191: I helped this beginner become a data analyst (Jordan Temple)

Speaker: 00:00:00

Today I wanna tell you about

my friend Jordan Temple.

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Jordan was a construction

cost estimator and a hundred

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percent new to data analytics.

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No experience whatsoever,

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but somehow a few months later,

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he landed a senior financial analyst role.

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Without even applying for the job.

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A recruiter actually found him on

LinkedIn, messaged him, and he had

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a job offer shortly thereafter.

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So in today's episode, we'll talk about

what Jordan did, where I helped him,

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and how you can steal our strategy

to get recruiters in your inbox and

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ultimately land your own data jobs.

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So let's go ahead and dive in.

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But first I wanna tell you

that this episode is sponsored

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by me in my own newsletter.

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Every Wednesday I send a newsletter

designed to help you land your data job.

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: 00:00:39

It has a lesson, job listings,

and a personal note from yours.

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Truly,

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it's a hundred percent free, and you

can join 25,000 other aspiring data

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professionals@datacareerjumpstart.com

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slash newsletter.

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Or you can just click on the

link, the description down below.

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Now let's go ahead and hop in.

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Avery Smith: our guest today is Jordan.

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Jordan went through the Data

Analytics Accelerator program and

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now is a Senior Financial Analyst

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at a company called,

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extentnet Systems.

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Senior Financial Analyst.

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Beforehand, I'll let

you kind of explain it.

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You are a cost estimator.

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Is that right?

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Jordan Temple: yeah, yeah.

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So work for a general contractor.

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And I was in the estimating

department, but it was a lot of

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budget and cost estimation for

ground up construction projects.

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Avery Smith: Okay, so like, is this

like residential or more commercial?

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Jordan Temple: It was mostly

residential multifamily apartments

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and some single family homes.

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Avery Smith: Gotcha.

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So if someone's building a new home

and they want to like, maybe they

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had like a plan, for example, from an

architect or something like that, or

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maybe it was like a developer had a

bunch of homes they want to get built.

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They'd come to your company and

specifically you and be like, Hey,

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how much does this get a cost and

you'd kind of give an estimate

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of what that project might cost.

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, exactly.

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They, would approach us with their

construction drawings and we would look

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through them and essentially put together

a conceptual budget based on what we

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saw in the drawings and go from there.

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Avery Smith: Okay.

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So I'm not a construction expert.

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I haven't been really exposed to that

industry very much, but that doesn't

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sound super data analytics y to me.

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Would you agree with that?

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Or,

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Jordan Temple: Yeah.

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No, it's it's definitely not really

the the most data thing about it is

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looking at historical costs just to

see What has changed over the years

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that way you can use that to forecast

what future costs are going to be.

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Avery Smith: okay.

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So in a matter of a few months, you're

able to go from a role that wasn't

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necessarily very related to data analytics

to a senior financial analyst role.

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So that seems like a pretty

big jump, especially getting

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that senior in that title.

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So in today's episode, I was hoping you

kind of walk me through that journey of

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going from, you know, this cost estimator

to a senior financial analyst and what

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exactly it took, you know, what, decisions

did you make that you're glad you make,

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what are some things you kind of wish

you did maybe earlier in the process?

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Does that sound good with you?

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, that sounds great.

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Let's get started.

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Avery Smith: Okay, sweet.

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So I guess maybe we'll work

a little bit backwards.

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So you got the senior

financial analyst role.

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What are some of the, you know,

Qualifications for this role

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that they were looking for.

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Jordan Temple: One of the biggest things

that they were looking for was someone

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who had a construction background.

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They wanted someone who I guess

understood that side of the business.

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Because first and foremost, we're

a telecommunications company.

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We work with AT& T, Verizon, T Mobile.

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And the big network providers and

we install fiber optic cable for

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like outdoor and indoor facilities.

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So they wanted someone that was

familiar with the construction

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side of things and had dabbled

in data just a bit for the role.

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So that's, kind of their, main asks.

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Avery Smith: Okay.

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And I think that's really important

to, realize is a lot of data roles.

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I kind of said your background

wasn't very data analytics y, but

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we see that that's actually kind

of what they wanted in this case.

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And there's actually a lot of roles

like this, no matter what role you're

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currently in, if you're listening to this.

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Like you can probably use it in

data analytics one way or another.

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We've had a lot of teachers come

through, the data analytics accelerator

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program, and they ended up becoming,

you know, educational data analysts,

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or they become data analysts for a

school system or some online learning

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platform or something like that.

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And in your case, you took

your construction background.

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Now you're kind of like a construction

data financial analyst type.

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, that's,

that's essentially what it is.

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Avery Smith: Okay.

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Which is really cool.

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I don't think I realized that

it did telecommunication stuff.

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One of the projects I did in my

consulting company, Snow Data Science,

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you might find this interesting, was

I helped create an algorithm based off

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of historic data, like you mentioned

earlier that it was for a company.

