110: Pizza to Pixels: The Data Transition w/ Vincen Dailey

[00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

[00:00:03] Forget the frustration of picking commerce platforms

[00:00:06] when you switch your business to Shopify,

[00:00:08] the global commerce platform

[00:00:10] that supercharges your selling wherever you sell.

[00:00:13] With Shopify, you'll harness the same intuitive features,

[00:00:16] trusted apps and powerful analytics

[00:00:18] used by the world's leading brands.

[00:00:20] Sign up today for your $1 per month trial period

[00:00:23] at shopify.com slash tech, all lowercase.

[00:00:26] That's shopify.com slash tech.

[00:00:29] Today's episode, I hope is pretty fun.

[00:00:32] It's a little bit different

[00:00:33] because today it's not a solo show.

[00:00:36] I'm not bringing on a data expert.

[00:00:39] I'm not bringing on someone who recently landed a data job.

[00:00:42] I'm bringing on someone probably just like you

[00:00:45] who is trying to land their first data job,

[00:00:48] who's in this career pivot currently right now.

[00:00:52] I thought it'd be an interesting switch up,

[00:00:53] an interesting perspective to maybe hear

[00:00:56] one of the people who are in the war trenches with you,

[00:00:59] who are going through the exact same thing

[00:01:02] that you are right now.

[00:01:04] So I brought on one of my students, his name is Vincent.

[00:01:07] He's about halfway through

[00:01:08] the Data Analytics Accelerator Bootcamp.

[00:01:11] He'll give you a little bit about his background,

[00:01:13] but basically he's been in mortgage lending.

[00:01:15] He now manages a pizza restaurant,

[00:01:17] which I think is super cool.

[00:01:19] And I love pizza, it's my favorite food.

[00:01:21] And we just kind of talk about his journey,

[00:01:22] what got him into interested in data,

[00:01:25] while he's currently working on what's working,

[00:01:26] what's not working, and what the future holds.

[00:01:29] So a little bit of a different episode today,

[00:01:31] but I think you guys should like it.

[00:01:34] Let's go ahead and get into the episode.

[00:01:35] Welcome to the Data Career Podcast,

[00:01:38] the podcast that helps aspiring data professionals

[00:01:40] land their next data job.

[00:01:42] Here's your host, Avery Smith.

[00:01:45] So Vincent, where are you located?

[00:01:48] So I am in Michigan.

[00:01:50] Okay, and what do you do now

[00:01:52] and what have you kind of done in the past?

[00:01:54] Yeah, so previously I was a mortgage banker.

[00:01:58] I absolutely loved it.

[00:02:00] I got to speak with clients every day on the phone.

[00:02:04] Sometimes it was a lot, you know, 500 phone calls a day,

[00:02:08] but I really liked it because I was able to help people.

[00:02:12] I was able to lower people's payments,

[00:02:14] especially in the time right when COVID hit,

[00:02:18] interest rates were very low.

[00:02:19] So I was able to, you know,

[00:02:21] lower people's payments significantly.

[00:02:24] However, after the economy started to take a little dip

[00:02:27] and interest rates started to rise,

[00:02:30] wasn't a lot of business going on there

[00:02:31] because no one wants to change their 2%

[00:02:34] or 1% interest rate to a 7%.

[00:02:36] So hopped out of there.

[00:02:38] And awesome thing is my parents own,

[00:02:42] well, my uncle and my mother own a pizza place.

[00:02:45] So from mortgage banking,

[00:02:47] I went and worked at my family's pizza place

[00:02:50] and learned the ropes there.

[00:02:54] And I'm managing it for my mother now.

[00:02:56] So she can kind of have a retirement for the time being.

[00:02:59] That's awesome.

[00:03:00] So why did you want to kind of get into data analytics?

[00:03:03] What led you down this road

[00:03:05] of trying to become a data analyst?

[00:03:07] I, at one point in time,

[00:03:10] was watching many YouTube videos in a day.

[00:03:13] I wanted to figure out what I could do with my degree.

[00:03:18] I have a pretty general business degree

[00:03:20] and I know I loved working with computers.

[00:03:23] I know I loved working from home

[00:03:25] because I've done it in the past

[00:03:26] when I was a mortgage banker.

