It’s no secret that in today’s economy, landing an entry-level data job is tougher than ever. But let me share a success story that proves it’s totally possible—and in less than 100 days. Here’s how one of my students made it happen 👇

Rachael Finch was a dedicated listener of The Data Career Podcast.

In fact, she’d tuned into nearly every episode in 2023.

But on January 1, 2024, Rachael decided it was time to take things up a notch.

She committed to two big goals: 1) sign up for a half marathon and 2) join The Data Analytics Accelerator.

95 days later, she crossed the finish line as a half marathoner and as a business intelligence analyst.

How’d she do it? The SPN Method—Skills, Projects, Network.

🙏 Getting Your Foot In The Data Career Door

In today’s market, just having the skills often isn’t enough to land a data job—you need a network. And that was the case for Rachael. Despite having the skills, she kept getting auto-rejected by the ATS. What she needed was a foot in the door.

For Rachael, that foot in the door came through a friend from church.

Actually, it wasn’t even her friend. It was a friend of a friend at church.

She found out he worked at a healthcare company that hired data analysts.

So she reached out, mentioned she was into data, taking a bootcamp, and on the lookout for opportunities.

He was more than happy to help—he passed her resume to the right people, completely bypassing the ATS.

Now, you might be thinking, “But I don’t go to church!” Well, maybe you should start!

Haha, just kidding (but also kinda serious, since that’s how I landed my data job too).

But you do have friends, right? Or colleagues? Or peers? Or family? Or neighbors?

Everyone knows someone who knows someone.

You just have to be brave enough to ask.

📊 Shocking Recruiters with Data Projects

Once Rachael had her foot in the door, she still had to prove she was worth hiring—especially since she didn’t have any prior data experience.

But she leveraged the projects she’d completed in the bootcamp. Talking about showing her project to the recruiter, Rachael said: "they were shocked that someone without a background in business intelligence or Tableau had created a project like that."

Projects. Shock. Recruiters.

Remember that.

The more (and better) projects you have, the stronger your case.

🏆 The Dream Data Job

Instead of working the night shift in a lab, Rachael now works from home in her PJs (okay, I’m not sure if she actually wears PJs, but she totally could if she wanted to).

And she made this dream switch in just 120 days.

This can be your story too.

You’ve got this, future analyst.