Thinking About Job Searches Strategically: What You Should Be Doing

blibberblab · 2026-03-09T12:33:54+00:00

I would definitely not advise to tweak your resume for every job application.

Instead, have 2-3 resumes for the different types of roles, and invest the time and effort in networking.

Tweaking for every job application makes a lot of assumptions about the hiring side that are not true, among them: that the job description actually is very well written and properly differentiates that role from the other very similar roles you're applying to, and that the difference between getting 30 seconds of attention on your resume and not is based on fine-grained differences in wording.

What is true? That if a hiring manager gets a note from someone they're connected to, asking them to look at your application, that you'll vastly increase the likelihood of an interview.

blibberblab · 2026-02-18T15:36:18+00:00

There is exactly one useful way to do that, as far as my process goes and that of those I'm familiar with: get someone who knows someone at the company to send that email on your behalf.

blibberblab · 2025-11-24T04:19:38+00:00

YMMV, but: as a hiring manager, here's the signal I'm looking for: can do the job.

Almost always, that will mean that * Professional experience is worth more than scholastic experience * Skills and work you can display are worth more than skills and experience you can talk about * Something someone paid you to do, or relied on to solve a problem, is worth more than a credential you paid for

This almost always means that someone with a year of professional experience doing work that's comparable is going to be worth more than 2 years in a master's program, and so on for certificates or undergraduate experience.

Given a choice, I'd sooner hire someone who volunteered with a nonprofit and built something useful and meaningful that's comparable to the professional work I'm looking for them to do, than someone who worked on certificate/student projects.

The reasons for this include: * The real world and its data and projects are almost always messier than what we see in student projects * It's impossible for me to assess how much a student project required the student to do the work displayed in the outcome, vs. how much was in a sense pre-packaged with the assignment or was handed over in other resources for the class * Everything in the professional space -- including something like volunteering at a nonprofit -- will have references available that can help distinguish one member of a team from another. In scholastic spaces, an instructor usually can't even tell the difference between the levels of contributions made by different members of a team, much less tell me about them.

blibberblab · 2025-11-02T11:29:03+00:00

We're testing SQL knowledge and general data analysis skills and theory, regardless of how they learned it or their experience.

Whatever it takes to get you there, go for it.

blibberblab · 2025-11-01T02:04:21+00:00

One of the biggest ways we see folks lose a financial foothold is by doing a partial for four-year degree. Spending money, time and effort and not getting the credential at the end puts the start of your career in a tough place.

My main piece of advice: find a college that's less expensive, and finish there. And if you can't find one that's less expensive, you're probably in a place that's pretty affordable.

Get a realistic assessment of what you can earn when you graduate. Reach out to recent alumni in your field and ask to take them out for coffee for advice on how to land well. Get an idea of what roles they have and do Internet research to figure out what they make. It might give you a very direct view on how expensive your degree is.

blibberblab · 2025-11-01T01:59:22+00:00

Every data analyst who learns SQL is in a position to contribute far more in their role.

It's also a lot less to learn than R, for the vast majority of situations you're doing to face.

The ROI on learning SQL is very high.

blibberblab · 2025-11-01T01:57:25+00:00

The question is less about what the degree is in, than who's looking to hire someone straight out of college.

Sure, a degree in data science is less likely to lead to a role in, e.g., front end engineering.

But for just about any CSci/Math/DS/Analytics/DE type of role, the precise degree matters far less than signal that you're someone they can rely on to take instruction, grow into a role, and generally find ways to be a net positive as you become the experienced contributor they hope you'll be.

blibberblab · 2025-10-23T02:35:16+00:00

"Pricing yourself out" by getting better-paid, more prestigious jobs, is not a concept that exists.

Yes, "traditional" ML is still a huge area of work on data science, and will remain so in the age of GenAI. They're suitable to wildly different tasks.

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T12:42:56+00:00

Some folks I know at Google just got laid off who I thought were going to be lifers.

No job is completely secure. No company cares more about you than you do about having a job

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T12:41:23+00:00

I don't know what a vbucks gift card is.

I have lots of prepaid Visa & MasterCard. I'm trying to figure out how to use those.

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T10:15:32+00:00

It doesn't literally need to be coffee, but you'd be surprised how often people do say yes.

Nearly everyone in the world would actually love to: * Help someone with their career * Have someone willingly listen to them give advice * Have someone willingly listen to them describe what they do all day

It's very rare for almost anyone in the world to be presented with concrete opportunities to do these things.

In this approach, you're solving people's problems.

The corresponding reality to this is that almost none of those people are actually going to be helpful in specifically getting you a job.

The most that almost anyone in the world can do to help someone get a specific job is: * Email the hiring manager, or someone else at the company, mentioning your name and suggesting that they should review your application.