[00:03:27] So I was just trying to figure out what I could get into.

[00:03:30] And I came across the YouTube channel

[00:03:33] by a gentleman named Justin Shin.

[00:03:35] He is a data analyst in, I believe, Massachusetts.

[00:03:40] He works for a healthcare analytics company

[00:03:43] and he makes these day in the life videos.

[00:03:47] And he made some videos about how he visited his friends

[00:03:51] in, I want to say New York.

[00:03:52] And he was able to work from home,

[00:03:54] go to the gym and do everything from wherever he wanted.

[00:03:58] And that kind of sparked my interest.

[00:04:01] I thought, wow, you know,

[00:04:03] I knew remote jobs were a thing from COVID,

[00:04:07] but I didn't know that it was that beneficial

[00:04:10] and that free to do what you wanted to do

[00:04:14] and go throughout the United States.

[00:04:17] I just thought that was awesome.

[00:04:18] And then the work that he also did,

[00:04:20] it incorporated computer work

[00:04:23] and I just fell right in love.

[00:04:27] And so I started kind of searching the internet,

[00:04:30] seeing how to become a data analyst.

[00:04:32] And of course the Google career certificate

[00:04:36] popped up first.

[00:04:37] When I figured out that there was a course for it,

[00:04:40] I bit right away and I started taking that course.

[00:04:43] So it was really like the lifestyle,

[00:04:44] the ability, the freedom,

[00:04:46] ability to work when you want,

[00:04:48] where you want type of a thing

[00:04:49] and do exciting work that really drew you

[00:04:51] into the analytics field.

[00:04:53] Most definitely, yes.

[00:04:55] Okay.

[00:04:56] Then you start doing the Google search

[00:04:57] and how was your experience with that?

[00:05:00] So in the beginning, I really enjoyed it.

[00:05:03] I'm not gonna lie.

[00:05:04] It had, you know, just the videos were intriguing.

[00:05:08] I liked the information and it was,

[00:05:13] it taught me a lot, but then what kind of,

[00:05:17] cause I didn't finish it.

[00:05:18] What kind of turned me off from it was

[00:05:21] I started going back online after a couple videos

[00:05:26] and I wanted to know,

[00:05:28] is the Google certificate enough to get me a job?

[00:05:33] Because it kind of seemed a little bit surface level,

[00:05:36] you know, the information that I was learning was good,

[00:05:39] but I didn't, I still didn't feel like I was ready

[00:05:43] to jump into a career for it.

[00:05:46] I thought that, I felt that there was something more

[00:05:48] that I needed to learn.

[00:05:50] And so as I started searching around,

[00:05:53] I was in my car one day and I thought,

[00:05:56] maybe there's a podcast for data analysts that I could,

[00:06:00] you know, data analytics that I could listen to.

[00:06:02] And thank God yours popped up first thing.

[00:06:05] So I clicked on your podcast

[00:06:07] and I started listening to what you had to say

[00:06:11] and the professionalism that I heard

[00:06:13] and your experience that I could tell from your guests,

[00:06:17] as well as yourself.

[00:06:19] I knew that that's probably where I needed to go

[00:06:22] to learn more, to scratch that hitch that I needed to,

[00:06:25] you know, feel comfortable to go into the industry.

[00:06:27] That's super cool.

[00:06:28] It's always fun to hear when people find the podcast

[00:06:31] and how they find the podcast,

[00:06:33] because it's so interesting.

[00:06:34] I'm glad that the Data Crew podcast popped up

[00:06:36] when you searched.

[00:06:37] Do you remember what episode you listened to first?

[00:06:38] I know that's a while ago now.

[00:06:41] A lot of episodes or anything that stood out.

[00:06:43] I guess it was just,

[00:06:44] it was interesting to hear some of the guests.

[00:06:46] Well, one thing that really surprised me,

[00:06:51] I think it's episode four.

[00:06:53] The guest on that episode sounds exactly

[00:06:56] like one of my friends.

[00:06:57] They have identical voices.

[00:06:59] And so I was like, you guys got to listen to this.

[00:07:02] It sounds exactly like my friend Pat.

[00:07:04] And so that kind of made me listen

[00:07:07] to more and more episodes,

[00:07:08] but I don't think that was the first one that I heard.

