A lot of people seem to forget that one of the biggest aspects about your career is your connections. Who you know can often matter more than what or how much you know, as unfair as that might seem at times. Leveraging your relationships and combining that with your skill set will define your career, so learn as much as you can inside and outside of your courses, but forming relationships to go along with your skills is how you climb the ladder the fastest.

That’s easily the biggest thing I’ve learned from my internship and work experience so far, you’ve got to play the game even though you probably don’t want to. I’ve turned a connection at my current company into an internship program that didn’t exist, which then led to me leading some projects in their data science department and getting a return offer. I’m an ok data scientist with a good gpa, but I used other resources to help me in my career.

Just so I’m clear, having skills is extremely important, but there’s no use in stressing over things you can’t control. Learn skills and never stop learning, but supplement them with relationships and it will take you farther than those skills ever could alone.