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138: Steven Tran’s 3-Month Journey to Becoming a Data Analyst
Episode 1383rd December 2024 • Data Career Podcast: Helping You Land a Data Analyst Job FAST • Avery Smith - Data Career Coach
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Steven Tran went from tech support to analytics pro in just three months, and he's spilling the tea on how he made it happen.

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👔 Ace The Interview with Confidence 👉 https://www.datacareerjumpstart.com//interviewsimulator

⌚ TIMESTAMPS

00:37 Meet Steven Tran: From Tech Support to Data Analytics

02:30 Steven's Career Transformation Timeline

06:29 Financial and Career Growth

07:52 The Importance of Projects and Passion

16:57 The Importance of a Portfolio

18:34 Growing Your LinkedIn Presence

24:42 Interview Experiences and Job Success


🔗 CONNECT WITH STEVEN TRAN

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentran96


🔗 CONNECT WITH AVERY

🎥 YouTube Channel

🤝 LinkedIn

📸 Instagram

🎵 TikTok

💻 Website

Mentioned in this episode:

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Transcripts

Speaker:

All right.

2

:

Very excited for today's episode.

3

:

It's actually an interview I did with one

of my students, Stephen Tran, who is a

4

:

member of the data analytics accelerator.

5

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Um, I, or.

6

:

I've already published this.

7

:

You guys have maybe heard this before,

but I really just wanted to highlight.

8

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How incredible Steven's journey was.

9

:

And for those of you that are

new to the podcast, you might

10

:

not have listened to this one.

11

:

Um, because it was

quite a bit a while ago.

12

:

So, um, And we just kinda went

through Steven's whole story of

13

:

how he actually landed a data

job kind of step-by-step and.

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I thought this was a great episode.

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I just wanted to reshare it with

y'all if you haven't heard it.

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So, uh, let's get into today's episode.

17

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Welcome back to the Data Career podcast.

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I'm super excited for two.

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Today's episode, I'm doing an interview.

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With one of our DCJ Data Career

Jumpstart members, Steven Tran.

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And I'm super excited to have him

here and tell us about his story.

22

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Welcome to the Data Career Podcast,

the podcast that helps aspiring data

23

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professionals land their next data job.

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Here's your host, Avery Smith.

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So Steven, welcome to the podcast.

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Thank you, Avery.

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I love that you invited me on the podcast.

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Cause I don't know if you know

this, I've listened to every

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single episode of your podcast.

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Have you really?

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Yeah, it's actually helped me

a lot making my LinkedIn posts.

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So we'll talk about that.

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Awesome.

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Well, now you, I guess this is one

of the episodes you won't listen to.

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You don't have to listen to this one.

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I guess you can just, you can just be

in it and you can just talk about it.

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So super excited to have you.

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So let's start with, we're gonna

start with the big picture.

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Okay.

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So for those of you who don't know, which

is probably a lot of you guys, Steven.

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What was your title

before your current title?

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It was technical support analyst.

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Okay.

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And what type of company was that for?

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It was for a mortgage company

called Ellie May and they were

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acquired by ice mortgage technology.

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So that's what they're known as now.

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Okay.

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So you were kind of working in this like

mortgage company doing a little bit of.

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Of it work.

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Is that right?

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Or yeah, I, I just call it a

glorified tech support job.

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Okay, sweet.

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So like, was that like making sure people

like had PowerPoint working correctly

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or like, what was like a daily task?

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Yeah.

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So it was a little bit more than that

because what I was doing, I was giving

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like API support, so we have our program

called encompass where people can, our

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mortgage loan officers can go through and

manage their loans and stuff, but we also

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we allow them to create their own code.

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So I would help debug that

code for them basically.

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So I would have tickets and whatnot that

I'd have to go through and follow up and

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you know, and all that stuff like that,

but yeah, basically a tech support role.

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Okay.

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So from a tech support role

to now, I think you're.

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Title is, I'm going to read this,

Senior Associate in Analytics, right?

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Yep.

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That's correct.

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Okay.

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At Dentsu, which is like a, like a

big media marketing company, right?

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Mm hmm.

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That's right.

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Okay.

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So basically you transformed your career

from this tech support role into this, you

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know, senior associate in analytics role

in like less than six months, correct?

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Absolutely.

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Yep.

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That's right.

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Okay.

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So to give the people a timeline,

you are at this non data job

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and then got this awesome data

job in just a couple of months.

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What were the timelines on that?

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Like, when did you start your data?

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So in data journey overall, I

finished my degree in business

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administration back in December.

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So I was looking into jobs of data or like

how I can gain the skill set in November.

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It's been a very recent pivot.

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Cause I was kind of like, Oh

no, I'm going to graduate soon.

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What am I going to do?

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You know, I'm working this,

this dead end tech support job.

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I don't want to do this forever.

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I want to be a data analyst.

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What is it going to take to become one?

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Okay.

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So I didn't realize that.

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So this is November of 2021.

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You're going to graduate from

your degree, which was in business

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administration in December.

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And, and that's when I guess

you spoke or to a mutual friend

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of ours, I guess your cousin.

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Is that right?

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That's right.

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Okay.

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Dom, shout out Dom.

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And Dom introduced you

to me and in my program.

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So I think you joined Data Career

Jumpstart, the big course, the

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project camp in November, correct?

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That's correct.

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And then when did you land

your job with Densive?

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So my official start date was February

28th, but they extended the offer

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to me about a month beforehand.

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So January, like the end of January.

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Okay.

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So, so end of January, early February.

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So basically we're looking at November,

December, January, January, three months.

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Yep.

