look at this building, you know,

physical evidence of what you've done.

468

But I feel like in data analytics

you have, like, real time evidence

469

of the impact that you're making

with the tools that you're building,

470

the reports that you're building.

471

So I get just as good, if not

better, feeling from that.

472

Avery: That's actually a

really interesting point

473

because, yeah, I can't imagine.

474

You work on something as an architect, and

then it takes like five years for you to

475

actually, like, see it be, be finished.

476

And s- and some

477

David Kovacs: of these projects

are never even realized.

478

Avery: So, so true.

479

When I, when I was a chemical lab

technician, uh, I would, you know,

480

set up these experiments and, you

know, monitor these experiments, and

481

it would take like two hours for me

to see the results of the experiment.

482

I remember thinking, "It sucks waiting

here to see if it actually worked or not,

483

if, like, my work was, was valid or not."

484

And that's something you get, like,

immediate feedback with a data analyst.

485

It's like, does this tool work or not?

486

Is someone using this tool or not?

487

So-

488

David Kovacs: Yes

489

… Avery: that is pretty satisfying.

490

That is an interesting part of

data analytics I, I kind of forget

491

about, I don't think I talk about.

492

Um, what would you say to someone

who's, who's, like, thinking about

493

maybe, maybe in the same boat as you?

494

They're, they're listening to the

podcast in the car, they've been

495

interested in the accelerator but

not sure if it's, if it's for them.

496

You know, what, what advice would you give

them, or what would you say about that?

497

David Kovacs: I'd say I

definitely got a lot of value

498

out of the accelerator program.

499

And again, like, what are you waiting for?

500

Just hop into it, you know?

501

Um, I think back all the time about,

you know, if I would've done this,

502

like, several years ago, I could

already be so far into my career by now.

503

And, you know, you don't wanna wait.

504

Avery: It's, it's like they say,

like, the best time to plant a tree

505

was 10 years ago, the next best

time is today or whatever, right?

506

It's right now.

507

Um, that makes a lot of sense.

508

Um, in terms of, like, what's next

for your career, what are you,

509

what are you focused on right now?

510

Are you just, like…

511

I mean, I know you're brand new,

so is it just, like- Hmm … um,

512

you're interested in, like, learning

from the people around you, you're

513

learning and making an impact at this

company, and just excited about that?

514

David Kovacs: Yeah, definitely lear-

you know, learning from the people

515

around me, like you said, getting the

absolute best at my job that I can.

516

And then from there, you know, I'd

like to learn more coding and get

517

into more data engineering type stuff

maybe, like to learn how to, how I

518

can help other departments in the

company, and I'd like to maybe even

519

start doing some freelance work.

520

Avery: That's awesome.

521

The- you're just starting out in

your journey, and there's so many

522

cool places, um, that you can go.

523

It's, like, really that, that data analyst

role is such, like, a, a steppingstone

524

role where you could literally go so many

different places, like you said, data

525

engineering or- Mm-hmm … or more coding.

526

You know, those, all those different

routes that you have, and that's awesome.

527

Well, great, David.

528

I think, uh, everyone who's listened

to this episode will have, like,

529

a really good feeling of, like, if

you're in a career that you hate, there

530

is light at the end of the tunnel,

no matter how different it is from

531

data analytics, and it can be done.

532

You know, uh, it took you about a, a

year, I think, from maybe deciding to

533

actually landing your data job-ish,

um, from joining the, the boot camp to

534

landing your first data job, like 90

days, which I think is an obtainable

535

timeframe for, for pretty much everyone.

536

I think I'm grateful for you

for being willing to come on the

537

show and be an example of what

that roadla- roadmap looks like.

538

What does it actually look like to

go from, you know, architecture and

539

landscape design to, to data analyst?

540

Because as far as I know, I mean, I'm sure

you're not the only one on planet Earth.

541

But you're the only one that I

personally know, and I've been

542

doing this, uh, s- for six years.

543

So, um, I think, I think you're, you're

a really great example, and I appreciate

544

you coming on and sharing your story.

545

I really appreciate it.

546

David Kovacs: Thanks, Avery.