What these analysts did to stand out (Part 1)

Posted on: June 4, 2024

Post Category: Data

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The earlier posts I’ve written for The Data Analyst Guide have covered (my idea) of the fundamentals, for people who are building their career as a data analyst.

Some of the fundamentals include (but are not limited to):

• Gaining knowledge/experience with the standard tools for the roles you are looking for
• Knowing how to write a good Data Analyst resume and navigate the application stages
• Knowing how to talk about your experiences in written format and in an interview
• Sharing your work, learnings or opinions in public (in some capacity). This could include:
  • a tutorial on how to execute something using a specific tool,
  • a personal project, or
  • commentary on a new development in the data space
• Building a network of analysts who could vouch for you

And in my view, once you get these fundamentals sorted, you will put yourself in a good position to stand out.

What do I mean ‘stand out’? One of two situations: (1) gaining a large unfair advantage in the application process, or (2) receiving offers without applying for roles – or getting calls from headhunters.

This post will share some anecdotes – of analysts who have stood out (in those two ways).

One common thread that connects all of these anecdotes is that all these analysts produced or shared something valuable.

And sharing something valuable doesn’t (necessarily) mean sharing something sophisticated – it might just be commentary on something interesting, or something that explores a catchy, relevant/controversial topic.

So without further adieu… let’s go into some of these stories:

(I’ll be sharing two in this post, but will create posts for more stories when I come across them)

Kirill Eremenko

(Founder of SuperDataScience, Ex-Sunsuper, Ex-Deloitte – based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

About Kirill:

Kirill is the founder and CEO of SuperDataScience – a data science and analytics learning platform – and a Udemy course instructor. Prior to starting SuperDataScience, he worked at Deloitte and Sunsuper, where he gained his analytics experience.

His story:

In one of Kirill’s Udemy courses, Careers in Data Science A-Z, he shares one of his experiences getting a referral, after getting noticed online:

• Kirill was looking for a new role after being ready to leave Deloitte. He started to build his LinkedIn profile to show that he did things differently – sharing that he worked on cool projects, and getting his friends and colleagues to give endorsements.
• But he found that it wasn’t enough, because no one was seeing it; the most he could get was ~5 views a day.
• So he started sharing content 2-3 times a week – these would include articles he has written and commentary on articles he found interesting (through aggregator websites).
• And (with LinkedIn Premium) he saw interest in his profile grow – reaching 30+ views a day.
• All of sudden, he noticed recruiters came across his profile – and he would reach out and send them a message asking “Is there anything I can help you with?”. He did this for anyone who could help him find a job.
• Kirill came across one recruiter who noticed that he [Kirill] was looking a job and mentioned that he might be the right person for a job he was recruiting for. But Kirill didn’t look like he had the right number of years of experience.
• Kirill acknowledged that he didn’t have the required (six) years of experience, but he then highlighted that he could still provide value given his experience. And he kindly asked for a catchup with the recruiter.
• The recruiter eventually referred him for the job and Kirill got the job.

What you can take away from this story:

• It’s not sufficient to be someone who creates things/projects differently – you need to create noise, you need to get eyes on your content, you need to attract attention.
• Create things, create your brand, show what you’re capable of, and show that you do things differently.

Jay Feng

(Founder of Interview Query, Ex-Nextdoor, Ex-Monster – based in San Francisco, California, United States)

About Jay:

Jay is the founder and CEO of Interview Query – a business dedicated to helping people land their first data science job. Prior to committing to his business full-time, he worked as a data scientist at Nextdoor and Monster.

His story:

In one of Daliana Liu’s podcast episodes (in The Data Scientist Show), Jay Feng came onto the show and talked about his experience getting fast-tracked and landing his first data science job in San Francisco:

• Jay took a crime dataset from a company that hosted datasets for the city government. One of those datasets was for Seattle, showing records for each 911 call.
• As part of Jay’s analysis, he mapped the data on the city of Seattle, and performed modelling. Through his modelling, he identified factors that led to an escalated call and deescalated call, and he shared his findings on his blog, Reddit and Hacker News.
• Given the topic of crime, it got alot of news coverage in the city. One of the CTOs of the Seattle Police Department chatted with Jay, and eventually an editor of the local news chatted with him. The local news spread the word about his project, and that’s when his analysis (and the data) got traffic.
• Jay received an internship with the company/dataset-provider – even after failing the interview panel with them three months earlier and not hearing back.
• The same project helped him get fast-tracked to an offer for his first data science job after college.

What you can take away from this story:

• Think about what larger publishers/editors care about and the stories they share – or the stories and topics that get a lot of attention from the public. Create a project on that and *you* might get the attention.
• “Analyse crime data and… anything controversial just analyse that data and put it out there”