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Three months from, from like,

did you, like how much data

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experience did you have?

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So.

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I had Python classes because I also did

computer science before I transitioned.

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And I also had a single SQL course

that I took, which I did not take

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seriously, so I didn't carry a lot.

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So, not a whole bunch, I would say.

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Okay, but some.

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So that's, that's what

you're referring to.

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Back in college, you originally

were studying computer science and

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then switched to business, right?

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Yep.

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So not like a ton, definitely no

real world experience, you know,

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maybe some college classes and you

were in a tech support role and it

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sounded like there were some, at least

looking at code involved in that.

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So not like the furthest away,

but also not the closest, right?

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Yes, exactly.

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Okay.

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So basically just, just to give people

an overview in three months, you went

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from tech support role to this new job

in analytics, and I guess, tell people

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a little bit about your current job.

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Like, are you in the office or no?

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Nope, it's completely remote.

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Completely remote and like, do you like

what you do more than you did previously?

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Oh, absolutely.

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100%.

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It's, it's so much fun.

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I'm learning so much every day.

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I mean, it's stressful with

all the projects that are going

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on, but it's, it's good stress.

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You know, it's something that I

can work on and learn more of.

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Okay.

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And like, so, okay, now

you're working remotely.

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I guess you're still in California, right?

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Yes, that's right.

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Okay.

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So you got to stay where,

live where you want to live.

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The people, the, the company

density is pretty international.

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Where do they have offices?

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I don't even know.

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They have a lot of

offices on the East coast.

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I, one of their main

offices is in New York.

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So a lot of my team is in New York.

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Do you have to like wake

up early for calls then?

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No, actually they've been pretty nice.

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Even though I'm the only West

Coast person, they've been trying

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to schedule all our meetings like

later on in the day just for me.

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So it'll be in the afternoon for

them, but like in the morning for

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me, which I don't mind at all.

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So they've been really nice about that.

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That's awesome.

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Okay, so you get to be where you're at.

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You're a West Coast guy.

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You're working from home.

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What, what about financials?

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Like, like, are you, if I've been

going to as much detail as you want,

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but like, do you feel like you're

better financially at this place

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than you were at the other place?

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Yes.

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100 percent in a better place.

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I wasn't struggling before, but

I definitely not struggling now.

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It was about a 15 K increase,

which is I'm super psyched about

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because this is something that,

you know, I like living on my own.

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I want to keep living on my own.

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So I've am able to do that still.

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Okay.

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So, wow.

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So basically.

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You like essentially in three months, you

gave yourself a 15, 000 raise basically.

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Yeah.

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I would say that.

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And, and the cool part, I think about

analytics and data in general is it's

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like, you're not, it's not dead end.

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Like you can keep progressing

on and on for a long time.

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So it's like, you know, it's

15, 000, you know, at the jump.

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And then, and then, you know, maybe

five years down the line, it's another,

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you know, 20 or something like that.

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Who knows, but it's like,

you can keep progressing.

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Right.

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Isn't, I think that's

one of the coolest parts.

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Yes, that was one of the biggest

things for me because one of the

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things that I asked for when I was

interviewing was that, do you have a

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way for me to become a data scientist?

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Because that was a really big thing

for me because progression is huge

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for me because I need that motivation.

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I need to be able to progress

upwards and you know, it's not

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just from a money standpoint, it's

from, I just want to build myself.

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You know, I just finished college

and it's still fresh for me.

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I want to get into the workforce

and I want to build my reputation.

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So let's now, now, now that people

understand, you know, your journey.

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So from tech support, graduating

college in business, maybe taking

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one, one or two programming

classes to within three months.

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Landing this job at a pretty big

international, you know, marketing

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company, getting that 15, 000 raise,

being able to work, you know, where

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you want, let's talk about kind of

the, the, how, how you got there and

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what you thought was, was important.

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So you started by joining

Data Crew Jumpstart and.

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You know, took some of the lessons there.

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Do you feel like you

were learning quickly?

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Like what, what was the first thing that

you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm getting this.

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I like this.

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Like, what was the first time where you're

like, this totally is something I want to.

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Yeah.

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So definitely the biggest thing that I

love about DCJ, and this is one thing

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that I talk to a lot of people about

is I like the project approach rather

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than the, here's a homework assignment.

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It's due next week kind of approach.

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And also the, the shorter videos, the

bite by bite, 10 to 20 minute videos.

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I don't know about you, but I feel like.

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I just snore an hour,

two hour long lecture.

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Like I don't retain anything,

you know, and a lot of these

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things, they are hands on.

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You can follow along,

but I just get so bored.

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I'm gonna have to pause it here.

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When I come back, I'm

gonna forget where I was.

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So I love the little bite

sized videos that you have.

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And that's just one thing that was able

to keep me to do like, Oh, maybe I'll do

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two videos today or three videos next day.

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So I can just do something every

day, you know, it keeps it fresh.

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Yeah.

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I think that's something I've

really tried to do with most of

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my courses and trainings is like

projects, projects, projects.

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Projects, projects, projects.

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And I remember, I think you

latched onto that pretty quickly.

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I remember, you know, one of the hobbies

that you have outside of data, right?

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But outside of work is,

is weightlifting, right?

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Do you want to tell the people

a little bit about what you do?

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Yeah.

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So I'm a competitive power lifter,

which means I try to lift as

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heavy as I possibly can in the

squat bench and deadlift category.

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So that's a little, fun thing that

I do outside of work, outside of my

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nine to five, outside of my studying.

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So I, you can typically find me at the

gym, maybe two to three hours a day.

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Okay.

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But don't, don't be humble.

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Tell the people how you did

in the last competition.

