154: How This Delivery Driver Became a FAANG Data Analyst in 100 Days (Jen Hawkins)

Jen Hawkins: 00:00:00

When I had to get down and actually go get a pizza delivery job,

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that was like the lowest time of my life.

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I'm like, I really need a job.

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Avery Smith: That is Jen Hawkins.

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She's now a six-figure data

analyst at a FANG company.

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But as you heard, just Amir

100 days ago, she was a.

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Delivery driver.

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So how did she do it?

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Well, in this episode, you'll hear

exactly that Jen tells everything you

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need to know about her story of going from

delivering pizzas to delivering insights.

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Let's go ahead and get

straight into the episode.

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Alright, Jen, so you had a thriving

real estate business that kind of

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fizzled out and you're like, crap, I

gotta go back to a nine to five job.

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And you struggle trying to find a job.

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And so you kind of end

up doing deliveries.

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You're door dashing, you're delivering

pizzas, you're delivering medicine,

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you're delivering toilets even, and

you're like, okay, I wanna get into data.

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I don't want to be delivering anymore.

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And ultimately you landed a six figure

data analyst job at a thing company.

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So first off, congratulations,

uh, on doing that.

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But how the heck did you do it?

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Jen Hawkins: Oh man.

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Um, yeah, lots of perseverance,

but definitely positive mindset.

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I would say for me it was just really

focusing on the goal and not deviating

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because you know, in life you have so

many distractions and just, you know, I

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went through a very difficult time and.

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Just like, just really focusing

on the positive during that time.

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Trying to find every good

thing and just really focusing

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on my goal is how I did it.

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I mean, and just doing

everything you told me to do.

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Exactly.

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You know, I try to do

everything step by step.

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Yeah.

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Just getting it done.

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Period.

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Avery Smith: Well, you are very motivated

and, uh, you are very disciplined.

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But I guess we should say that you were,

uh, a student inside of the accelerator

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program and you, that's ultimately one

of the things that helped you land a job.

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But let's go back to that,

that delivery driving.

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Um, you actually have a LinkedIn

article, we'll, we'll put a link to

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it in the show notes that kind of

like goes through your whole journey.

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But like those first like

door dashes and those pizza

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deliveries, I can't imagine those.

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I mean, I'm, I'm sure that there

were some pros to that job.

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Um, but one of the things you

said was your car, you're putting

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a lot of mild on your car and it

started to smell like garbage.

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So take us through what it was

like doing those deliveries.

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Jen Hawkins: Man, when I had to get down

and actually go get a pizza delivery job,

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that was like the lowest time in my life.

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I'm like, I really need a job.

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I couldn't go back to my old job.

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Nobody was hiring and it was like

Christmas like, so I call the pizza

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place and I'm like, Hey, I need a job.

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And they're like, yeah,

can you come tomorrow?

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And I start working, you know,

pizza delivery and yeah, I only

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had 33,000 miles on my car.

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After all said and done, it's like

75,000 now, just within eight months.

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I'm like, it was really crazy.

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But yeah.

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Um, the smell of pizza and, you

know, door dashing and everything,

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it really ruins your car.

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If you're gonna do deliveries, I recommend

using someone else's car or a car

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you really don't like, not a new car.

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Avery Smith: I can only imagine,

uh, that would be a really hard job.

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And obviously you wanted to

pivot into data analytics and

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ultimately become a data analyst.

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You're delivering pizzas though, so

you're not, you're not, most people

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would say you weren't very close.

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But one of the things that I, I love,

and you talk about it in this article was

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even though you weren't really close, you

were trying to think like a data analyst.

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At that job.

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So, uh, can you tell us about when

you were delivering pizzas and kind

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of how you tried to use analytics

to adjust the timing to, to get

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less complaints and better reviews?

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Jen Hawkins: Oh yes, definitely.

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Um, I remember telling my boss at the

time that I was a data science student

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and that I could help his business

if he would let me see his data.

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And he's saying, Hmm,

lemme think about that.

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And it's the problem.

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I know immediately what the

problem was with that business.

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Looking at all of the reviews on Yelp.