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I don't even know what they exactly did

but they provided quotes of how much it

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would install, how much it would cost to

install I guess like high speed internet

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in their like residential office places.

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So a lot of the times they had

like fiber going close to their

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You know, business, but it didn't

actually tie into their business.

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And so they'd want to quickly, they

want their salespeople to be quickly to

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estimate the cost of what it might cost

that like this, company I was calling,

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you know, how much is it going to cost to

get high speed internet in, our building?

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Well, these salespeople

obviously didn't really know.

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And so what we'd use is the historic

database, a bunch of different factors,

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and try to create a predictive model

to be like, yeah, it's going to

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cost, you know, 50, 000 or something

like that, and give these sales

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people a quick and dirty estimate.

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So anyway, it sounds like at least a

little bit similar in those spaces.

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Jordan Temple: It's, , somewhat

similar to what we do.

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Avery Smith: Okay.

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That's, really neat.

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So now that, you're at this company what

tools are you using on a day to day basis?

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Jordan Temple: So the role

is really Excel heavy.

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We do a lot of analyzing data

in Excel, you know, using pivot

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tables and things like that.

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Other than Excel, we use

Power BI a fair amount.

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Not so much building reports anymore.

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Most everything has already

been built and put together.

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Now we just utilize those in our day

to day functions, such as validating

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costs and things like that across

the markets that we do work in.

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Avery Smith: Yeah, that's awesome.

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First off, it's really cool that you

can land I just want everyone listening

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to realize you can land a senior

data role with like just using Excel.

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Jordan's proof of that, especially

if you're leveraging that, senior,

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background from construction that you

have, because you do have all those

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years of experience in construction.

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and then also it's just awesome

that you're using, you know, Power

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BI, not necessarily that you're

creating these Power BI reports, but

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you're able to know how they work.

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If they break, you could fix them, those

types of things, because you are right.

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That like a lot of us, especially

when we want to you know, when we're

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new to this, we're like, Oh my gosh,

I'm going to go to this company.

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I'm going to start doing the coolest

things on planet earth, and I'm going

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to save the world and make these cool

visualizations and dashboards and models.

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But what it comes down to a lot

of the time is we did that a long

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time ago and you just need to help

fix stuff if it breaks or just

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Jordan Temple: Exactly.

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Mainly just there to maintain

it if something messes up.

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Or if you want to create something

on your own, you know, you would

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think is beneficial to your

role specifically, you know.

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Avery Smith: yeah.

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Okay.

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So that's a little bit

about what you do now.

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Let's talk about how you got this role.

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So what made you interested in

data analytics in the first place?

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Jordan Temple: So, I'm a big baseball

guy, a big baseball fan, so analytics

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got really big in baseball, I

don't know, 10, 15 years ago, so.

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Just that's kind of how I first got

introduced to data analytics and that

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whole train of thought and mindset.

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And I've always kind of had it in

the back of my head that it would

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be really cool to work in data.

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I've got my MBA.

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I took a few analytics

courses really enjoyed those.

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And whenever I finished my program, I was

hopeful to get some sort of analyst job.

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You know, that didn't work out.

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I ended up getting into construction.

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And worked in construction

for several years.

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Enjoyed what I did, you know, working

in construction, but knew that I wanted

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to get into something a little more,

you know, numbers and data driven.

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So that's whenever I found your program

and attended one of your, and, you

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know, informational calls and, you

know, things took off from there.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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Okay.

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So you were kind of

like a money ball child.

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Jordan Temple: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Very similar.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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That's awesome.

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I love the movie money ball

of the book money ball.

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Yeah, I think, analytics and baseball and

sports in general is really fascinating.

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And, that makes sense.

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So you kind of done this

business stuff in the past.

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You know, you were hoping out of the

MBA to maybe land an analyst job.

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What do you think the main difference

between, you know, coming out of

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your MBA versus, you know, this

last time you tried to get into

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analytics, what was the biggest

difference that in the end for you?

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Jordan Temple: I would say just having

the hands on experience with the projects

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that were done in the program and having a

portfolio, you know, none of those things

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were really covered in my MBA program.

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It was just more or less an introduction

to different analytic systems and

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more theory based than application.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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And there is a difference between the

theory and the application, isn't there?

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Jordan Temple: yeah, no doubt,

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Avery Smith: Yeah, that,

totally makes sense.

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For me, even when I got my master's degree

at Georgia Tech in data analytics, it's

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one thing to learn the skills, right?

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It's another thing to apply the

skills, and then it's a whole other

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thing to show off your skills.

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And for me, I mean, you can

kind of in, the program, I

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try to do all three at once.

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But if you're not cognitively

thinking through, it's really

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easy just to stop at step one of

learning the skills and skipping the

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applying and skipping the showing.