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Yeah.

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So I ended up getting a gold medal

first place in my last competition.

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So that was really fun.

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And how was it?

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Come on, give us the details.

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So squat, my heaviest lift was 457 pounds.

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Let's see.

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Bench was 270 pounds and

the deadlift was 500.

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2 pounds.

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Sheesh.

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That is crazy.

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Yeah.

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I don't know if I've done that, that

much weight, like in all of my years

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combined of, of going to the gym.

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So anyways, you, you love weightlifting.

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You went through a pretty big fitness

journey in your life too, right?

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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And I remember you made a project

about it, if I'm not mistaken about.

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You know, kind of your weight loss

journey, your, your weight increase

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and like being able to lift.

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And for me, that was when I

was like, all right, I see

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big things coming from Steven.

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I was like this, when you're able to take

something in your life that you enjoy and

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apply it and tie it into data, I'm like,

okay, that person's going to succeed.

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Absolutely.

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That's one thing that I talk to a lot

of people, a lot of people that have

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been reaching out to me through LinkedIn

is just don't just do these projects

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that people are telling you to do.

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Learn those skills and apply them to

things that you're passionate about.

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Because I had so much fun

making that dashboard.

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Like, I don't know about you, but

like, if someone told me I had

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fun doing dashboards, I would be

like, You're just a nerd, dude.

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I don't want to hear this, but I

had so much fun doing that project

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because it's personal to me.

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It's something that I care about.

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And I just wanted, it was my baby.

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You know, I wanted to make

it as best as I could.

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And people loved that dashboard,

especially during interviews.

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Yeah.

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So, okay.

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So you're in DCJ.

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We're doing projects.

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So we start off with the

screen time project, doing

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a lot of data visualization.

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Then, then we have a project

about fitness as well.

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So we dive, dive into Python and those

are kind of the, the two, the two

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things that probably you had done before

applying to jobs, is that correct?

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That's correct.

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Yes.

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So it took you about.

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Two months to do those more or less.

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Is that right?

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More or less.

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Yeah.

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About two months.

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Okay.

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And I guess another aspect of

DataCrew Jumpstart is it's not

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only technical skills, but it's

also, you know, personal skills and

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soft skills and networking skills.

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So whole section on LinkedIn, whole

section on finding jobs when you were

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applying to jobs, what was your strategy?

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And then what ended up working?

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So when I was applying to

jobs, a lot of it was just.

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Going on LinkedIn, looking for

data analysts, whether I was, I

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was filtering by remote because

my last job was remote also.

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And I was like, I don't want

to go back to office anymore.

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I can just leave and go for

a walk whenever I want to.

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So I made sure remote was one of those.

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And then I also did easy apply.

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I know it's not like the best way to

go through jobs, but for me, I needed

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to do job applications as easy as

possible because it's really draining

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to do job applications, especially

if you have to email like three

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different cover letters or whatnot.

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So Easy Apply was really good

for me because I can literally

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just lay in bed, watch Netflix

and just apply, apply, apply.

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Okay.

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I get through like 50 or

so applications a night.

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You know, just chilling,

applying that way.

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And yeah.

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Did you have any luck

with the easy applies?

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I'll be honest.

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Not really.

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I had one company get back to

me, but that's because I had

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experience in the mortgage company.

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So that one company got back to me

and I did interview with them as well.

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Okay.

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So a couple of things, a couple of

things that I think you said, one

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is like you're applying to like

data analyst positions, correct?

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Yeah.

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Two.

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Yes, that's correct.

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Okay, so one thing I like that Stephen

just mentioned, he doesn't have, he's

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never been a data analyst, he doesn't

have analytics experience, he's never

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been a data scientist, but he's applying

for these entry level, you know, data

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analyst jobs, but where he had success,

I think is really important here, Was

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when he applied to a mortgage company.

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And some people are like, Oh, I don't

have any experience being a data analyst.

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And you know what, that might be true.

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That might not be on your resume,

you might not have actually crunched

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that much numbers, but you definitely

have some sort of experience, whether

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it's in teaching or whether it's

in mortgage or something like that.

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I think it's important to really marry

those at the beginning, especially

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when you're trying to get interviews,

because like, There's data in every

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industry around the world, right?

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If you've been, you know, it's, if

you've been an athlete, there's,

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there's sports analytics jobs.

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If you've been in business,

there's business analyst jobs.

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Like I think Steven did a really

good point there of like leaning

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in on his, you know, background.

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I think that made him more

attractive to, to employers and

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recruiters and stuff like that.

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And also a lot of perseverance right

there, you know, cause, cause I'm sure you

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got a lot of projections and, and didn't

hear back from a lot of those, right?

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I'm still getting those rejection

emails and I'm like, I'm good, man.

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I'm almost three months into this job.

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I don't, I'm good.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You're like sucks to suck.

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I already have a job.

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Thank you very much.

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So let's talk about that.

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So how did you find this job

or how did they find you?

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And what was that process like?

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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So I actually saw through the DCJ discord,

you know, Ellie, I absolutely love Ellie.

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She's one of.

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My mentors and Avery, you're

also one of my mentors.

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I want to make sure that that's clear

like You have an amazing community that

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you've built here and the people that are

giving back even though they're not We

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talked about this which is really funny.

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Yeah, and I wanted to message her on

linkedin, but she did not allow People so

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I had to get in mail and to get in mail I

had to get the was it called the LinkedIn

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premium Yeah, I literally paid 40 just

to get LinkedIn premium so I could send

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her a message and say hey, I'm interested

about this job Can you look at my resume?

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Can you talk to me?