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And, um, you know, it was a few things,

but one of the main things, um, that

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was an issue was they were quoting,

um, too soon of delivery times.

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They just needed to tell their customers

like, Hey, during peak hours you

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probably won't get your delivery until

like an hour, you know, instead of 30

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minutes because people were piling in.

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Um, so that was one and two, you have to

be really strategic in how you, um, get

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into gates because people have gate codes.

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There's a lot of gated

communities here in Austin.

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So the only way people will let you in

is if you communicate in a certain way.

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So what I would do is take a picture

of whatever it is, whether it's a

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pizza, a box, and I would show them

like, Hey, I have a package for you.

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Can you let me in so that way they'll

know that I'm really a delivery

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person and I have their, you know,

their, their item, whatever it is.

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Um, but if you don't do that,

they're not gonna let you in.

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So just really testing those things

and figuring out which works best, you

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know, and really analyzing the situation

and trying to figure out, uh, uh, the

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best way to get your job done each day.

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Avery Smith: I think you call it AB

testing, your text messages, testing.

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Mm-hmm.

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Which is so funny because if you look

at AB testing in like a true traditional

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statistical standpoint mm-hmm.

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Like it requires math and it

requires P values and hypothesis

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testing and a large sample size.

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And obviously you didn't really have that.

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But you did the best with what you had,

like you did small scale data analytics

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at a job that most people probably

would be like, there's no data analytics

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involved in, so I think that says a lot

to, to you and your attitude one, but

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also hopefully is a learning for all

their, listen, all of our listeners, I.

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Like no matter what job you have

right now, you can figure out at

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least one or two small ways that you

can use data analytics in that job.

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And that's going to one, like keep

you more motivated at that job.

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But two, it's gonna give you great

bullet points for your LinkedIn and

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your resume down the road where you're

like, ah, I had this job has nothing

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to do with data, but like bullet point.

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Like you could kind of make up some

numbers increased, like package acceptance

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by 10% by AB testing communication.

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Jen Hawkins: That's a great bullet.

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Exactly.

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It's, and then I actually

have another story.

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It's really funny.

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I worked for this warehouse and I

was delivering TikTok packages and

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Amazon packages and they were doing

things like, in a really strange way.

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And, um, one of those things that they

would do, they would make us do a scan,

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the packages, and then we had to organize

them by number and then put them in our.

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Vehicle, but they were using cardboard

boxes and one day it rained, so all

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the cardboard boxes were ruined and you

had to like somehow put the packages in

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your vehicle and no one knew that, you

know, they have moving bags on Amazon.

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So I brought my moving bags.

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I was like, you know what, I'm gonna

organize my packages and I organize them

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by 10 and put no one through 10 in here.

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So that way I could put them pretty

in my car and know, like, I'll

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do these celebrities and that.

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Then everyone caught wind to what I was

doing and now everybody at that warehouse

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has these Amazon packages, these Amazon

moving bags, and that actually saves

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like an hour to two hours of um, you

know, sorting and like putting all that.

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So just little things like that is huge.

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And I know that helped that company

and they've been around for a long

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time and nobody thought of that idea.

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So it's just little things like that

that you could do to really help.

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Improve, um, business processes.

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Avery Smith: Amen.

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I I love that.

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And for all those people who are maybe

working in a warehouse now or are driving

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delivery, we had two students join the

accelerator recently, both named Michael.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, one's UPS and the other

one is a freight company.

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I can't remember.

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One of the things that, that they've

said, and that you said as well, is

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there is some positive things to,

you know, driving and delivering.

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Yes.

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A lot of the times you can listen to

podcasts and that's, you know, one of

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the ways that you connected with me.

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Found out about, you know, data

Crew Jumpstart and the accelerator

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program, uh, in general.

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So I, I just love your positive

attitude where you're like, I'm in a

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job that I don't really wanna be in,

but I'm gonna make the most out of it.

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I'm gonna try to find good things

about it, and I'm also gonna

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try to have it bridge into.

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Ultimately the job that you ended

up landing, which is a six figure

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data analyst job at a FANG company.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, so let's talk about how you

actually made that transition.

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Yes.