[00:07:11] That's so funny.

[00:07:12] It's also interesting to hear people,

[00:07:14] you know, they'll go start with episode one,

[00:07:16] which is one thing that's great about the podcast

[00:07:18] is it is quite evergreen.

[00:07:20] But now it's like,

[00:07:21] I couldn't even tell you what episode four was.

[00:07:23] Like that was such a long time ago.

[00:07:25] I don't remember what the heck I said.

[00:07:28] Anyways, that's awesome.

[00:07:29] Okay, so you're listening to the podcast

[00:07:31] and you probably hear me talking about the SBN method

[00:07:35] and that gets you like, oh, okay.

[00:07:36] So the Google data cert, you know, is great.

[00:07:38] It has skills and that's definitely something I need,

[00:07:42] but I also probably need a portfolio

[00:07:44] and some networking and some job help and stuff like that.

[00:07:46] Is that kind of what was going through your mind?

[00:07:48] Most definitely.

[00:07:49] What really drew me in was the analogy that you used

[00:07:53] where you have an actor who can show you a video

[00:07:56] jumping over a car or a resume of them saying

[00:07:59] that they can jump over a car.

[00:08:00] Who are you going to pick?

[00:08:01] That right there really just got to me

[00:08:06] and I actually went right to your website after that

[00:08:09] and started reading more.

[00:08:11] And I think I got the course the next day.

[00:08:15] Sweet, okay.

[00:08:16] You're like, okay, I want a little bit more help.

[00:08:18] You know, I like this guy

[00:08:19] that's talking on a microphone on the podcast.

[00:08:22] I really understand the importance of having a portfolio.

[00:08:26] For those of you who haven't heard me tell that analogy.

[00:08:28] It's basically like if you were hiring

[00:08:30] for the movie Fast and the Furious 10

[00:08:33] and you need a stunt double

[00:08:34] and you got two applicants,

[00:08:36] one sent in a resume and underneath skills says

[00:08:38] they can jump over a car

[00:08:40] and that's like really needed for Fast and Furious 10.

[00:08:42] And the second person had a resume

[00:08:45] and the skill section said can jump over a car

[00:08:47] but then also sent a video of them jumping over a car.

[00:08:50] Who are you more likely to hire?

[00:08:51] It's probably the second person

[00:08:53] because they gave you the evidence

[00:08:54] that they can do what their resume says that they can.

[00:08:57] And that's the same thing in data analytics.

[00:08:58] You can say that you know SQL, you know Excel,

[00:09:00] you know Tableau, you know Python, whatever

[00:09:02] but can you show it off?

[00:09:04] You know and always showing is more powerful than telling.

[00:09:06] So you really like that concepts.

[00:09:09] We talk about that.

[00:09:09] That's like the whole point of the bootcamp

[00:09:11] is we do 10 unique projects

[00:09:13] that will get you a portfolio

[00:09:14] that'll showcase all of your skills and you join.

[00:09:18] And I guess when you first joined,

[00:09:20] what was like, did it match your expectations?

[00:09:23] Like, was it weird the way that anything was laid out

[00:09:25] or how did that go?

[00:09:26] I was very impressed by how intuitive

[00:09:31] and user-friendly it was.

[00:09:33] I honestly thought it was gonna kind of be

[00:09:35] just not as put together as it was.

[00:09:38] It kind of goes in a perfect structure.

[00:09:40] So you start off with a lesson that teaches you the,

[00:09:44] let's say for SQL, for example,

[00:09:46] you learn about the clauses

[00:09:48] or the functions that you're going to use

[00:09:50] and then it gets into the project.

[00:09:52] And then after you work through the project,

[00:09:54] then it gets into the networking portion

[00:09:59] of the SPN method for every single module.

[00:10:01] And so that's awesome.

[00:10:03] Not gonna lie to begin with,

[00:10:05] the SPN method, I focused on the S at first.

[00:10:09] And I was like,

[00:10:10] I understand that portfolio and networking is important,

[00:10:13] but it's gotta be skills that gets you there.

[00:10:17] And then I didn't really focus

[00:10:18] on the networking portion of it as much.

[00:10:22] And then as I started to apply more and more to jobs,

[00:10:27] what is it called?

