Journey Teacher to Data Analyst (5 lessons)
Ever wake up in the morning knowing you were made for something bigger or at least something that aligns with yourself?
Don’t worry, I have been there.
I graduated with a degree in mathematics.
I fully believed that I would go to graduate school to be a professional mathematician. Living in the world of beautiful patterns.
Instead, I woke up as a Teaching Assistant for a charter school in Nevada.
I got so caught up in the world of mathematics and the beauty of a written proof. That I forgot that it wasn’t an employable skill.
1st lesson learned: Skills are the most important thing to know when getting a job.
Then I moved into being a fully licensed math teacher for 9-12 grade. 4 years in. I was starting to die a little on the inside.
I wasn’t made for this. I was made to find patterns in the world and structure it in the way I see these patterns.
2nd lesson learned: The career needs to align with something that I find interesting or at least something that I am made for.
I got a master’s degree in computational physics.
Yay!! I got employable skills such as algorithm analysis, understanding computing and modeling the real world.
Now, what do I go into????
3rd lesson learned: Skills open doors but knowing which door you want to go into is up to you.
I got a certification in data science because I was looking at the work my wife was doing. And I was like, I like business and I like patterns.
The certification didn’t get me my data analyst job. It did get me exposed into the world of data science and data analytics.
Once I did that, I knew this was for me.
4th lesson learned: Walk through at least one door and see if you like it. Don’t know if you never try.
That year I did my certification, I went to my admin at the time. I told her that I was done teaching.
To my surprise, she asked me what I was thinking of going into. I told her! She said that our organization needs to expand their data team.
They kept me in the loop about when the position was opening.
5th lesson learned: Networking is key!
In conclusion, I hold 2 degrees and several certifications.
What really got me into data analytics?
It was doing something that I wasn’t completely excited about. I built up my skills and networked into the job that I have today.
These are my 5 lessons from someone who moved from a non-technical role to a technical role.
Skills are the most important thing to know when getting a job.
The career needs to align with something that I find interesting or at least something that I am made for.
Skills open doors but knowing which door you want to go into is up to you.
Walk through at least one door and see if you like. Don’t know if you never try.
Networking is key.
I don’t regret anything I did.
If you want to see a deeper dive on WHY I ended up as a teacher or a data analyst, please look at the next Newsletter:
Hey Grant, reading this brought me to a pause to think about my life. I almost have similar experience with just that I have not yet landed my first data analytics job.
I studied Statistics. Loved Mathematics and for some weird reason, loved teaching and simplifying Maths for students. So I started teaching Mathematics and Physics in a school.
But i knew i was meant for something bigger
I started learning data analytics because it also made sense and aligned with my interest
Most people don’t need more reasons.
They need language for what they already sense.