Well, we're deep into 2024, and I haven't done a check-in yet.

After surviving what felt like a dozen rounds of layoffs at Fast Radius, I was laid off from my "Mr. Manager" data science job, along with the rest of the holdovers from the software team. Stay tuned for "Part 3: Private Equity" to wrap up my time at Fast Radius.

I remember prior job searches being painful, but I wasn't able to put my finger on why until this time. The job search process is a sales process. Filling out a job application is like cold-calling. You go through the same motions, asking a company "What problems do you have?" and then you pitch yourself as someone who can solve their problems.

The problem is I'm not cut out for the "sales job search". I don't like networking. I don't want to ask my colleagues for a job. I hate rejection; and unlike selling a product it's hard not to take rejection personally. And if you are successful...now you have to go to work! (This could be a Seinfeld bit.)

This analogy isn't novel but it explains why it's so tough. After all, I'm a data scientist and my skills revolve around analyzing data and building predictive models. The sales hat is what you have to wear during a job search. You need the right mindset, and as people say, "it's a numbers game" where most of the time you strike out.

One piece of advice from the sales analogy I found useful comes from Jerry Seinfeld who has a quote to the effect of, "I love being sold -- there's a romance to it. I enjoy buying a box and excitedly unwrapping it. It doesn't matter if the thing inside is disappointing because I enjoyed buying it." Romance is part of the sales process -- it should feel good to close a deal. The takeaway: the people who interview me should be excited to work with me. They should think, "He's great! I can't wait to work with him!" That's a longer way of saying "be nice," but that's the idea, at least.

Reach out if your company needs a data scientist. I'm nice!

(Always be closing right?)

Other Notes

I created a CRM spreadsheet to keep track of applications. In Colorado, companies are required to post the salary range so I have a handy dataset of salaries too. It looks like this:

Company  Position   Date Applied    Response Date   Response    Salary Range    Job Link

I can filter on Response to see active applications. Saving the link to the job posting is handy for future reference during interviews.