[00:10:29] Spray and pray.

[00:10:30] I was spraying and praying.

[00:10:31] And that's when I learned that every single letter

[00:10:35] of the SPN method is very important.

[00:10:37] Yeah, for sure.

[00:10:38] Yeah, it's a good point that each one of the modules,

[00:10:41] the 10 modules inside the bootcamp,

[00:10:43] I tried to teach a skill,

[00:10:45] we do a project on that skill

[00:10:47] and then we've incorporate some sort of networking activity.

[00:10:50] So that way we try to split the modules

[00:10:53] a third, a third, a third with that SPN.

[00:10:55] And like you said, sometimes learning is so fun

[00:10:59] and learning data things is so fun.

[00:11:01] And so that's where we wanna focus our time.

[00:11:02] And honestly, it makes us feel good

[00:11:05] as we're learning these data skills.

[00:11:06] We feel like you're progressing,

[00:11:07] but it's important to remember that,

[00:11:09] I mean, of course learning is progressing,

[00:11:12] but really our end goal is to get a data job.

[00:11:14] And if we just learn and learn and learn and learn

[00:11:16] and learn and learn and learn,

[00:11:17] we're never actually gonna get a job.

[00:11:19] You have to do some sort of applications

[00:11:22] and networking and portfolios and stuff like that.

[00:11:25] So that becomes really key.

[00:11:27] I wanna ask you about the community

[00:11:29] because it's really interesting.

[00:11:30] I've been a part of, when I was breaking the data,

[00:11:33] a lot of this stuff didn't really exist.

[00:11:35] Like there wasn't a whole lot of communities.

[00:11:37] Now there's a lot of different data communities.

[00:11:38] I don't know if you're a member of any communities

[00:11:41] outside of our bootcamp community,

[00:11:43] but it's a little bit different

[00:11:45] because like a lot of like outside communities

[00:11:48] have thousands of people in them.

[00:11:52] They're free, they're open to the public

[00:11:55] and stuff goes on in those communities.

[00:11:58] Ours is only for our bootcamp members.

[00:12:00] So it's only a select few people

[00:12:03] that are actually in there.

[00:12:04] So it can be quieter from time to time.

[00:12:06] But what are your thoughts about the community?

[00:12:07] Like was it scary posting in there?

[00:12:09] Were people helpful?

[00:12:11] No, everyone is so awesome in the community.

[00:12:13] They're so willing to help as well.

[00:12:15] I just wanna shout out Trevor Maxwell.

[00:12:18] He's awesome.

[00:12:19] I mean, anytime I need help,

[00:12:21] I can actually text him personally to his phone

[00:12:23] and he will respond anytime.

[00:12:26] And that goes for everybody on there.

[00:12:28] I feel like you can message anybody

[00:12:30] and they're willing to help you with anything.

[00:12:33] I mean, I had a question about

[00:12:37] how someone did their portfolio,

[00:12:40] their website so awesome.

[00:12:43] I saw their website and I was like,

[00:12:44] man, how did you do that?

[00:12:45] And I just sent them a message

[00:12:47] and within I think 20 minutes,

[00:12:50] they responded with the whole instructions

[00:12:52] on how to get what they did.

[00:12:54] I think it's always nerve wracking

[00:12:56] to like be in a community and like,

[00:12:58] what do I say?

[00:12:59] What are the standards?

[00:13:01] Can I do this?

[00:13:01] Can I do that?

[00:13:02] And so it's always a little bit awkward maybe to start,

[00:13:04] but then eventually I think people

[00:13:06] are really quite helpful and quite nice,

[00:13:08] especially on that individual one-to-one basis

[00:13:10] can be really powerful.

[00:13:11] And just even having like those confirmations of like,

[00:13:14] oh, hey, you're doing this right.

[00:13:15] Or like if you're stuck,

[00:13:16] oh yeah, I dealt with that error.

[00:13:17] Like this is how I overcame that error.

[00:13:20] That stuff is so priceless

[00:13:21] because doing data on your own,

[00:13:23] doing data in general,

[00:13:24] breaking data is hard enough,

[00:13:26] but doing it by yourself is even harder.