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You started with a master's

degree, um, but you didn't quite

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finish the master's degree.

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You wanna get into the details

of like why you didn't end up

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finishing the master's and maybe

why a master's isn't for everyone.

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Jen Hawkins: So actually, um, while

I was doing my master's program, um,

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I had just left, um, apple the first

time when I was doing, you know,

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senior specialist of technical support.

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And my business like really grew.

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So I couldn't do my business Apple and

my master's degree at the same time.

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Like, it was just too much,

like something has to do.

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So, um, I chose the

business and I put a pause.

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On my master's degree because

I wanted to keep the 4.0

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grade point average I had, I

didn't want that to like go down.

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I mean, that's all I had

going for me at that time.

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So, um, I'm like, if I keep that and

then just find something else I know I

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can possibly, you know, go back to it.

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And that's.

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Basically what I did, I found your

program and I knew that I didn't

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really need the master's because other

people in, you know, that were getting

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success stories from your bootcamp.

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They didn't even have a master's.

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They were just coming

straight from being a teacher.

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Probably had like an

education master's degree.

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Or, um, no degree at all.

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Like, you know, just really interesting.

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So I was like, I don't

need my master's degree.

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I'm gonna try and do this

bootcamp and I'm gonna make it,

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and I'm gonna show everyone.

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You don't need a master's

degree to land a job, you know?

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And a fame company.

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I mean, if you show them the type of

person you are and your work ethic.

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I, I really don't think you need one.

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If you can show them that

you know how to do the work

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Avery Smith: well, and

congratulations, you did that.

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Um, and I like, like you said, you did

it in, I think 17 weeks, um, from joining

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the program to accepting your FANG

offer, which is absolutely incredible.

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Congratulations.

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But the, the coolest part about this, in

my opinion, is you called your own shot.

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Thank you.

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Um, I actually have an email from you

when you were about to join the program.

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And you literally said, quote, I

will be one of your success stories.

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That's incredible.

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'cause here you are, you are

one of my success stories.

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But when you, when you originally told

me that, why, why did you tell me that?

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Like, what was the purpose

of you telling me that?

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Because I have a lot of people

that join my program and not all

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of them land six figure jobs,

uh, uh, thing, company, you know?

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Mm-hmm.

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A lot of, a lot of them land great jobs.

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A lot of 'em ultimately don't actually

do much with the program and don't

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become data analysts, but like you called

your own shot, why did you do that?

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Jen Hawkins: It's important

to hold yourself accountable.

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Avery Smith: Um,

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Jen Hawkins: know,

however, a way that may be.

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And for me, you know, my dad just

always taught me to always be the

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best at everything that you do.

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It doesn't matter what it is, whether

you're delivering pieces or toilets

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or, you know, going to school.

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And for me, me telling you that, and

then you thinking that and me thinking

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that it, it just makes it happen.

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So it's like Jen will, I mean, she

told me so I believe she will too.

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So just, you know, telling people your

goal, you know, everyone starts to believe

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it and then you even believe it yourself.

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So, you know, then I just felt like I

needed to do that to make it happen.

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Avery Smith: I love that.

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I think that is an amazing attitude.

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You're, you're putting yourself on the

hook, which nice is accountability that

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a lot of people need, including myself.

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Like I, I consider myself, you

know, a lot of people are like, oh,

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Avery, you do a lot on LinkedIn.

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You have find a data job.com.

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You have a big YouTube channel,

you know, you run the accelerator.

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How do you stay motivated

to do all this stuff?

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I'm like, I, I don't, a lot of the times

do mean, but like I set up systems where

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I put myself out there to the public.

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So for instance, this year

we're doing mission 52, which

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is, which you participated in.

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We're trying to help 52 people

land a a, a data job in: 2025

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And that's like a lot of pressure.

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I told literally a hundred

thousand people about that goal.

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Do it when I, I, Hey, thank you.

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I, I hope so.

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You're, you're, you're one of

our success stories this year.

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I'll help you.

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That

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Jen Hawkins: I'll help you.

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Let's go.

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Good.

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Avery Smith: Let's do it.

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But, but my wife's the same way.