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Right?

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Jordan Temple: Mm hmm.

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Avery Smith: Yeah, I agree.

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I think my program did a good job

of teaching me, but didn't do a good

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job at helping me make it applied and

helping me , show off those skills.

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So, okay.

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You joined the program.

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We're doing projects for

showing off our skills.

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You start doing a little bit

more stuff on LinkedIn as well.

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Correct.

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, yeah.

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So started posting a few times a week

utilize the articles function and

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would post my module projects on those.

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Reach out to different content

creators on LinkedIn and, you know,

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leave comments and engage with,

other folks in the industry as well.

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And that was kind of how

I got my foot in the door.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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Okay.

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I like that.

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Explain that a little bit more,

tell the listeners, how did

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you get your front of the door?

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, I mean,

just being proactive on LinkedIn.

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I mean, anything from posting about,

you know, my, weekly goals and steps

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within the program interacting with

other students in the program, posting

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projects asking for feedback on things.

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I mean, just trying to be

as proactive as possible.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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You did a great job.

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You have a great looking profile.

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You, commented, you know,

thoughtful, left good comments

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and you also created good posts.

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You know, like you mentioned, you create

some articles, you create some posts.

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And eventually that got to a point where

someone, noticed a recruiter DMD, right?

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, yeah, that's

how I have my current role is someone

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DM'd me about the position asked

me if I would be interested in it.

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They sent over the the job description.

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I read through it and did not

feel qualified for it at all.

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I felt like it was just way over my

head, , they were pretty insistent that

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I would be a good fit for the role.

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So I was like, you know

what, let's go for it.

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I had a call with someone at

the the recruiting agency.

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We, spoke for 30 or 45 minutes, I would

say just getting more familiar with each

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other, my background and things like that.

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And they were like, yeah,

everything looks good.

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We're going to send your profile on to

the company and we'll let you know that

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they're interested in moving forward.

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And I would say within 30 minutes

of the conversation being over, they

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reached out and said that the company

wanted to set up an interview with me.

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So that was really nice.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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And, I think there's something really

important here because this was a

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third party agency, recruiting agency

that reached out to you via DM on

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LinkedIn said, Hey, we saw your profile.

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We might think you're a

good fit for this role.

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And then they presented you to

the company and we're kind of like

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backing you like, Hey, this is our

candidate or one of our candidates.

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We feel really strongly about Jordan.

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And this is something I like

to call the job hunt reversal.

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It takes a lot of factors, you

know, one of it is luck, right?

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Because one of the reasons why

this company liked you so much

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was, you were in the area that

they were looking for, right?

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They weren't like, they're looking

for someone in a hybrid role.

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We'll talk about this here in a bit.

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So that was kind of like, the

location was a good for you.

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You had a great background that's on you.

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Cause you had, you know, you have done

the choices you've made have given you the

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background and experience that you have.

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So that was on you.

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You had a great LinkedIn profile.

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You know, which is something that

we've been working together on, like

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making sure LinkedIn profile was good.

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We were active on it so that we were

like hyping up the LinkedIn algorithm

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to like be interested in us and, you

know, have a better chance of attracting

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recruiters and stuff like this through

that whole process, you weren't

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going out and applying for that job.

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That job was almost

applying for you, right?

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Like all of a sudden, instead of

you contacting a recruiter and

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being like, Hey, please hire me.

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The recruiter reached out to you and

was like, Hey, please work for us.

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Jordan Temple: Yeah,

that's exactly how it felt.

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I mean, it was just like you

said, almost a reversal of roles.

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Avery Smith: How did that feel?

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Like, was that a way better process

than what you did previously?

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Jordan Temple: Yeah, I mean, it

definitely it was different, but I mean,

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in a good way, you know, it definitely

felt much better than me going to

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these different companies websites and

having to register for their applicant

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tracking systems and, you know, mass

applying for jobs, you know, it was

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it was pretty effortless on my end.

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They reached out, like I said,

via LinkedIn, asked for my resume.

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And if I was interested in having a

conversation and that was really all

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of the paperwork that I had to do.

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Avery Smith: Yeah.

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And I know we'll talk about your

interviews here in a second.

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You had a few interviews after that,

but you said they weren't too bad.

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And I just want to emphasize to everyone,

you guys can be the same as Jordan.

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It really comes down to having

a good LinkedIn profile and a

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good resume to rank really well.

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And these recruiter algorithms

that are going on on LinkedIn.

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And then one really thing, really

neat thing about this whole process as

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well is if you're open to potentially

working in person or hybrid work, the

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pool of candidates is a lot smaller.

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And so you have a chance to be,

I guess, the same size fish in a

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different pond, a smaller pond.

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And so that worked well for Jordan

because Jordan works hybrid.

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And you might be thinking,

Oh, I want to work remote.