[00:13:28] So if you're able to have like a community

[00:13:30] to rally around you and to help you when you get stuck

[00:13:32] or when you get dismotivated

[00:13:34] or where you kind of lose momentum,

[00:13:36] I think that's really key.

[00:13:37] Yeah, and another awesome part about the course

[00:13:40] is that when you're working through the modules

[00:13:43] under each lesson that you do, there's comments.

[00:13:47] And if you take a little bit of time

[00:13:49] to read those comments,

[00:13:50] let's say you wrote an Excel function one way

[00:13:54] and it worked for you.

[00:13:56] You can actually read those comments

[00:13:57] and see how someone else did it

[00:13:58] to get a slightly different result

[00:14:00] and see how they were able to answer the problem as well.

[00:14:03] And you learn a lot faster that way too,

[00:14:05] just getting multiple different viewpoints,

[00:14:07] which is phenomenal.

[00:14:09] I spent many, many hours looking at comments

[00:14:12] to see how did they do that?

[00:14:14] And then I learned new functions

[00:14:16] and new things just from that.

[00:14:20] Yeah, I've thought about moving,

[00:14:21] this is kind of in the weeds,

[00:14:22] but I thought about moving the course

[00:14:23] from our current course hosting platform to a different one.

[00:14:27] And I'm like, one of the things we're gonna lose

[00:14:29] is all that gold that's in those comment sections

[00:14:31] of just past travelers giving you their two cents

[00:14:36] on like, oh, I have this Mac

[00:14:39] and it didn't work quite the same.

[00:14:41] One of the hardest lessons or modules in my opinion,

[00:14:45] it's actually like technically the easiest module, I think,

[00:14:49] but often proves quite difficult is the Excel module.

[00:14:52] Just because Excel in like a Windows operating system

[00:14:57] versus a Mac operating system is quite different.

[00:15:00] And then also everyone has a different version of Excel.

[00:15:03] Some have like have Excel from like 2007

[00:15:06] and some have like the brand new updated one.

[00:15:08] Some people have the free ones,

[00:15:09] some people will pay for it.

[00:15:10] So it's like, there's so many little nuances between that.

[00:15:14] And that's where like the comment section,

[00:15:16] I think can be really valuable

[00:15:17] because we try to capture as many things

[00:15:19] as we possibly can, like as instructors.

[00:15:21] But it's like, you can't always get every combination

[00:15:25] of operating system and Excel version to actually work.

[00:15:29] I did read a lot of those comments as well.

[00:15:31] They were able to find solutions

[00:15:33] for the people that do have Mac.

[00:15:35] So that was awesome to see how the community reaches out

[00:15:39] and helps those who may have had trouble.

[00:15:42] For sure.

[00:15:43] So you've been in the program for a while now.

[00:15:46] Where are you in the program?

[00:15:47] Like where are you at right now?

[00:15:49] So I just finished module five

[00:15:52] and posted my healthcare analysis.

[00:15:54] Okay, so you're done with module five.

[00:15:56] And so that means you have four posted projects,

[00:15:59] one in Excel, one in Tableau and two in SQL now.

[00:16:02] Yes.

[00:16:03] Okay, do you feel like you have more of a portfolio

[00:16:07] than when you started?

[00:16:08] 100%, 100%.

[00:16:09] And actually, even though I'm not even finished

[00:16:12] with the course, I have recruiters reaching out to me

[00:16:17] right now, just from what has been built

[00:16:20] from module one till now.

[00:16:22] Do you really?

[00:16:23] In module five.

[00:16:24] Oh yeah.

[00:16:25] I think about maybe I've had two interviews

[00:16:27] and let me think about four,

[00:16:31] three or four recruiters reach out to me.

[00:16:33] That's awesome.

[00:16:34] You've done, and that's my next question I was gonna ask.

[00:16:36] Like, do you feel like you're networking better?

[00:16:38] But I could answer that for you

[00:16:39] because I've seen your posts on LinkedIn.

[00:16:41] You're sharing your journey as you go on LinkedIn

[00:16:43] and kind of talking about like what you've been learning,

[00:16:46] the ups and the downs of it all.

[00:16:48] And I think that pays dividends down the road.

[00:16:51] Another thing that I wanted to share on the podcast here

[00:16:54] is I know that there are a couple people in the course

[00:16:57] that do work in the food industry as well.