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Um mm-hmm.

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She, she works out every day,

but we recently just signed,

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signed up for, uh, like a fitness

competition race thing together.

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Um, I like those five.

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She's like,

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Jen Hawkins: yeah.

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Yeah.

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And she's like, I'm

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Avery Smith: working out so much more

harder now 'cause I have like a, a

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date, I have a goal that I, i, I wanna

put myself on the hook for anyways.

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I, I love that about you and I

think it's amazing that you, like

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mindset played a big role for you in

your, in your data journey, right?

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Jen Hawkins: Yes, for sure.

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Um, I mean, because in life

you're gonna go through stuff.

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Sometimes you think.

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You're in a really comfortable situation.

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You're really happy for that one moment.

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But things happen and you know, you

just have to always try to see the

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positive in everything because the

minute you start thinking negatively

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about it, like more bad stuff happens.

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So it's like, wouldn't you rather just.

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See the good in it and hope for more

good things to come instead of seeing

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how everything's falling apart,

and then more things fall apart.

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So that's kind of just

the attitude I have.

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Um, there's always something good

about anything you're going through.

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Avery Smith: It's easier said

than done, so kudos to you

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for being able to, to do that.

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Did you find that in, in my, my

program compared to, like, for

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instance, a master's degree.

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One of the things that someone

said to me recently was they

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didn't realize how much, like.

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Mindset stuff that we,

we do in the program.

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Like one of the things we talk

about is you have to do, you have

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to think progress over perfection.

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We're perfectionist,

we're we're progressing.

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Did you, did you find in the program

that there was a lot of mindset

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stuff that you found helpful?

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Jen Hawkins: Actually, not, you

know, I do a lot of business, you

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know, everything I, I've purchased

like really expensive courses, like

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I think yours is way under priced.

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So for anyone that says.

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2000 is a lot.

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You No, I paid 10,000 for, you know,

certain business courses, you know,

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and they all start with mindset and

it's like very detailed mindset.

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But yours is like, it's so smart.

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'cause it's like, yeah,

progress over perfection where?

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The, your whole life you're taught, you

know, you need to do things a certain way.

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Exactly.

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So I just, I really love that concept.

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It's simple.

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To me, it wasn't that much mindset at all.

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Um, for me, I already have that mentality,

but I do agree to not do the course

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: 00:14:17

unless you do have the right mindset.

308

: 00:14:20

Like, don't come in here and be

like, oh, maybe Avery can help me.

309

: 00:14:25

I don't think he can.

310

: 00:14:26

But then buy the course.

311

: 00:14:28

Because you already came in

with a negative attitude,

312

: 00:14:31

like it's not gonna work.

313

: 00:14:32

And whatever you're thinking happens.

314

: 00:14:34

So you just wanna, yeah.

315

: 00:14:35

Progress over perfection and just stay

positive while you're going through it.

316

: 00:14:39

And just do it.

317

: 00:14:41

Well, do the whole thing.

318

: 00:14:42

Just do it.

319

: 00:14:42

Uh, that attitude, I People buy,

buy your program and don't do it.

320

: 00:14:46

Right.

321

: 00:14:46

Like they, you just never hear

from them after like two weeks.

322

: 00:14:49

Yeah.

323

: 00:14:49

Just do it.

324

: 00:14:50

Avery Smith: Just do it.

325

: 00:14:51

Go into it and just do it.

326

: 00:14:52

That positive attitude must have really

helped you manifest landing your job.

327

: 00:14:57

At fang, but also getting

contacted by recruiters.

328

: 00:15:01

Um, I've had a lot of people go

through this program and very

329

: 00:15:03

few have had as many recruiters

reach out to them as, as you did.

330

: 00:15:07

So you had a lot of recruiters from, I

mean, you'll tell us the companies that

331

: 00:15:10

were, that were reaching out to you.

332

: 00:15:11

Yeah.

333

: 00:15:12

I guess first off, who was reaching

out to you and why do you think

334

: 00:15:14

they were like looking at you?

335

: 00:15:16

Jen Hawkins: Yeah, and it's

just so funny because on the.