392

:

Let me know like would I be a good fit?

393

:

What do I need to look for?

394

:

To learn to be a good fit.

395

:

And we scheduled a phone call

and we talked about all of that.

396

:

And she actually helped

me rebuild my resume.

397

:

She helped me highlight some

words and stuff like that.

398

:

I would, I would go as far to say that

she did, redid my whole resume for me.

399

:

She was giving me tips at first

and she was like, you know what?

400

:

Just send me the, send me the word file.

401

:

And she, she redid my whole resume for me.

402

:

So she's absolutely amazing.

403

:

She's a star.

404

:

Senior manager of analytics

in Dentsu as well.

405

:

We don't work on the same

team, unfortunately, but we

406

:

still talk from time to time.

407

:

And she's an amazing asset

to have in this industry.

408

:

So I think, I think there's a lot

of really interesting things there

409

:

because part, part of the reason I

made DataCrew Jumpstart, and I haven't

410

:

really, I haven't really talked about

this since I launched the course.

411

:

I've kind of, I've kind of forgotten

about this, but one of the reasons

412

:

I launched it was because, you know,

I, I broke into data science, like.

413

:

Like seven years ago.

414

:

Right.

415

:

And when I was doing it, I mean, it was,

it was still pretty popular, I think, but

416

:

definitely not as popular as it is now.

417

:

And there definitely was not

nearly as many resources.

418

:

And I was super lonely.

419

:

I was like, I don't know if anyone knows

what I'm doing or like, I don't know if

420

:

anyone else is on the same journey as me.

421

:

A shout out to Ellie.

422

:

Ellie is totally awesome.

423

:

Very helpful to the community

and aspiring data professionals.

424

:

And you connected with

her, but, but hold on.

425

:

I, what I love here is that like.

426

:

There was a, there was a

something to yet overcome.

427

:

You like couldn't figure

out how to message her.

428

:

That's okay.

429

:

Cause cause you paid the 40 bucks.

430

:

You got the LinkedIn

premium, sent her an email.

431

:

What was that cold message?

432

:

Like, like, just like, Hey, I

saw you posted in DCJ discord.

433

:

About a job opening, you know, I've

been, I've been an Avery's program

434

:

and learning something like that.

435

:

It was 100 percent just like that.

436

:

It was just, yeah, I've

been working in DCJ.

437

:

I've been, I've done with most of it.

438

:

Can you look at my resume?

439

:

What can I change or what should I learn?

440

:

What should I focus on basically?

441

:

Yeah.

442

:

And I love, I love that also

because you had a portfolio.

443

:

That's, that's something.

444

:

That that.

445

:

Okay.

446

:

So I have a lot of DMS.

447

:

I get a lot of DMS every day.

448

:

People, people asking me for

advice, people asking me for jobs.

449

:

I get a lot of jobs.

450

:

It's, I think one out of a hundred

DMS that I've ever gotten have

451

:

had a portfolio attached to it.

452

:

And guess what?

453

:

Guess who I hired as the one

person I've ever really hired is

454

:

the person who had a portfolio.

455

:

Having a portfolio just proves that

you like are for real and like you can

456

:

do the things that you say you can.

457

:

Here's the evidence, right?

458

:

And I know Ellie really liked that

about you that you had the portfolio.

459

:

That like you had evidence, she's

a big fan of data visualization.

460

:

You had awesome data visualizations,

for instance, from, from data career

461

:

jumpstart and also just like your fitness

journey and stuff like that as well.

462

:

Had some, had some pretty

cool data visualizations.

463

:

So I think that played a big role in

you, like catching her attention and

464

:

her being willing to help you out

was just like, you were for real, you

465

:

know, that portfolio made you for real.

466

:

Yeah, I was gonna say portfolios are very

undervalued right now because I, I also

467

:

get a lot of DMs, especially now with all

my posts going viral or whatnot, but a

468

:

lot of them, they don't have portfolios.

469

:

Like they don't send me, I ask them,

I always say, Hey, I can help you.

470

:

I know you're looking, send me your

resume, send me your portfolio.

471

:

A lot of them don't have any portfolios.

472

:

And I just keep telling people

like, how do these companies

473

:

know what you've been working on?

474

:

Sure.

475

:

You got the SQL skills.

476

:

You got the Python skills.

477

:

Data visualization, but they need to

see something needs to be tangible.

478

:

They need to be able to picture you

in their role before they hire you.

479

:

Yeah.

480

:

That's one thing that I try to promote.

481

:

Yeah, for sure.

482

:

And let's, let's go ahead

and talk about your LinkedIn.

483

:

So I'm actually, I'm actually

going to go ahead and I'm going

484

:

to go to your LinkedIn right now.

485

:

Cause I want to, I want to get

some live, some live things.

486

:

All right.

487

:

So I'm going to linkedin.

488

:

com.

489

:

We'll have Steven's LinkedIn

in the show notes down below.

490

:

I'm going to go to your page.

491

:

Let's see.

492

:

I just lost it.

493

:

There we go.

494

:

And I want to check something.

495

:

So currently right now, you have

3, 831 followers on LinkedIn.

496

:

Okay.

497

:

Yeah, I want you to go back to

November, six months ago, okay,

498

:

not even half a year really.

499

:

How many, how many connections or

followers did you have on LinkedIn?

500

:

So I had zero followers cause I didn't

allow followers and connections.

501

:

It was probably like 20, like 20 people.

502

:

So basically you've grown your LinkedIn,

like who knows how many times since,

503

:

since you joined DCJ basically.

504

:

And, and, and more specifically.

505

:

So you went from, let's say, let's

say from:

506

:

has like connections and followers.