[00:17:01] Oh man, food industry is such a phenomenal place to network.

[00:17:06] I mean, at the Pizza Place, I cash out customers.

[00:17:11] That's my main position.

[00:17:12] So I'm talking with people all day.

[00:17:14] Just two days ago, I saw a guy,

[00:17:18] he walked in with a Ford badge

[00:17:20] and just thought to spark up a conversation with him.

[00:17:23] And I got to send him my resume

[00:17:26] and connect with him on LinkedIn.

[00:17:28] And then three days ago,

[00:17:31] a software developer came in from a consulting company.

[00:17:34] I struck up a conversation with him

[00:17:36] just because I saw a backpack on his back.

[00:17:38] And I said, laptop in his backpack, remote work.

[00:17:41] He's probably into something.

[00:17:43] So I just struck up a conversation,

[00:17:44] but I had around, I don't know,

[00:17:47] six or seven opportunities just from that alone.

[00:17:50] Just going out of my comfort zone

[00:17:52] and speaking with people is such a great way

[00:17:56] to get your name out there and show your passion,

[00:17:59] get more eyes on you.

[00:18:00] Because that's one of the biggest things

[00:18:02] is getting eyes on you

[00:18:03] because if you do projects and keep them in your computer,

[00:18:07] they're not helping you out at all.

[00:18:08] So, and that's something that your course taught me was,

[00:18:14] if you do projects and no one can see them,

[00:18:17] who's gonna know that they can hire you?

[00:18:18] No one's gonna know that you can jump over the car.

[00:18:21] You gotta put it out there.

[00:18:23] I love that.

[00:18:24] And I love that you're networking outside of LinkedIn.

[00:18:29] A lot of times people are like, yeah, I can't network.

[00:18:32] And it's like, okay.

[00:18:34] I'm sure there's circumstances where that's true,

[00:18:35] but a lot of the times it's honestly

[00:18:38] just a little bit of an excuse

[00:18:39] because it makes you uncomfortable.

[00:18:40] I'm never going to say networking is ever fun.

[00:18:45] I teach about it and I still,

[00:18:46] I actually kind of hate it.

[00:18:48] Like, I just don't really like it.

[00:18:50] So it's so cool that you're like, yeah,

[00:18:52] a lot of people would be like,

[00:18:53] well, you're working at a pizza restaurant.

[00:18:55] Like how much networking can you do?

[00:18:57] And you're like, no, watch me.

[00:18:59] Like I'm gonna do the best I can

[00:19:01] in the circumstances I'm in.

[00:19:02] So I think that's awesome.

[00:19:03] And I think that'll pay dividends.

[00:19:06] We're a couple of minutes into this podcast now.

[00:19:08] I guess I should specify that this is,

[00:19:10] a lot of the times I have people on the podcast

[00:19:12] who have landed a day job.

[00:19:13] You haven't landed a day job yet,

[00:19:14] but I wanted to get someone's perspective

[00:19:16] who is still in the program,

[00:19:18] still going through everything

[00:19:20] and who hasn't landed a job yet.

[00:19:22] Because I think multiple reasons.

[00:19:25] One is because like, it's always good to show,

[00:19:29] like social media can always show the flashy side

[00:19:34] of life, like it's always our highlights,

[00:19:36] but I think it's unrealistic sometimes.

[00:19:39] And so I think it's so fascinating

[00:19:40] to kind of get a glimpse of you

[00:19:43] in the trenches right now,

[00:19:45] working through these problems of like,

[00:19:47] how do I, I'm doing the spray and pray method

[00:19:50] where I'm just sending out hundreds of applications

[00:19:53] and I'm not getting any results and it sucks.

[00:19:55] So I realized, okay, I have to network more.

[00:19:57] How do I network more?

[00:19:58] When someone comes in,

[00:19:59] they see their name tag with a badge,

[00:20:01] I'm gonna ask about it.

[00:20:02] I'm gonna be like,

[00:20:03] do you know any data analysts at that company?

[00:20:04] And so on and so forth.

[00:20:05] I think that's so fascinating,

[00:20:07] these kinds of stories from the trench

[00:20:09] of you working through this actively right now.

