127: FASTEST Way to Become a Data Analyst (feels like cheating)....Career Hacking

If you're trying to break into data analytics, you're probably overwhelmed with advice, courses, and roadmaps. Maybe even including my own. But here's the truth. You don't need to reinvent the wheel at all. Stop wasting your time trying to figure it out all on your own. The right path for you to take is actually sitting right in front of you. Hidden in plain sight. You just have to look hard at it. And here's what I mean by that. One of my favorite quotes ever is from Brad Thor, who said, success leaves clues. And to me, that means you should be able to look around you, find the people who are successful and figure out how they became successful. If there's anyone or any amount of success, There'll be some sort of trail or clues that you can follow to recreate that success. With that in mind, I'd like to introduce a concept I created called career hacking. It's where you find the people who are already crushing it as data analysts, figure out exactly what they did to get there, and then you follow their exact path. Why? Because success leaves clues. Step one is to identify those who have already made it. Look for analysts who started where you are now and are now working at top companies or have landed their dream role. And get specific here. I'm telling you, the more specific you get, the better. Because if you're a pilot in the UK who wants to break into data, Your journey will probably look a little bit different than, say, a blue collar mechanic in the US trying to break into the field. Try to find someone who has already done your exact journey. For instance, if you're a high school math teacher in North Carolina looking to break into data, look for other math teachers in North Carolina who have already done so. If you're a biology major in Florida, then you should probably find other biology majors in Florida who have already landed a data role. Then, break down their journey. Like I'm telling you, really study it in detail. What skills did they learn? What projects did they showcase? What tools did they mask? What were they posting on LinkedIn? And what advice do they give now to their former selves? Step two, reverse engineer. Reverse engineer their entire journey. I'm telling you, you don't have to guess what works here, people. Just copy what's already proven. If someone used Tableau to get noticed, then learn Tableau. If another person built an amazing portfolio project that got them hired, Study the crap out of that project and create your own version of it. I'm telling you, you don't have to create your own data roadmap from scratch. Just steal the one that works and is already proven. And if you're not sure where to find all this information and how to copy it, it's available. I'm telling you, it's all over the place. It's just hidden in plain sight. You can study someone's LinkedIn profile and learn a lot. You can see what their profile picture looks like. What bullets do they have in their experience section? What courses did they take? You can find that in the education section. You can study their portfolio or their GitHub. Because most of the time, the code to recreate the project is right there, or there's some sort of step by step instructions of how they actually built the project. It's all there for you for the take. Or if that's too hard, it's too much work, then just do one thing and press the subscribe button to this podcast, because I share a case study of a non technical person landing a data job every single month on this channel. In these longer episodes, I asked them exactly what they did. What they studied, where they worked before, who they messaged, what type of portfolio they made, so on and so forth. And you can watch these episodes and take notes to create your own roadmap. You guys, I'm seriously doing all the hard work for you. All you need to do is press subscribe because I've interviewed teachers. I've interviewed scientists, engineers, people from India, people from Canada, people from South America, people from Asia. Literally, anyone you could possibly think of, I have interviewed them and learned how they transitioned from what they did previously and how they landed their first day at a job. It's that easy. But remember, it's important to stay consistent because it's not about just making a plan, but you actually have to stick to it. Execution, day in, day out. It's boring, overcomplicating things. Find what has already worked for others just like you and then apply it to your journey. That is career hacking and it is your fastest route to success in data analytics. And let's make it easy. I have two case studies on the screen and in the show notes down below that you can go study right now. So what are you waiting for? Let's do it.