507

:

It's kind of confusing.

508

:

I'm just going to call them followers.

509

:

So you had like 20 connections.

510

:

And now you have 3, 831.

511

:

Now let's, let's talk about

specifically how you gained those.

512

:

So you've been posting, I know

a big part about DCJ is posting,

513

:

posting, posting, posting, posting.

514

:

And recently, let's see a couple of

days ago, you had a post go super viral.

515

:

Five days ago, it has 3, 194

516

:

reactions.

517

:

95 comments, 57 shares,

and it's three sentences.

518

:

That's right.

519

:

So did most of the followers

come from that or before that?

520

:

I would say most of them came from

that, but I wanted to make sure

521

:

that I was still posting after that.

522

:

Because I feel like when you get

that exposure, it only lasts so long.

523

:

So the biggest thing I wouldn't

say stressor for me was like, Oh,

524

:

what's the next post going to be?

525

:

It's definitely not going to be as

good, but I need to show these new

526

:

followers, you know, the type of

content that I want to put out, the

527

:

kind of things that I want to set.

528

:

So it was a little bit

of a time crunch for me.

529

:

Yeah.

530

:

Okay.

531

:

So then the next one was three days later.

532

:

And, uh, it ended up getting 872

likes, 82 comments and 25 shares.

533

:

Yeah.

534

:

Yep.

535

:

That was the things you can do

to break into data analytics.

536

:

Okay.

537

:

And then the next one

had 1, 437 reactions.

538

:

85 comments and 163.

539

:

That's right.

540

:

Okay.

541

:

So gone pretty viral

recently on, on LinkedIn.

542

:

People are asking you for advice.

543

:

What, what advice do you give people who,

who said they want to go into analytics?

544

:

A lot of the time I will ask what their

background is because a lot of people,

545

:

I, you don't necessarily think that you

need a background in data analytics.

546

:

You can literally get started today.

547

:

Like look up SQL, look up some

Python, learn some data viz.

548

:

But a lot of the times.

549

:

They're, they're asking like, what

can I do or what can I learn, but some

550

:

people are just straight up asking

me for a job and I'm like, I mean,

551

:

I'm just a, I'm just an associate.

552

:

Like, I can't, I can't give you

a job, but some, actually some

553

:

people ask me like, Oh, do you

have any projects I can help on?

554

:

Those people, I value their

comments a little bit more because

555

:

it's not asking for a handout.

556

:

I don't want to sound vain, but it just

seems like it's not mutually beneficial.

557

:

beneficial to either of

us, you know what I mean?

558

:

So I like those messages that

people are asking like, well,

559

:

what are you working on?

560

:

Or what, what can I help you with?

561

:

Things like that.

562

:

It's, it's, yeah, I totally agree that

whenever, whenever you're, you know,

563

:

cold messaging someone or, or even like

talking to someone, it's a, The first

564

:

message should always be, how can I

provide this person value in their life?

565

:

How can I help this person?

566

:

Because, you know, obviously, you know,

I have a substantial LinkedIn following

567

:

and when I have posts that, that go

viral, it's like a mad zoo in there.

568

:

It's like very, it's very crazy.

569

:

And to be honest, I don't read like

half of them probably at the end of

570

:

the day, it's just, it's just too

much, but I try to find the ones

571

:

that like, Oh, this is interesting.

572

:

Or this person's different.

573

:

Or this person is saying, thank you.

574

:

Like this person doesn't

want anything from me.

575

:

They're just saying thank you.

576

:

And yeah, maybe it does seem vain,

but that's like human nature.

577

:

Like we, we don't trust people until

they prove their worthiness, you know?

578

:

And most of the time people are just

asking for stuff and it's, it's kind

579

:

of annoying because unfortunately.

580

:

I can't spend, you know, we

can't spend our whole lives and

581

:

our whole time helping people.

582

:

We can help a few people, but when

it gets to such a big, big number, it

583

:

gets a little bit difficult because

we got to put food on the table.

584

:

Got to pay the bills.

585

:

Yeah.

586

:

So let, let me actually, let me, let me

read this, this viral post that you had.

587

:

So let me pull this up here.

588

:

The one I really liked was things you

can do to break in a data analyst.

589

:

Learn your hard skills

in order of importance.

590

:

I am a SQL Excel.

591

:

Python, statistics, data

visualization, Tableau, and Power BI.

592

:

Learn your soft skills.

593

:

Tailored resume, online portfolio,

answers to basic data analytic questions.

594

:

And then don't forget to apply.

595

:

Okay, so talk about one of those

points that you find that's like really

596

:

valuable that other people maybe, maybe

don't see the same way that you do.

597

:

So, um, Yeah, this, this post was

definitely built on my experience trying

598

:

to get a job in data analytics, which

I feel like my individual experience

599

:

would also apply to a lot of other

people, which a lot of people have been

600

:

sending me messages like, hey, I've

been in the exact place where you are,

601

:

except I haven't gotten that job yet.

602

:

But the biggest thing that, the main

reason I wanted to make this post This

603

:

post was the just because you don't

satisfy the job requirements part.

604

:

There was actually a podcast that I

listened to you and someone said this.

605

:

I'm sorry.

606

:

I'm forgetting the name of

the person that you talked to.

607

:

I think they were a data

freelancer, a data freelancer.

608

:

They were talking about that.

609

:

Just make sure that you apply.

610

:

Like a lot of these job requirements are

just like, they're not even minimums.

611

:

I don't think they're

like the ideal candidate.

612

:

And that really resonated with me

because when I was applying to jobs,

613

:

um, A lot of the time, I wasn't even

looking at the job requirements.