[00:20:12] Yeah, I mean, when you're trying to get a position in data,

[00:20:16] like you said, it is very difficult.

[00:20:17] So any direction that you can claw your way forward toward,

[00:20:23] I would do it.

[00:20:24] I network with the people within the pizza place.

[00:20:27] And then I also watched,

[00:20:29] or I can't remember if it's a video of yours

[00:20:31] or a podcast where you talk about how,

[00:20:33] get to know, or no, it's actually a lesson in the course.

[00:20:36] Find a company that you use on a daily basis,

[00:20:40] look them up on LinkedIn, go to people,

[00:20:42] see who's a data analyst at that company.

[00:20:44] I did that with so many of the regular everyday things

[00:20:47] that I use.

[00:20:48] For example, I don't know if you know what remarkable is,

[00:20:51] it's that notebook, the digital notebook.

[00:20:53] Yeah.

[00:20:54] Super cool.

[00:20:55] I was like, I'd love to be a part of that.

[00:20:56] Looked them up on LinkedIn, looked up the people,

[00:20:59] who's a data analyst, got in touch with the head

[00:21:02] of data analytics and connected with them on LinkedIn.

[00:21:05] I think all the jobs are from Norway,

[00:21:07] but at least I tried, you know?

[00:21:09] I go to the gym and I don't know if you know

[00:21:11] who Jocko Willink is, but he has a line of awesome products.

[00:21:16] I went to their LinkedIn and did the exact same thing

[00:21:19] and sure, I didn't get any responses,

[00:21:22] but like I said, at least I tried.

[00:21:24] And those reps will just get me closer

[00:21:27] to the end goal of finding someone that sees my passion

[00:21:31] and getting a job.

[00:21:33] And I love your attitude towards all of that

[00:21:35] because I really believe in the SPN method.

[00:21:38] I really believe in networking,

[00:21:40] but I think sometimes people think it's a magical pill

[00:21:44] and maybe it's my own fault from the way I'm like,

[00:21:46] yes, networking is amazing and it's awesome,

[00:21:48] but it's like a pill that you have to take over

[00:21:51] and over and over and over again before you see results.

[00:21:55] This is probably TMI, but I'm losing my hair.

[00:21:58] So I'm taking hair loss pills and like, gosh, those, yeah,

[00:22:01] those pills, I tell you what,

[00:22:02] you take one of those things, they do jack squat.

[00:22:05] I keep talking to my doctor and they're like, yeah,

[00:22:07] you have to take like six months of them.

[00:22:08] And it's like, okay, is this actually doing anything?

[00:22:11] I don't see any results.

[00:22:12] And I think that's how networking is too.

[00:22:13] I don't know if I want to keep that analogy or not,

[00:22:15] but there you go, listeners.

[00:22:17] There's the hair loss pill networking

[00:22:20] because it takes a long time and it's frustrating.

[00:22:22] And I'm sure you've experienced some of that frustration.

[00:22:25] Yeah, what is it?

[00:22:26] I'm not a baseball fan, but the Detroit Tigers Cabrera,

[00:22:29] he, you know, a great batting average is,

[00:22:32] I don't even know honestly, but it's not very high.

[00:22:34] No, it's like 33%.

[00:22:36] It's like a hall of fame career for baseball.

[00:22:38] Yeah, and I'd say it's less in data analytics.

[00:22:44] It is, it is.

[00:22:46] But when you do the things, like I said,

[00:22:49] and like you say, and you try to claw yourself forward,

[00:22:53] no matter what it is, and you showcase your passion for it,

[00:22:58] people will see that.

[00:23:00] Recruiters will see it

[00:23:01] and they'll reach out to you most definitely.

[00:23:03] I love that a lot.

[00:23:05] Any other like random things in the bootcamp

[00:23:07] you really enjoy?

[00:23:08] Like any like thing that like people might not realize

[00:23:12] that like is inside of the bootcamp?

[00:23:15] Let me think.

[00:23:16] Oh, I mean the interview simulator.

[00:23:17] You just did that and that was awesome.

[00:23:19] And there's a SQL workshop.

[00:23:21] I actually haven't even touched those yet.

[00:23:23] So those are some cool things that I'd like to look at,

[00:23:25] but I don't really know much about them.