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Well, Jordan right now, originally

it was one day at home, right?

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: 00:13:50

Jordan.

316

: 00:13:52

Jordan Temple: Yeah, originally

it was only one day remote.

317

: 00:13:54

That's how it started.

318

: 00:13:55

Avery Smith: But now,

319

: 00:13:57

Jordan Temple: Yeah, now I work

remote two days a week Monday and

320

: 00:14:00

Friday, so I only go into the office

during the middle of the week,

321

: 00:14:03

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

322

: 00:14:05

Avery Smith: so basically if you reframe

the word hybrid as I got to work remotely

323

: 00:14:11

40 percent of the time or 40 percent

remote Or I had one thing that Jordan

324

: 00:14:14

mentioned when we were talking earlier.

325

: 00:14:16

I mean, Jordan, you're working on Monday

and Friday, but it's almost as if you

326

: 00:14:20

have an extended weekend in those cases,

of course, you're still working, we're

327

: 00:14:24

not dogging it at work, but like, if

you want to go somewhere, for example,

328

: 00:14:27

maybe, you want to go, I don't know,

visit some family member in, you know,

329

: 00:14:32

one state over or go to some event.

330

: 00:14:34

So maybe like an NFL football

game or an MLB baseball game.

331

: 00:14:37

You could leave Thursday

night after work, right?

332

: 00:14:40

Work remotely on Friday and then you

have the rest of the weekend where

333

: 00:14:43

you're already in your location.

334

: 00:14:44

You know, maybe you, leave Monday

night and you get back to work on

335

: 00:14:47

Tuesday or something like that.

336

: 00:14:48

Like it just really opens up a

lot of flexibility in my mind.

337

: 00:14:51

Jordan Temple: Yeah, it definitely

does, and that's one of my

338

: 00:14:52

favorite things about the role.

339

: 00:14:54

Avery Smith: Yeah.

340

: 00:14:54

That's, awesome.

341

: 00:14:55

So I think those are the things,

I mean, you obviously had the

342

: 00:14:58

great construction experience.

343

: 00:14:59

You had the data projects

displayed on your LinkedIn

344

: 00:15:02

and displayed on your resume.

345

: 00:15:03

Like you are a qualified candidate,

but you're also, we're prepping

346

: 00:15:06

your prime in the pump, the LinkedIn

algorithm to make sure that like,

347

: 00:15:09

okay, my profile is optimized.

348

: 00:15:11

I'm putting stuff out there.

349

: 00:15:13

And opening up chances, did,

did the recruiting company

350

: 00:15:15

ever say how they found you?

351

: 00:15:16

Or is it just like, they just found

you via LinkedIn, open to work.

352

: 00:15:20

Jordan Temple: hmm.

353

: 00:15:20

They didn't really go into specifics,

but with the company being located

354

: 00:15:24

in the city that I work in, they,

just relocated from Chicago to

355

: 00:15:27

North Texas, and we're looking to...

356

: 00:15:31

I guess backfill some roles of people

that they had let go that didn't

357

: 00:15:34

want to relocate and , that's kind

of how they stumbled across my name.

358

: 00:15:39

Avery Smith: Perfect.

359

: 00:15:39

That's such a cool story.

360

: 00:15:40

Yeah.

361

: 00:15:40

I'm sure that was the LinkedIn algorithm.

362

: 00:15:43

So all that work you're putting

in ended up being worth it.

363

: 00:15:45

so you have this recruiter who

DMs you, you talk to the recruiter

364

: 00:15:48

on the phone for like 45 minutes.

365

: 00:15:50

They're talking about, I guess, experience

mostly, like what type of experience you

366

: 00:15:54

have in construction, what experience you

have in data analytics, is that right?

367

: 00:15:57

Jordan Temple: Yeah, pretty much.

368

: 00:15:58

They just, you know, wanted me to go

through my education background, my

369

: 00:16:02

construction experience kind of discuss

my my portfolio projects that I had

370

: 00:16:07

done, tools that I had worked with, and

what I was looking for in my next role.

371

: 00:16:11

Avery Smith: So they

had seen your portfolio.

372

: 00:16:14

Jordan Temple: Yeah, they saw it

and they were, I mean, they thought

373

: 00:16:16

that it looked really nice, had a

had a good mix of projects using

374

: 00:16:20

different, you know, analytic tools,

Excel, SQL, Tableau, I think I had

375

: 00:16:25

some Power BI in there, or Python.

376

: 00:16:28

So, I mean, it was well rounded.

377

: 00:16:30

Avery Smith: So yeah, they were

more asking about like the, whole

378

: 00:16:32

portfolio or did they like dive into

one specific project, one or two

379

: 00:16:35

Jordan Temple: I don't think they

looked at all of the specific projects.