614

:

I was just applying, because

like, because in my head, I'm

615

:

just like, if they considered me,

then they fit me as that profile.

616

:

So if, if I might as well

shoot my shot, right?

617

:

For sure.

618

:

So that was, that was the main

thing I wanted to nail home.

619

:

It's just like, these are like, if you fit

50%, 60 percent of that profile, do it.

620

:

Why not?

621

:

What do you have to lose?

622

:

Yeah, especially if it's if it's only

time I mean, and time obviously is

623

:

valuable but at least it's not money you

know what I'm saying like you can apply

624

:

and definitely like I think, I think

the requirements have to be honest so

625

:

I obviously I try to help people find

jobs and so one of my one of my main

626

:

jobs is to try to help my students,

especially inside data career jumpstart.

627

:

Find jobs that fit them well.

628

:

And so I spent a lot of time

talking to CEOs, a lot of times

629

:

speaking to recruiters and try to

match make the process basically.

630

:

And so now people kind of send me jobs

and say, Hey, I'm looking for this.

631

:

Do you have anyone like that?

632

:

And recently I had a guy reach

out to me, a CEO of a company.

633

:

I will not say which, but it's

anyways, it's, it's a big business

634

:

and they, but they've never actually

had a data analyst or data scientist.

635

:

So I guess not that big.

636

:

I guess it's a midsize company,

actually probably small compared

637

:

to everything in the world.

638

:

It probably has like.

639

:

100 employees.

640

:

And he wanted to hire a data,

data analyst or a data scientist.

641

:

And he's like, I'm going to

write the job description and

642

:

let me know what you think.

643

:

And he came back to me and it was

this, it was a data analyst role,

644

:

but like all the requirements were

data scientists, like requirements.

645

:

And I was like, bro, this

is a data scientist job.

646

:

And he's like, well,

what's the difference?

647

:

And so sometimes the people, you

know, writing the job, hopefully

648

:

this isn't always the case.

649

:

Like, I don't know.

650

:

I hope, I hope this is an exception,

but like, he didn't even really

651

:

know what he was talking about.

652

:

And that's, that's why

he was talking to me.

653

:

But sometimes, sometimes, especially

smaller companies, they don't

654

:

know what they want, or they're

listing like 100 things and they

655

:

don't really need those things.

656

:

They need, they need two

out of the hundred things.

657

:

So you never know, it can never hurt.

658

:

But, but one of the things I think is,

is most valuable that you did was you're,

659

:

you're leaning on your networking,

you're leaning on the people, you know,

660

:

you know, you're, you're in the data

career jumpstart discord, you're talking

661

:

to DMing people, you know, who, who

know me, like you're, you're leaning

662

:

on the community around you and using

the network that ended up landing you

663

:

the, you know, the, the awesome job.

664

:

And a lot of the times I think, you

know, applying online does work,

665

:

but if you can figure out how to

like, Talk to a human instead of

666

:

having to go through the system.

667

:

I would always choose

talking to human 10 times.

668

:

Absolutely.

669

:

Absolutely.

670

:

I 100 percent agree every job I've

ever had, and I've had six or seven

671

:

jobs or because I knew someone that was

working there already every single job.

672

:

So networking is another

undervalued skill.

673

:

I mean, I don't, I don't want to say

it's undervalued, but people don't

674

:

practice it the way that you should.

675

:

It was making those connections and

building your skills based on those

676

:

connections is just, I don't know.

677

:

I would, yeah, undervalued . I think

especially on LinkedIn because like, I

678

:

don't know about you, but like I do not

necessarily enjoy networking events.

679

:

Like where, well, okay I take it back,

but like for instance, like socials,

680

:

like where you like just have to like

go up to someone and introduce yourself.

681

:

I'm not very good at that as an introvert,

and I know maybe you guys don't believe

682

:

me, but I'm super introverted and like

I'd much rather have like a topic, so like

683

:

for instance, if they posted on LinkedIn.

684

:

I would love to comment on their post,

or, or maybe they'll come on my post

685

:

if I post like I like having like a

vehicle, where our conversation flows

686

:

versus just like meeting in person

and, and also like on the internet.

687

:

I can tell, I know exactly who you

are, off of your LinkedIn profile.

688

:

If we go to a real life like mixer.

689

:

I'm just like judging your appearance

to like, hopefully know what you do.

690

:

And like, I know that I went to the

Silicon slopes conference, which is like

691

:

a pretty big tech tech conference in Utah.

692

:

And like, I was like, how

do I maximize my time?

693

:

I'm going to like meet some random

people and like, you just walk into

694

:

people and be like, Hey, what do you do?

695

:

And it's like, Oh, like I make potato.

696

:

Like machines, and it's

like, okay, I'm sorry.

697

:

I'm not really interested in that.

698

:

And I can't relate versus on LinkedIn.

699

:

I can be like, oh, this person, you know,

works for a marketing analytics company.

700

:

That's super interesting.

701

:

Let's start a conversation there.

702

:

So I just feel like I feel like

LinkedIn is still underrated

703

:

for the networking aspect of it.

704

:

I don't know.

705

:

Yeah, I think events like that, they kind

of force this genuine connection when you

706

:

can't really force something like that.

707

:

Especially at those events, you're, you're

expected to ask people what they do.

708

:

You're expected to be asked what you do.

709

:

Whereas in LinkedIn, you can choose that.

710

:

You can choose to let anyone know as much

as you want to, but also, you know, you

711

:

have your profile and all that stuff.

712

:

But yeah, it's just, it

just lacks that genuineness.

713

:

Yeah.