[00:23:28] I know that just when you buy,

[00:23:30] when you get the course and you're doing the course,

[00:23:33] there's supplemental resources that you have access to

[00:23:37] that will help you to succeed in your job hunt

[00:23:41] most definitely.

[00:23:42] I did look at the interview simulator

[00:23:43] and it looks real cool though.

[00:23:45] Yeah, I'm pretty excited on that one.

[00:23:48] Yeah, there's quite a bit.

[00:23:49] It's kind of a tough question

[00:23:50] because there's like, I was just looking,

[00:23:52] we have 327 lessons in the data analytics accelerator alone.

[00:23:57] And then yeah, once you join the accelerator,

[00:23:59] you get like the data projects book,

[00:24:02] you get access to interview simulator stuff,

[00:24:05] you get access to a couple other things.

[00:24:07] So yeah, there's quite a bit going on.

[00:24:09] Anyways, there's a lot and there's a lot to take in.

[00:24:12] And I also recognize that people are really busy

[00:24:14] with all the stuff they have going on.

[00:24:16] So that's one of the challenges I have is,

[00:24:18] and actually, if you look at other boot camps,

[00:24:22] a lot of the times they're like six months

[00:24:24] and we're trying to do it in three months, right?

[00:24:25] Or there'll be like a year long.

[00:24:27] And so it's like, how do we give you guys

[00:24:30] as much information as possible,

[00:24:31] but not so that you can succeed,

[00:24:33] but not overload you and give you too much stuff

[00:24:35] where it takes too much time, right?

[00:24:37] Because we want to be fast.

[00:24:38] So it's kind of a balance of like,

[00:24:40] for instance, we don't teach all of Python.

[00:24:42] Like we hardly touch on Python

[00:24:43] and that's my favorite data tool.

[00:24:45] I honestly sometimes feel like trapped in a little cage

[00:24:47] where it's like, I love Python

[00:24:48] and I wish I talked more about Python

[00:24:50] and I wish I taught Python more.

[00:24:51] But I don't think that's what's best

[00:24:53] for the majority of people.

[00:24:54] So anyways, it's like a weird balance

[00:24:56] of like providing enough stuff without overwhelming

[00:24:59] and making it too long too.

[00:25:01] Yeah, Luke Bruce put out that,

[00:25:03] what was it called?

[00:25:04] The website that he has to show you-

[00:25:05] Oh yeah, datanerd.tech.

[00:25:07] It's like all of the job statistics

[00:25:09] about like what skills you should learn and stuff.

[00:25:10] Yeah, and SQL, a visualization tool,

[00:25:13] Tableau, Power BI and Excel.

[00:25:16] Python is, I believe the top for data science

[00:25:21] but then data analytics, it's SQL.

[00:25:23] So knowing SQL, Tableau or Power BI and Excel,

[00:25:28] I think is a great key to get your foot in the door.

[00:25:32] Like you said, get paid to learn.

[00:25:33] Don't just learn forever and never get paid for it.

[00:25:38] 100%.

[00:25:39] Okay, Vincent, I am excited for you.

[00:25:41] I'm excited because the podcast listeners

[00:25:43] have not heard the last from you

[00:25:46] and we're going to have you back on in hopefully soon,

[00:25:50] but whenever that is,

[00:25:51] we're going to have you on when you land that job

[00:25:53] and we can update the world

[00:25:54] on what ended up working for you, what steps you took.

[00:25:58] But thank you for being brave

[00:25:59] and coming on the podcast

[00:26:01] and talking about your experience in the bootcamp

[00:26:03] and how it's been so far.

[00:26:05] If you're listening to this and your company's hiring,

[00:26:08] Vincent would make a great addition

[00:26:09] to any of your guys' teams.

[00:26:11] As you can tell, he speaks eloquently.

[00:26:13] He's hardworking and he's a smart guy.

[00:26:16] So we'll have his LinkedIn also in the show notes down below.

[00:26:19] You can reach out to him and ask him any questions.

[00:26:20] You okay with that, right, Vincent?

[00:26:22] Most definitely.

[00:26:23] Talk to me about anything data.

[00:26:26] Yep, sweet.

[00:26:27] You guys haven't heard the last from Vincent.

[00:26:28] He'll be on soon.