336

: 00:15:19

To, you know, getting off of work.

337

: 00:15:21

I already had like four reach out to me

just in that past hour from like Amazon,

338

: 00:15:27

DoorDash, like just today, you know, and

in California, like places I'm, I'm not

339

: 00:15:32

even, I'm like, I'm in Texas, you know?

340

: 00:15:34

But I think it's, it's

what you post on LinkedIn.

341

: 00:15:38

It's your resume.

342

: 00:15:39

It's your portfolio, it's everything.

343

: 00:15:42

It's all like a beautiful soup, right?

344

: 00:15:44

Like you can't just have one

thing or the other, but two,

345

: 00:15:49

it's how you post about yourself.

346

: 00:15:52

Like you are telling

you're selling yourself.

347

: 00:15:55

Like not in a weird way, but

like you're telling people

348

: 00:15:58

like, I am the best out there.

349

: 00:16:00

I believe it in myself.

350

: 00:16:02

You know, and you're sharing it with

other people, like, um, you know, this

351

: 00:16:06

person wants me, that person wants me.

352

: 00:16:08

So it's like the other recruiters

are like, well, I want you too.

353

: 00:16:11

Like, you know what I mean?

354

: 00:16:12

It's like, like, so it's good

when you have those opportunities.

355

: 00:16:17

Put it out there, show it on your

LinkedIn and it'll, it'll attract.

356

: 00:16:22

People to you.

357

: 00:16:23

And I think that's really important.

358

: 00:16:25

I am, it's consistent.

359

: 00:16:27

Ever since I would say the second,

third project when I was posting it

360

: 00:16:31

more and more and sharing my leads

with people, um, I started in even more

361

: 00:16:36

context and, and it's, um, it's really

nice 'cause I, I feel that security

362

: 00:16:41

like, okay, well things don't work out

Apple, I'll just go here, I'll go here.

363

: 00:16:45

And it's not just data analyst jobs,

it's all of them, like business analysts.

364

: 00:16:50

Dean of manager, I'm

like, really weird stuff.

365

: 00:16:53

And I'm like, I didn't apply for

that, but okay, I'll, I'll take it.

366

: 00:16:55

You know?

367

: 00:16:56

And don't look at it

and be scared of them.

368

: 00:16:59

I see people are like, I'm through,

it's way too overqualified for me.

369

: 00:17:03

So it's like you're blocking

that blessing because you're.

370

: 00:17:06

Scared of the things coming

in, but be excited about them

371

: 00:17:09

even if you don't qualify.

372

: 00:17:11

So that way you can attract more to you

and in instead of being like, well, I

373

: 00:17:15

don't know why they're contacting me.

374

: 00:17:17

You know?

375

: 00:17:18

So just, it's really the, your

attitude and how you think about it.

376

: 00:17:21

Avery Smith: Uh, if I, if I heard

you correctly, there's like two big

377

: 00:17:24

things that seemed to, to help you.

378

: 00:17:26

One was like your personal branding,

which is something we work really

379

: 00:17:29

hard on in the accelerator.

380

: 00:17:30

Like, yes, in module one and module

two we're touching LinkedIn a ton.

381

: 00:17:35

Uh, module three we're doing

resumes, and by module four you have

382

: 00:17:39

three projects and two portfolios.

383

: 00:17:40

So mm-hmm.

384

: 00:17:41

We're, we're really focusing

on personal branding.

385

: 00:17:43

So that seemed like it played,

uh, a big role for you, but also

386

: 00:17:46

going back to the mindset thing.

387

: 00:17:47

Because you, like you said, a lot of

people maybe will see opportunities

388

: 00:17:51

and they'll, they'll reject themselves

before they let a, a recruiter

389

: 00:17:54

or a hiring manager reject them.

390

: 00:17:56

Mm-hmm.

391

: 00:17:57

And I, one, one way I say is

like, look at the requirements.

392

: 00:18:00

You know, you can, you can say, see if

you fit like 60% of it, if so, apply.

393

: 00:18:04

Um, the other way I look at it

is like, squint your eyes and

394

: 00:18:06

basically like, see it really blurry.