714

:

And who knows, maybe, maybe,

maybe I do like in person events.

715

:

So maybe Maybe I was just that too

broad of an event and maybe like,

716

:

like, for instance, I have enjoyed the

data conferences that I've gone to.

717

:

So maybe it was just too broad but anyways

I like LinkedIn because it can be really

718

:

like I'm much better on one on one versus

in group so big big fan of LinkedIn.

719

:

Okay, so, With that, I'm just

going to rehash your story.

720

:

You're working for this mortgage company

as a tech support, graduating college,

721

:

join, join DCJ, start posting on LinkedIn.

722

:

You know, you're by the way, your

LinkedIn profile looks really good.

723

:

I love, love your cover photo.

724

:

That's one of the things that we go over

in DCJ and no one uses the cover photo.

725

:

In a good way.

726

:

A lot of people don't anyways.

727

:

So love it.

728

:

Love your profile picture.

729

:

Great, great headline on your LinkedIn.

730

:

Posting good things.

731

:

You're using the featured

section, which is another thing.

732

:

Your first thing is your portfolio.

733

:

Next few things are cool

graphs and viral posts.

734

:

So you're nailing, you're

nailing the LinkedIn thing.

735

:

Land a job through networking,

you know, 15k increase.

736

:

In, in salary, you know, you're

working remotely, which is awesome,

737

:

enjoying life, have room to grow.

738

:

So that's, that's kind of the Steven

story that we want to shout from the

739

:

rooftop rooftops and let everyone know

that you can, you know, you can go

740

:

from, from, I don't want to say nothing

because you are definitely something,

741

:

but, but non non data jobs, non data

jobs to a data analyst role or associate

742

:

data analytics role in three months.

743

:

Yeah, absolutely.

744

:

Crazy journey I've been

on and still going on.

745

:

So I just want to give you all the

biggest props because there's people

746

:

inside of data career jumpstart.

747

:

Who have been in there, you know,

like how long has it, I guess we

748

:

started in September, September,

October, November, I guess like eight

749

:

months who are still struggling.

750

:

And one thing I think you did

really well is one, you took

751

:

the content really quickly.

752

:

You built and like fell in love with

your portfolio like you're like my

753

:

portfolios is where I post stuff

you documented stuff really well.

754

:

And then you networked.

755

:

I mean, those are really like, honestly,

that's what data career jumpstart is.

756

:

is all about.

757

:

It's like those three things.

758

:

It's like, can you work fast?

759

:

Can you make projects?

760

:

And can you network?

761

:

And you did those three things well.

762

:

I think that's why it led to, you

know, your success so quickly.

763

:

You know, I think, I think at the end of

the day, that's, that's pretty much, you

764

:

know, how you got to where you're at.

765

:

And now, now you're helping other people.

766

:

Now you're learning more.

767

:

I know you've, you've been mentioning,

you've been SQL on the job and,

768

:

and that's the whole point, right?

769

:

Yeah.

770

:

Like, I think I told you this straight

up, because we had a call before

771

:

you joined Data Career Jumpstart.

772

:

I said, I don't really want to take

you from being nothing to the best

773

:

data scientists on planet earth.

774

:

I want to help you get your first

job, get your foot in the door,

775

:

so you can get paid to learn.

776

:

Absolutely.

777

:

And that's what you're

going to do now, right?

778

:

And hopefully, I mean, tell, tell the

people what you're, what you're learning

779

:

and then what your, what your goals are.

780

:

So yeah, definitely.

781

:

I, During the interview process itself,

it was actually very conversational.

782

:

We never talked about anything that I

wasn't, I never had to say too many times.

783

:

It was very good.

784

:

I loved talking to, I had basically,

so I had three interviews back

785

:

to back to back from I think

nine o'clock to twelve o'clock.

786

:

In the morning, but it

was I wasn't sweating.

787

:

It was like the most genuine So I got to

interview with my director who I currently

788

:

direct our report to right now a senior

manager and then another a senior Director

789

:

too, which who all work on my current team

and they were they're absolutely amazing

790

:

people and I love them And one thing I

want to shout out about my director and

791

:

why I love So I've only been working

there for a little over two months.

792

:

And we have flexible time off, so FTO.

793

:

And she's like, Stephen, you've

been working here for two months,

794

:

you haven't taken time off.

795

:

You should take some time off.

796

:

I've never worked for a company

that told me, Hey, you need to

797

:

just, you know, you might burn out.

798

:

Just Take a break, take it off.

799

:

And I was like, okay, that's cool.

800

:

But yeah, anyway, that's awesome.

801

:

Yeah, it's, it's been an absolute journey.

802

:

So they, they have been

teaching me a lot of things.

803

:

So that was one thing that they made

sure of in the interview process.

804

:

Have you been exposed to SQL?

805

:

Have you been exposed to Tableau?

806

:

Have you been exposed to Python?

807

:

So I only had one technical question

during that whole interview, which was,

808

:

so here's a table and then she described

the columns and here's another table.

809

:

She asked her, how would you join

these or what join would you use?

810

:

And I was.

811

:

Able to, I actually had a, a definition

of all the joins, cause I, I kinda

812

:

knew that they might ask some join

questions on one of my screens.

813

:

I have three screens, basically.

814

:

So I had, on one of my screens, I

had, I had, oh, what a full join was.

815

:

I was like, oh, full join sounds

like something I would want to use.

816

:

She was like, yeah, that's,

that's what you would use.

817

:

And I was like, cool,

that's about all I know.

818

:

About SQL besides, you know, the main

definitions select from where group by

819

:

all that kind of stuff, but yeah, they're

basically giving me SQL lessons right now.