380

: 00:16:39

They looked at the Power BI one that

I had on there and they looked at

381

: 00:16:42

The projects that I used dealing

with Excel because the role is,

382

: 00:16:46

you know, Power BI and Excel heavy.

383

: 00:16:49

Avery Smith: Yeah.

384

: 00:16:49

Yeah.

385

: 00:16:49

That makes sense because they

were hiring for someone who, who

386

: 00:16:52

needed Excel and Power BI skills.

387

: 00:16:53

So yeah, that's, I mean, that's one of

the reasons why we do at least one project

388

: 00:16:57

with each one of the technical skills that

a data analyst should know is so you at

389

: 00:17:01

least have one project for every skill,

no matter, what they're asking for,

390

: 00:17:04

you at least have something, hopefully.

391

: 00:17:06

So.

392

: 00:17:06

Okay.

393

: 00:17:07

That's awesome.

394

: 00:17:07

And then they submit your

information to the company.

395

: 00:17:09

The company responds back within like an

hour that they're interested in with you.

396

: 00:17:13

And then do you have

interviews from there?

397

: 00:17:15

Jordan Temple: Yeah.

398

: 00:17:15

I had an interview the next day with

the gentleman who's my now boss.

399

: 00:17:20

It was only supposed to be about a 30

minute interview, but it turned into

400

: 00:17:23

a 55 minute or an hour discussion.

401

: 00:17:26

We hit it off great.

402

: 00:17:27

I mean, it went really well.

403

: 00:17:29

So after I finished that interview,

I reached out to the recruiter,

404

: 00:17:33

told them how it went on my

end after I spoke with them.

405

: 00:17:37

I guess they got with the guy that

I interviewed with and just kind of

406

: 00:17:41

debriefed and called me right back and

they were like, yeah, I mean, they loved

407

: 00:17:46

you, you know, they want to have you do

another interview, but with one of someone

408

: 00:17:49

who would be one of your teammates.

409

: 00:17:51

I was like, okay, well,

yeah, that sounds great.

410

: 00:17:53

They wanted me to do the interview

the following week, but I was going

411

: 00:17:57

out of town on a family vacation.

412

: 00:17:59

So I told them that.

413

: 00:18:00

they gave the company a heads up

and the the company was more than

414

: 00:18:04

willing to, you know, wait for

me to get back from vacation to

415

: 00:18:07

continue the interview process.

416

: 00:18:09

So that felt really nice.

417

: 00:18:11

Avery Smith: Yeah.

418

: 00:18:11

That's, awesome.

419

: 00:18:12

And do you remember what they

asked you in those interviews?

420

: 00:18:14

What, were those

interviews focused around?

421

: 00:18:17

Jordan Temple: So the first interview was

really just getting to know me just as a

422

: 00:18:21

person just asking about my background.

423

: 00:18:24

I'm from Louisiana.

424

: 00:18:26

My boss is also from Louisiana.

425

: 00:18:28

We're from different parts of the

state, but we really just kind of

426

: 00:18:31

talked about that for a little while.

427

: 00:18:33

Just we, you know, we had that in common

and Really played into that and just

428

: 00:18:38

got to know each other really well.

429

: 00:18:40

And then was just asking mainly

about my analytics experience.

430

: 00:18:45

You know, he asked about my MBA

program, asked about the bootcamp,

431

: 00:18:50

what type of stuff we did.

432

: 00:18:51

And, you know, I was just

transparent about all of that.

433

: 00:18:54

And we had a really good conversation.

434

: 00:18:56

Avery Smith: Yeah.

435

: 00:18:56

So no, like hard questions.

436

: 00:18:58

You felt like, like they

437

: 00:18:59

Jordan Temple: No, not really.

438

: 00:19:00

Avery Smith: No technical questions.

439

: 00:19:01

It even sounds like,

440

: 00:19:02

Jordan Temple: no, no, I mean, I didn't

have any technical questions in any of the

441

: 00:19:05

interviews that I did with the company.

442

: 00:19:07

Avery Smith: yeah.

443

: 00:19:08

And I think, first off, I think

that's a factor of this company.

444

: 00:19:12

It sounds like, like a good company

that, you know, they want to take care

445

: 00:19:15

of their, people, but also I think it's

a factor of just the broad experience

446

: 00:19:18

you already had in construction and

also the portfolio stuff you have there.

447

: 00:19:23

Cause I mean, it really

depends on the company.

448

: 00:19:24

Like for instance, Facebook, no

matter what you really do, they're

449

: 00:19:27

going to give you a technical

interview, like no matter what.

450

: 00:19:30

Right.

451

: 00:19:31

So some companies have their certain

things, but really what these

452

: 00:19:34

companies are testing for is can

you actually do data analytics?

453

: 00:19:37

They're looking for some sort of proof

that you can actually do something.

454

: 00:19:40

And if you provide that proof

in advance, you know, a lot

455

: 00:19:43

of the time that's helpful.