395

: 00:18:08

Mm-hmm.

396

: 00:18:08

Um, and if that, if it looks good,

still still apply, but like mindset

397

: 00:18:12

for you played a big role because

maybe you are applying for jobs.

398

: 00:18:15

That, Hey, maybe you,

you weren't a good fit.

399

: 00:18:18

Maybe like you were underqualified,

but that attitude of being

400

: 00:18:22

like, no, I can land.

401

: 00:18:24

This kind of led you ultimately

to landing a, a great job, a six

402

: 00:18:28

figure job at a fame company.

403

: 00:18:29

Jen Hawkins: And, and then too, it's

like if you have that right attitude

404

: 00:18:32

and you're attracting all these

recruiters, you get to pick, you're

405

: 00:18:35

like, okay, well I don't want this, you

know, laundry list, job description.

406

: 00:18:39

If it's really long, you

probably don't want it.

407

: 00:18:41

That means they want you to do everything.

408

: 00:18:44

But if it's, you know, mine,

the one I finally decided

409

: 00:18:47

on, it was like five things.

410

: 00:18:48

So I was like, oh yeah, that's perfect

just for right now, because, you

411

: 00:18:52

know, I'm transitioning into this.

412

: 00:18:53

This is different than

what I've ever done before.

413

: 00:18:56

Um, so, so that's what I was

saying, like it's really important

414

: 00:18:59

to just have, you know, options.

415

: 00:19:02

Um, whether it's, it's what you think may

be too much or too little, just be happy

416

: 00:19:07

for every option that comes in, and then

you'll get the one that you really want.

417

: 00:19:11

Avery Smith: And it's easier said

than done, but once you, once you

418

: 00:19:14

said, actually we were talking

before we started recording.

419

: 00:19:16

You're like, once you get one

offer, it somehow just starts

420

: 00:19:19

to snowball because Yes.

421

: 00:19:21

Then all of a sudden someone else

can reach out to you and you'd

422

: 00:19:23

be like, well, I already have

this offer from this company.

423

: 00:19:25

And then all of a sudden you get

expedited and that company, and then

424

: 00:19:28

it's just like this big momentum

ball that just gets rolling.

425

: 00:19:31

Jen Hawkins: It's, and then you can

treat it like a real estate transaction.

426

: 00:19:34

Like, yeah, I'm valuable.

427

: 00:19:36

Yeah, I need more money.

428

: 00:19:38

Avery Smith: It, it's almost like playing

hard to get when you're dating or like,

429

: 00:19:41

like you just seem more desirable.

430

: 00:19:43

Some more people wanna date you.

431

: 00:19:44

Um,

432

: 00:19:44

Jen Hawkins: exactly.

433

: 00:19:46

Avery Smith: Okay.

434

: 00:19:46

Let's talk about what

your job is like at thing.

435

: 00:19:49

So, uh, we, we've already talked

about thing company over six figures.

436

: 00:19:53

Are you hybrid?

437

: 00:19:53

Are you remote?

438

: 00:19:54

Are you in person?

439

: 00:19:55

Jen Hawkins: Uh, yes.

440

: 00:19:56

I'm, I'm actually hybrid, which

I, I actually like because it's

441

: 00:19:59

not that far from my house.

442

: 00:20:01

So I get to work at home on Mondays

and Fridays and Tuesday, Wednesday,

443

: 00:20:04

Thursday, I'm in the office.

444

: 00:20:06

But yeah, what what's good

about it too is, um, you know,

445

: 00:20:09

me, my boss is really nice.

446

: 00:20:11

So if I wanted to tell her that I wanted

to work at home, um, you know, during

447

: 00:20:16

one of those hybrid days, if it's not

a big deal, as long as I let her know.

448

: 00:20:20

That's the beauty of hybrid is if,

if you have a great boss and you

449

: 00:20:24

know, they don't mind that every now

and then you could still be at home.

450

: 00:20:28

Avery Smith: That's great.

451

: 00:20:29

I love that.

452

: 00:20:29

And what type of tools are, are you using?

453

: 00:20:32

People might assume it's fang, so

you're doing like, I don't know, AI

454

: 00:20:37

programming in like secretive assembly

code language or something like that.