820

:

And I've just been

learning, I know Python.

821

:

It's just learning pandas,

sqlearn, sklearn a little

822

:

bit more and stuff like that.

823

:

So it's definitely the ideal situation

of getting paid to learn and knowing

824

:

from the get go, what the expectation

was really made it easy for me to

825

:

transition into it, and I'm really

excited to learn more because one

826

:

thing I want to talk about is like, So

many people are asking me for advice.

827

:

They're saying like, oh, you know,

so much about data analytics.

828

:

I'm, I'm literally the first rung on the

ladder of data, but like the way I think

829

:

about it is there's a, there's a big

gap from the floor to the first rung to

830

:

like, you know, the, the ladder of data.

831

:

So people are asking me so many things

and I, I'm trying my absolute best and

832

:

I'm, I'm a people pleaser by, by nature.

833

:

So I try to answer every DM, try to

answer every comment and it's, it's

834

:

starting to burn me out a little bit.

835

:

So I'm not forcing myself too much,

but it's just crazy to me that

836

:

people are, Relying on me or like

trusting me with helping them in

837

:

their career when I'm literally

just the first rung on that ladder.

838

:

So it's been super humbling and

it's been super great to help out

839

:

the community any way that I can.

840

:

Yeah, totally.

841

:

Well, I think, I think in order

to be like a teacher or like a

842

:

mentor, you really only have to

be one step ahead of the people.

843

:

You know, that you're teaching.

844

:

So I think, I think that's,

that's totally fine.

845

:

And, and at the end of the day,

we're, we're all still learning.

846

:

You never will know everything in data.

847

:

So it all, it all works out in the end.

848

:

And I think, I think people talking

to you is a good thing for them, but I

849

:

totally understand the burnout aspect.

850

:

That's one of the reasons why,

you know, before, before I did

851

:

data career jumpstart, when I was

still working my nine to five at

852

:

Exxon, I did a lot of mentorship.

853

:

I did a lot of live calls.

854

:

I did a lot of DMing and it got

to a point where I was like, okay,

855

:

I'm at my absolute cap for what I

can do, you know, at this point.

856

:

And that's why, one of the reasons

why I started Data Career Jumpstart.

857

:

But awesome stuff.

858

:

I'm stupid.

859

:

I'm, I'm not stupid.

860

:

I'm super stoked for you and your, your

journey, the way I see you, like your

861

:

next, your next, you know, couple of

years, like, you know, you're going

862

:

to nail a bunch of SQL right now.

863

:

You're going to learn a

bunch of SQL on the job.

864

:

Get really good at SQL.

865

:

Um, you know, do really

learn the business.

866

:

Cause I think marketing something that's

new to you, it'd be new to me as well.

867

:

Like really learn your domain.

868

:

And then, you know, maybe, you know.

869

:

I guess you started in February

or, or March, you know, maybe six

870

:

years down the road, or not six

years, a year or two down the road.

871

:

You know, maybe you, you switch to a

different team, or, or maybe you go

872

:

into like a, a data scientist role

and you do that for two to three

873

:

years and then, you know, all of a

sudden you're, you're like an expert,

874

:

you know, data guy in marketing.

875

:

You combine those two things.

876

:

That's a huge niche.

877

:

I, I, I see such a bright

future for you, man.

878

:

I'm, I'm super excited for you

and couldn't, couldn't be more.

879

:

More happy for you also couldn't

happen to a better person.

880

:

So congratulations on all your success.

881

:

You know, just, just to recap 15 K new

job has way more, you know, place to

882

:

expand 3000 followers on LinkedIn in

like, in like four months, basically.

883

:

That's crazy.

884

:

And I think it goes a huge testament

to who you are as a person.

885

:

Right.

886

:

Thank you so much, Avery.

887

:

Yeah.

888

:

I just, like I said, you're, you're one of

my mentors in this data journey and you've

889

:

been an absolute huge help in everything.

890

:

So I love everything that DCJ has

been able to let me do and grow.

891

:

It's still, it's still helping

me even after I finished, you

892

:

know, most of those projects.

893

:

So looking forward to that

sequel part when that comes out.

894

:

Oh, it's, it's coming out.

895

:

It's coming out soon.

896

:

So yeah, looking, looking

forward to that as well.

897

:

And yeah, great stuff.

898

:

Any, any parting words you'd

like to leave the people with?

899

:

Yeah.

900

:

So it's, it's going to be

a tough road, but like, I.

901

:

I don't want to say that because

of my skills I got to where I am,

902

:

but I, one thing that my brother,

I've heard my brother say is that

903

:

luck favors those who are prepared.

904

:

So I, I want to say I'm very blessed and

I'm very lucky to have meet the people

905

:

that I have met and also to get to be

in the position that I have, I am in,

906

:

but the thing is you got to be prepared.

907

:

You know, you got to put the work

in, you got to study, you got to

908

:

learn and like when luck, when luck

happens to you, you're prepared.

909

:

So that's just one thing I would say.

910

:

For sure, for sure.

911

:

I like that.

912

:

Well, Steven, it's been

an absolute pleasure.

913

:

We'll have your link to

your LinkedIn down below.

914

:

And yeah, we'll see you more on LinkedIn.

915

:

We look forward to more posts.

916

:

I hope you enjoyed that episode.

917

:

And if you did, I'm going to

have an awesome free masterclass

918

:

that I know you're going to love.

919

:

We're going to talk about a lot of

things this episode talked about.

920

:

You can get it absolutely for

free at data career jumpstart.

921

:

com slash training, or using the

link in the show notes down below.

922

:

Hope to see you there.

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