456

: 00:19:44

If you say, Hey, here's my portfolio.

457

: 00:19:45

They're like, all right, this guy

seems like he knows what he's doing.

458

: 00:19:47

So like, we don't have to

stress test them too much.

459

: 00:19:50

Jordan Temple: Yeah, and I

think that was the case with me.

460

: 00:19:52

You know, I mean, they, saw

my experience on my resume.

461

: 00:19:55

They saw the portfolio, the few

questions that I was asked about

462

: 00:20:00

data analytics and things like that.

463

: 00:20:02

You know, I mean, I nailed those.

464

: 00:20:04

So I think the, biggest thing

was making sure that I was going

465

: 00:20:08

to be a good, I guess, cultural

fit, you know, for the company.

466

: 00:20:12

Am I easy to get along with, you

know, I mean, how, am I going to fit

467

: 00:20:17

with everyone else from a cultural

aspect, you know, because the company's

468

: 00:20:21

really big on culture and they've

got several different organizations

469

: 00:20:28

within the company and that's their

emphasis, you know, is making sure that

470

: 00:20:31

employees are happy and comfortable

and like coming to work every day.

471

: 00:20:35

So that's really big.

472

: 00:20:37

Avery Smith: Yeah.

473

: 00:20:38

Okay.

474

: 00:20:38

That, makes sense.

475

: 00:20:39

Then you got the job offer

and perks about the job offer.

476

: 00:20:43

what were some of the

biggest perks for you?

477

: 00:20:44

Like what, made you

excited about this job?

478

: 00:20:47

Jordan Temple: So one of the

biggest things, like I said, was

479

: 00:20:49

the being able to work remotely.

480

: 00:20:51

You know, it started out as one

day and his girl and said, you

481

: 00:20:54

know, working two days remote.

482

: 00:20:56

So that's nice.

483

: 00:20:57

Five weeks of PTO starting out.

484

: 00:20:59

That's pretty awesome.

485

: 00:21:00

and, you know, It's, I mean, in my

experience is unheard of the places

486

: 00:21:05

that I've been, you know, typically

starting out, you don't, get that much.

487

: 00:21:09

So that both of those were, you know,

really, really nice selling points.

488

: 00:21:13

Avery Smith: Yeah, that's, super nice.

489

: 00:21:14

So yeah, better PTO, more flexible, like

those, are awesome, perks for sure.

490

: 00:21:19

Jordan Temple: And I forgot about

this one proximity to my home.

491

: 00:21:21

It's like 12 or 13 minutes from,

where I live to my work, to my office.

492

: 00:21:26

So that's really nice as well.

493

: 00:21:27

Avery Smith: That's, so awesome.

494

: 00:21:29

And I know one of the things we talked

about with like the hybrid or, or remote

495

: 00:21:32

work Previously is like, obviously

it's great that like we talked about

496

: 00:21:35

like the, I don't know, maybe you

can go see an LSU baseball game on

497

: 00:21:38

the weekend or something like that.

498

: 00:21:40

Right.

499

: 00:21:40

When you're on your four

day ish hybrid weekend.

500

: 00:21:44

But like the, good news is when you're

in the office, you're in the office,

501

: 00:21:46

which means you can get training

from like your supervisor or, or the

502

: 00:21:50

person above you, you know, you get

more face to face time with bosses,

503

: 00:21:54

which is really good for promotions.

504

: 00:21:56

I know when during the pandemic and I was

working at ExxonMobil, I kind of stopped

505

: 00:22:00

going to the office and I think it really

hurt my progression in my career there.

506

: 00:22:05

So that's something I think

that's really beneficial.

507

: 00:22:07

And also it's just like, it

scratches your social itch, right?

508

: 00:22:09

Like you get to get out of the house.

509

: 00:22:11

Jordan, do you have kids?

510

: 00:22:11

I can't remember.

511

: 00:22:13

Jordan Temple: No kids.

512

: 00:22:13

Avery Smith: Well, I have a kid.

513

: 00:22:14

I know sometimes I love to

get out of the house now.

514

: 00:22:16

It's just like, all right,

I got to go to work.

515

: 00:22:18

I got to go to work.

516

: 00:22:18

So but like it gets you out of the

house, get you with some people, right?

517

: 00:22:22

Do you enjoy those things?

518

: 00:22:23

Jordan Temple: Oh yeah.

519

: 00:22:24

I mean, it's, it's really

the best of both worlds.

520

: 00:22:26

I mean, I enjoy it.

521

: 00:22:27

I mean, you know, during COVID

whenever I was working fully remote.

522

: 00:22:31

I mean, it was nice, don't get me

wrong, but I started to go stir

523

: 00:22:36

crazy being at home all the time.

524

: 00:22:37

So, the hybrid work

models is perfect for me.