455

: 00:20:40

But what, what tools are you

actually using on a day-to-day basis?

456

: 00:20:43

Jen Hawkins: Um, surprisingly, you

know, I thought exactly what you said.

457

: 00:20:47

I'm like, oh my gosh,

what am I getting into?

458

: 00:20:49

But yeah, I use Excel all day and Tableau.

459

: 00:20:52

So that's it.

460

: 00:20:54

Um, I do have the opportunity to

use Python, you know, to maybe do

461

: 00:20:58

automation, but there's another

person that is like the go-to.

462

: 00:21:02

So I just talked to him about what I wanna

do and, you know, still learn from him.

463

: 00:21:06

Because I want to be the one that,

you know, knows how to do it.

464

: 00:21:09

But yeah, just Tableau and Pi,

um, excuse me, Tableau and Excel.

465

: 00:21:13

Avery Smith: It's amazing how much you

can do with, with Tableau and Excel.

466

: 00:21:16

Mm-hmm.

467

: 00:21:16

Like those are are really great tools

and you can do so much with them.

468

: 00:21:19

And, and to me it's not a

huge surprise 'cause I also

469

: 00:21:22

worked for a big corporation.

470

: 00:21:23

I worked for, for Exxon.

471

: 00:21:24

Excellent.

472

: 00:21:25

Um, and like the companies of

America are built on Excel.

473

: 00:21:29

Like it's, there's a lot of

Excel, um, and Tableau's.

474

: 00:21:32

Awesome.

475

: 00:21:33

So that, that makes a, a lot of sense.

476

: 00:21:35

And what you

477

: 00:21:36

Jen Hawkins: can do with Excel.

478

: 00:21:37

Like I made all these macros

and I used to cut three hours of

479

: 00:21:41

time by doing like, just macros.

480

: 00:21:45

And they're like, how did you do that?

481

: 00:21:46

You're amazing.

482

: 00:21:48

Avery Smith: That's, that is

awesome to hear and I'm glad

483

: 00:21:50

to hear the macros alive.

484

: 00:21:51

I wasn't sure.

485

: 00:21:52

So that's perfect.

486

: 00:21:53

Uh, and I also like that you're

learning, like you're, one of the

487

: 00:21:55

things we talk about in the accelerator

program is getting your foot in the

488

: 00:21:58

data door, like getting, getting your,

just any job we can in the data world.

489

: 00:22:02

And then getting paid to learn,

because right now you're getting

490

: 00:22:04

paid a fairly handsome salary.

491

: 00:22:06

And like you said, you're

doing new things weekly.

492

: 00:22:08

Uh, yeah, weekly.

493

: 00:22:10

And you're doing new things in Excel.

494

: 00:22:11

You're doing new things in

Tableau, new things in Python.

495

: 00:22:13

And that knowledge grows with you, you

know, so you can get a promotion at your

496

: 00:22:17

job, like you could potentially become

the Python person in, in your group.

497

: 00:22:21

And basically those skills you'll always

have with you and they'll compound

498

: 00:22:24

the, the rest of your career and

you're getting paid to learn them now.

499

: 00:22:27

So that's a great option for you.

500

: 00:22:29

Jen Hawkins: It is.

501

: 00:22:30

I agree.

502

: 00:22:30

I agree a hundred percent.

503

: 00:22:32

And, um, and I love it.

504

: 00:22:33

I love the work.

505

: 00:22:34

To me it's like, it

feels like it's too easy.

506

: 00:22:37

I'm like, okay, where's

the hard stuff coming?

507

: 00:22:39

You know?

508

: 00:22:40

But it's, it's really not

as difficult as you think.

509

: 00:22:43

I mean, there, there are some jobs.

510

: 00:22:45

That are very difficult.

511

: 00:22:47

But again, what gives you an indicator

is how long that job description is.

512

: 00:22:53

That's how you know how much you'll work.

513

: 00:22:55

Pick the small one like I did.

514

: 00:22:57

Avery Smith: Very cool.

515

: 00:22:58

Is there anything that's

like surprised you?

