My friend, Nick Wan, has everyone’s dream job: sports analytics.

Well more specifically, he's the Senior Director of Baseball Analytics for the Cincinnati Reds.

Here's the crazy part: when he applied to about 20 sports analytics jobs, he got callbacks from ALL of them.

Meanwhile, today's candidates apply to 200+ jobs and hear crickets.

So what did Nick do differently?

The blog post that changed everything

Nick didn’t have industry connections or a fancy portfolio website.

What he had was a simple rule: Write down everything you learn.

He started a blog. When he learned a new stats idea in class, he did not just take notes. He would translate it into sports, because that made it easier to understand.

One day, he got curious about Arizona State basketball. They have this thing called the "Curtain of Distraction." When the opposing team shoots free throws, the student section opens a curtain and reveals chaos. People in unicorn costumes. Michael Phelps in a swimsuit. You name it.

Nick asked a simple question. Does this actually make players miss?

He ran the numbers. He wrote a blog post.

A few days later, he got an email from the New York Times. They wanted to feature his work.

Suddenly, a complete nobody was on the front page of the New York Times talking about sports analytics.

What most people get wrong

Most people think they need the perfect background first.

The right degree. The right internship. The right network.

So they wait. They study in private. They build skills in secret. Then one day, they're ready to show up.

But Nick's story proves something different.

Teams hire the people they can already see thinking.

When Nick started applying to sports teams, he didn't have years of sports experience. But he had something better: proof that he could take complex ideas and make them useful.

His blog was his portfolio. His thinking was public. Teams could see how his brain worked before they ever met him.

That's the pattern I keep seeing in data careers, especially in competitive spaces like sports analytics:

The person who gets hired isn't just the one with the best GPA. It's the one who's been publishing SQL tips on LinkedIn for six months.

The junior analyst who stands out isn't the one with the fanciest bootcamp certificate. It's the one who built a public dashboard analyzing their favorite video game.

The person who gets the sports analytics role isn't the one with the most credentials. It's the one who's been breaking down game stats in public and can talk clearly about their methods.

Hiring is risky.

You need to prove that you can generate results.

The earlier and faster you do that, the better.

The easiest way to stand out

Stop waiting until you're "ready" to show your work.

Start documenting what you're learning right now.

1. Document as you learn

Write a blog post about a new SQL concept you learned. Share a quick LinkedIn post about a data cleaning challenge you solved. Record a 2 minute video explaining a technique.

2. Translate tech stuff into plain English

If you learned about clustering, explain it using pizza toppings or customer segments. If you built a dashboard, show the impact, not just the tools. Practice explaining like you're talking to your non-technical friend.

3. Ship real projects (even small ones)

Analyze something you're genuinely curious about. Don't wait for it to be perfect. Nick's first project wasn't mind-blowing. Put it on GitHub, LinkedIn, a blog, wherever people can find it.

Because the jobs don't go to people with perfect resumes.

They go to people teams can already see doing the work.

If that sounds like fun, it’s basically what I teach in The Accelerator. We focus on projects that get you hired. You could totally do your capstone project on revisiting The Curtain of Distraction and see if Nick’s analysis still stands 10+ years later. Learn more.