525

: 00:22:41

You know, there's Monday and Friday,

whenever there's things that I

526

: 00:22:44

need to get done, I can do that.

527

: 00:22:46

I can You know, plan to do those

things at home where I'm not

528

: 00:22:48

going to have any distractions.

529

: 00:22:50

And middle of the week, whenever I'm

in the office, if there are things

530

: 00:22:53

that I'm working on that I have

questions on or need to collaborate

531

: 00:22:56

with my team on, you know, I mean,

that's what those days are for.

532

: 00:22:59

So, I mean, it works out perfectly for me.

533

: 00:23:02

Avery Smith: Yeah, that, makes sense.

534

: 00:23:03

Now I want to ask you a question.

535

: 00:23:04

If you can go back, I'm pulling

up your LinkedIn profile here.

536

: 00:23:07

If you can go back and you can go

talk to Jordan, you know, Jordan, just

537

: 00:23:11

after he finished his MBA you know,

trying to hope to land an analyst job.

538

: 00:23:15

What would be some things you'd give him?

539

: 00:23:17

What would be some advice

you'd tell him to do?

540

: 00:23:20

Jordan Temple: Try to find a program

similar to the one that I did and

541

: 00:23:25

work on applying the concepts that I

learned in my MBA program, you know,

542

: 00:23:32

put together a portfolio, you know, use

Excel at an advanced level SQL, some

543

: 00:23:38

sort of data visualization tool, be it

Tableau or Power BI, get more familiar

544

: 00:23:42

with those and how to apply those.

545

: 00:23:45

Don't just understand how they work,

but apply those tools and be able

546

: 00:23:51

to I guess be able to back that up.

547

: 00:23:54

Avery Smith: I love it.

548

: 00:23:55

So basically do projects

and build a portfolio.

549

: 00:23:58

Jordan Temple: Yeah.

550

: 00:23:58

I mean that's really what it is.

551

: 00:24:00

I mean, , that's what it's all about.

552

: 00:24:01

I mean, you need to be able to provide

proof that you understand how to use these

553

: 00:24:05

tools and be able to show that you can,

and that I feel like that's the best way.

554

: 00:24:10

If you don't have like a work portfolio,

you know, you can have something

555

: 00:24:14

like this where you've got projects

that you've done on your own time.

556

: 00:24:18

Avery Smith: Yeah I

give this analogy a lot.

557

: 00:24:19

So sorry, Jordan, if you've heard it or

if someone else on the call has heard it,

558

: 00:24:22

but it's like, if I think the Fast and

the Furious 10 movies literally coming out

559

: 00:24:27

sooner rather than later, although with

the strikes now, you never know, like all

560

: 00:24:30

these movie dates have been pushed back.

561

: 00:24:31

But regardless, like if you're

hiring, if you're hiring a stunt For

562

: 00:24:35

the fast and the furious 10 movie,

which is an action movie with cars.

563

: 00:24:38

I've never seen any of

the fast and furious.

564

: 00:24:40

I've actually never seen

any of the fast and furious.

565

: 00:24:41

But like, if you're hiring a stunt

double that has to jump over a car, who

566

: 00:24:45

are you going to hire the person that

sends in a resume and says, yep, I can

567

: 00:24:48

jump over a car or the person B that

like sends in a resume that says, yeah,

568

: 00:24:52

I could jump over a car and then like

sends in some sort of like, maybe some

569

: 00:24:56

sort of video of them jumping over a car

in a movie or jumping over the car on

570

: 00:25:00

their own time or something like that.

571

: 00:25:02

It's like, you're going to go with person

B because hiring, this is something

572

: 00:25:06

that you and I, you know, people who

are employed don't think about a lot.

573

: 00:25:10

But like hiring is expensive.

574

: 00:25:11

Hiring is terribly expensive because

it takes a lot of the people's times.

575

: 00:25:16

One.

576

: 00:25:16

Usually you have to promote it on some

job platform, or in this case, for

577

: 00:25:20

instance, they're using a third party

recruiter that costs money, right?

578

: 00:25:23

That costs, you know,

thousands of dollars.

579

: 00:25:26

And then you have to like pay, have

people fly out and interview for the job.

580

: 00:25:29

There's all the time that you're

spent doing the interviews.

581

: 00:25:32

And then more importantly,

It's like the training that's

582

: 00:25:35

going into this new person.

583

: 00:25:36

You just don't want to hire a dud and

then train them three months later.

584

: 00:25:39

Oh crap.

585

: 00:25:40

This person's a dud, you know, have

to let them go or, something, or

586

: 00:25:43

like they make some terrible mistake.

587

: 00:25:44

Like hiring is really expensive for

these companies and they want to make

588

: 00:25:47

sure that they're doing a good job,

you know, and so they want low risk and

589

: 00:25:52

the, the less risk you can make yourself

appear, you don't even, it doesn't

590

: 00:25:57

even have to be that you're less risky.