516

: 00:23:00

Um, I think you've, you've been there

maybe, uh, a month or or two now.

517

: 00:23:04

Is there anything that's like, been

surprising to you or something that

518

: 00:23:06

you've enjoyed about, about working there?

519

: 00:23:09

Jen Hawkins: I think, well,

I enjoy, I enjoy the work.

520

: 00:23:11

It's, it's very.

521

: 00:23:13

It's busy work.

522

: 00:23:14

I love to stay busy.

523

: 00:23:15

I don't like slow periods because

I'm like twiddling my thumbs,

524

: 00:23:19

trying to find things to do.

525

: 00:23:20

Um, and for me it's like a kid

in a candy store just looking

526

: 00:23:25

at all this data and I'm like,

which one do I wanna attack first?

527

: 00:23:28

Like, you know, like, like

how can I fix this first?

528

: 00:23:31

And, and I love that, like

all my jobs I've done before

529

: 00:23:36

somehow apply to what I'm doing.

530

: 00:23:38

Like whenever, whenever I was a manager

before or doing Apple Care, you know.

531

: 00:23:44

Anything.

532

: 00:23:45

Um, even pizza deliveries, you know,

like when they're talking terminology,

533

: 00:23:50

I'm like, oh yeah, I did that.

534

: 00:23:52

Like, you know, it's just, it's really,

it's really interesting and, um, so yeah,

535

: 00:23:58

Avery Smith: Jen, like you did

such a good job and I just wanna

536

: 00:24:00

congratulate you for Thank you.

537

: 00:24:02

Working on your personal brands.

538

: 00:24:04

Learning the right skills, building

the projects, growing your network,

539

: 00:24:07

um, obviously it's paid dividends.

540

: 00:24:09

What advice would you give to all of the

aspiring analysts that are listening?

541

: 00:24:13

Listening now?

542

: 00:24:14

Jen Hawkins: Um, I think the

biggest advice, um, is I went

543

: 00:24:18

through a very dark time.

544

: 00:24:21

Um, and you know, there's a lot of

people going through that right now.

545

: 00:24:25

With layoffs and, and things like that.

546

: 00:24:28

Um, and just know that, you know, if

I can overcome that really dark time

547

: 00:24:32

in my life, I know that you can too.

548

: 00:24:35

Whether it's, you know, doing this program

or something else, but just having a goal

549

: 00:24:40

in mind will help you get through it.

550

: 00:24:43

It doesn't matter what that goal is,

but just having something to strive for

551

: 00:24:48

it, it will, it will help you overcome.

552

: 00:24:50

Uh, and this program, if you

want a data analytics career,

553

: 00:24:54

like you just, just do it.

554

: 00:24:55

Just do the whole thing as quickly as

possible, you know, but get everything

555

: 00:25:00

that you need to learn exactly

what to do and have the confidence.

556

: 00:25:04

And once you like.

557

: 00:25:05

Have that confidence, then you're ready.

558

: 00:25:08

Like just go for it and then

just, you know, apply and, and

559

: 00:25:12

you'll get, you'll get the goal.

560

: 00:25:14

Avery Smith: Thank you, Jen.

561

: 00:25:15

Uh, thanks for sharing that.

562

: 00:25:16

And thank you for your shining example.

563

: 00:25:18

We'll have, uh, we'll have Jen's

LinkedIn in the show notes down below.

564

: 00:25:21

So you guys can connect with

her, um, and follow her journey.

565

: 00:25:24

You guys can see what her LinkedIn looks

like, see what her portfolio looks like.

566

: 00:25:27

It's pretty similar to what we do in the

accelerator program, but she's put a great

567

: 00:25:31

spin on it and made it look really good.

568

: 00:25:34

Jen, thank you so much

for sharing your story.

569

: 00:25:35

We really appreciate it and I'm

sure so many people resonated.

570

: 00:25:38

Jen Hawkins: Yes, thank you.

571

: 00:25:40

Thanks for having me.

572

: 00:25:41

It's been an honor and just

really happy to be part of, of,

573

: 00:25:45

of all, of this and, and I hope

that my story, um, helps someone.