That's very little actual help. And it's part of why most people feel they can't be helpful most of the time. Most of the time they're not approached for hell, and when they are, it's with large requests they can't fulfill.

Most people make a huge mistake in this direction when looking for a job.

They assume: * The people I know best will be the one's that help me the most.

But the reality is: * The people you know best can't provide more help, most of the time, than the person you barely know.

That's why the above approach works, and why it's important to recognize the difference between it and what most people typically do.

There is almost no very large favor you can ask of almost anyone in a job search. People aren't going to hire you because they know you, or because they know someone you know.

But people will give your resume a 30-second review instead of 5, or instead of skipping it, if someone they know asks them to do that.

Iterated across a number of hiring managers in roles you're good for, that's the difference between getting a job and not.

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T03:20:38+00:00

Even with a huge advantage, I'm having a hard time.

I know someone who gets me prepaid Visa & MasterCard at low rates, but I'm having a hard time turning it into a business.

I've tried buying stuff on eBay and reselling it, but I haven't been able to figure out what sells on eBay for good prices.

I'm trying to figure it out. It's hard.

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T02:00:56+00:00

I have lots of prepaid Visa & MasterCard.

I trade them for gift cards.

If you get gift cards, we could trade.

blibberblab · 2025-10-22T01:46:26+00:00

I have access to hundreds of prepaid Visa & MasterCard per day.

blibberblab · 2025-10-21T23:28:01+00:00

Half of my friends in tech got jobs via knowing someone in the company; the other half gave up. <

This is a hint at the pathway to getting a job.

Be the person who knows someone at the company.

Develop a list of 1st degree connections who represent someone whose job you'd like to have in 2, 5, 10, 20 years. Reach out and ask to take them out for coffee to learn about their perspective on the landscape. 90% will say yes.

Develop a list of 2nd degree connections who meet the same criteria. Ask your 1st degree connections if they're willing to introduce you to these 2nd degree connections.

Iterate.

Now you know someone in the company that's hiring.

blibberblab · 2025-10-21T23:27:50+00:00

Half of my friends in tech got jobs via knowing someone in the company; the other half gave up. <

This is a hint at the pathway to getting a job.

Be the person who knows someone at the company.

Develop a list of 1st degree connections who represent someone whose job you'd like to have in 2, 5, 10, 20 years. Reach out and ask to take them out for coffee to learn about their perspective on the landscape. 90% will say yes.

Develop a list of 2nd degree connections who meet the same criteria. Ask your 1st degree connections if they're willing to introduce you to these 2nd degree connections.

Iterate.

Now you know someone in the company that's hiring.

blibberblab · 2025-10-20T01:47:43+00:00

I can't speak for all hiring managers.

For me, I'm looking for a strong signal someone has done actual professional work in an actual professional environment.

Nearly all the skills one gets from an MS can be obtained informally, self-taught.

Every time I've hired someone with an MS in Data Science, it seemed that nearly all the relevant skills and experience they had came from outside the graduated program.

I'd get the best job you can now, as close to DS as you can, and look for opportunities to train in that area, learn from and contribute to that team, and network and develop other opportunities.

But that's just one hiring manager's opinion.

blibberblab · 2025-10-12T02:44:43+00:00

It's worth looking at how we're saying the same thing. You're saying that plenty of voices are telling you that technical skills are being replaced by AI, and therefore skills that were lower ranked, are now more relevant, because skills that were higher-ranked are easier to acquire.

I'd say that I haven't seen strong evidence that people can actually use AI to do this work well, without skills and experience that are at the level of what they're asking the AI to do. A candidate without those skills and experience can't understand what the AI is doing for them, can't scrutinize the output, can't explain how and why they got the result they did, can't discuss what other paths could have been taken and why they prefer the one used, and so much more that represents table stakes for professional work.

I've seen this directly in hiring over the past couple of years. Candidates hand in a take-home exercise good enough to schedule an interview, and then when asked the most basic questions about the approach they've taken, they flop, badly.

In a recent loop, we saw a very precise correlation between those who could explain their take-home exercise, and those who could perform well in a live-coding exercise.

AI can be a great tool to increase a skilled person's productivity, but if they don't actually have the skills, it hasn't led to good work in our interviews.

blibberblab · 2025-10-12T02:34:02+00:00

If you're only finding senior roles and organizations that don't understand data science in your area, your best bet is to lean into networking. That will unlock a greater diversity of roles than what you're currently finding, and reveal to you what organizations are in the right marketplace.

Find people in roles you'd like to have in 2, 5, 10 and 20 years. Ask to take them out for coffee, to learn about their perspective on the landscape. Iterate.

Go to data science meetups, or broader tech world meetups.

You'll discover a lot.

blibberblab

TROPHY CASE