591

: 00:25:58

It's the fact that you have to

make yourself look less risky.

592

: 00:26:02

Like that can make all the

difference in the world.

593

: 00:26:06

Jordan Temple: agree.

594

: 00:26:07

I agree totally.

595

: 00:26:08

Avery Smith: And I'm glad that you ended

up, you know, talking to these recruiters

596

: 00:26:11

and being like, even though you didn't

feel like you were a fit, I'm super

597

: 00:26:14

glad that you ended up, you know, going

through with it because hopefully for

598

: 00:26:18

people listening, that's a source of

inspiration that like, yeah, I might not

599

: 00:26:21

feel like I'm a good fit for this role.

600

: 00:26:23

So I'm not going to apply.

601

: 00:26:24

They don't apply, but there's a chance

they could have landed that role.

602

: 00:26:26

Jordan Temple: Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

603

: 00:26:27

I mean, If someone reaches out to you and

they feel like you're a good fit for a

604

: 00:26:32

role, you know, don't sell yourself short.

605

: 00:26:34

I mean, there's a reason

that they reached out to you.

606

: 00:26:36

I mean, they obviously think

that you would be a good fit.

607

: 00:26:38

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent

you a message, DM'd you, and you

608

: 00:26:42

know, kept you in mind for the role.

609

: 00:26:44

Avery Smith: Yeah.

610

: 00:26:45

And, and even this is an example one

time Facebook messaged me, actually they

611

: 00:26:49

sent me an email and out of nowhere, like

a cold email, like, Hey, we'd like, we

612

: 00:26:53

think you'd be a great fit for this job.

613

: 00:26:55

And I looked at the job description and

I was not a good fit for the job at all.

614

: 00:27:00

Not a good fit.

615

: 00:27:01

And I was like, all right, sounds good.

616

: 00:27:03

Let's do an interview.

617

: 00:27:03

Right.

618

: 00:27:04

Let's go.

619

: 00:27:05

It was like a pretty high

level job, to be honest.

620

: 00:27:06

I was like, I don't think I'm a good fit.

621

: 00:27:08

So I get on the call with this,

like, honestly, it was like this

622

: 00:27:11

director of like this team and she

was really nice and we're talking and

623

: 00:27:15

I kind of explain everything and, and

she's like, yeah, you're not really

624

: 00:27:19

that good of a fit for this role.

625

: 00:27:21

And I was like, yeah, I totally agree.

626

: 00:27:23

I'm not.

627

: 00:27:24

And she's like, but I think

you'd be a good fit for Facebook.

628

: 00:27:26

So let me like, let me refer you to

someone else inside of our company.

629

: 00:27:29

You know, and so like, I could have just

said, no, I'm, I'm not a good fit for this

630

: 00:27:33

role, or I think you got the wrong guy,

but even going into that interview and to

631

: 00:27:37

be honest, kind of bombing the interview,

because like, I just did not, I just

632

: 00:27:41

did not have any experience with what,

it wasn't even really like a data role.

633

: 00:27:44

It was like a more data engineering role.

634

: 00:27:45

And at the time I was far less

experienced data engineer than I am now.

635

: 00:27:48

Although I'm still not that great of

a data engineer, but like, I just was

636

: 00:27:51

not a good fit for the role, but that

gave me an opportunity to interview

637

: 00:27:54

somewhere else inside the company.

638

: 00:27:55

Right.

639

: 00:27:55

And so it's just like, I put this

post out on LinkedIn the other

640

: 00:27:59

day, but the hiring manager who

rejects you the most is yourself.

641

: 00:28:02

And that's, hard to take in sometimes.

642

: 00:28:04

Jordan Temple: Yeah, I mean, it really is.

643

: 00:28:05

I mean, and that's obviously what

I was doing whenever they first

644

: 00:28:08

reached out about this role.

645

: 00:28:09

I mean, I was disqualifying myself from it

without knowing anything about it, really.

646

: 00:28:14

Avery Smith: Yep.

647

: 00:28:15

So guys be like Jordan, get over

that fear, you know, go from the cost

648

: 00:28:20

estimator to the senior financial

analyst, have a strong LinkedIn profile,

649

: 00:28:24

have a strong portfolio and with

time, some stuff's going to happen.

650

: 00:28:28

I have faith in that.

651

: 00:28:29

Jordan, anything else to add?

652

: 00:28:32

Jordan Temple: Yeah, I mean, if you're in

Avery's program, I mean, listen to him.

653

: 00:28:35

Just skills, networking, portfolio.

654

: 00:28:38

I mean, focus on those three

things and, you know, you'll

655

: 00:28:40

get to where you want to go.

656

: 00:28:42

Avery Smith: Appreciate you, Jordan.

657

: 00:28:43

Thank you so much for

coming on the podcast.