Post-Academia, Part 3: Learnings from My Job Search
I realized I didn’t really want to do what I was doing and what I did want. Here’s some of the steps I took to get there.
A nod to verbs-as-nouns that is now common in my daily, business vernacular, there are a lot of learnings from this process. This is both an explainer of what worked for me and some that I offer as advice for others trying to make similar moves. It’s fairly high level, not getting into the weeds of how to do a technical coding interview, but points into the direction for those.
A few of the specific resources that were instrumental for me:
Learn about Data Science Careers
The Build a Career in Data Science book from Emily Robinson and Jacqueline Nolis.
This book offered a nearly step-by-step guide, with lots of context for data science as a field, for the types of environments where you could be a data scientist, and practical recommendations about the cover letter, resume, and interviewing process (including salary negotiations, a primer on stock options, etc.).
Throughout the book, they included interviews with many others in the industry who addressed directly some of the concerns I had about applying for roles. Similarly, they addressed head-on some of the career paths into data science, including how degrees and bootcamps could be helpful (or not). And the podcast that is now out is a wonderful companion, or free alternative if you’re unable to get your hands on a copy of the book.
Ayodele Odubele also has a book that looks extremely promising: “Getting Started in Data Science” I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but I have really enjoyed her perspective on data science as a field and career on Twitter and can only imagine the book is as good if not even better.
Get help with cover letters, resumes, and LinkedIn
Hiring help with writing cover letters, resume, even LinkedIn (academics really underestimate how central this is as a tool, and mine wasn’t doing me any favors) is worth the money if you can spend it.
In previous searches, I had paid for some of the alt-ac consulting from The Professor Is In, which focuses on advice for people with PhDs. I drew from those materials and advice again in this search. I’d recommend them again, no question. They had dedicated folks for non-academic careers and did resume writing/advising, cover letters, and LinkedIn
This time, I used services from a group I’d seen on social media called Work It Daily, and they were great. They had stand-alone features – like, pre-recorded videos about interviewing, or guides for people making career changes – as well as the capacity to interact and get direct feedback on any/all materials and an online network to connect with peers. In particular, their expertise in HR was really insightful for specifics about resume formatting for larger companies’ applicant tracking systems and how to maximize keywords for people to find me on LinkedIn.
Again, they’re on social media (especially, increasingly, TikTok), as are many other HR experts who give great advice and even resume review for free.
Figure 1: One of my favorite items from a previous office’s ‘free shelf’. I did not use it during my search.
Do coursework or tutorials to learn new skills, intentionally and sparingly
I did spend time and money on Coursera courses, LinkedIn Learning, and even some workshops and conferences. (A few years ago, I would have used DataCamp, but I would strongly encourage you not to support them).
When former DataCamp employee Kara Woo reported being groped by the company's CEO, it took a year to see any sort of action – after the multimillion dollar startup tried to cover it up https://t.co/rgOcPDnFAA
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) May 17, 2019
In some cases, I was brushing up on concepts I hadn’t used in a while, learn more deeply about things I’d heard about (Agile processes, Machine Learning, NLP), and develop skills with software and languages that I didn’t know well (SQL, Python in my case). I also started exploring health care claims data, using freely available claims and EMR data. I treated it like a part time job – it felt like studying for the GREs as a part time job and way to get ready for grad school – and found learning fun rather than just highlighting all of the things I didn’t know. True to form, I planned overly-ambitiously – I was going to finish multiple certificates or learning paths – and scaled back over time.
I also thought a lot about how to take this and my previous work and package it into a product, a clear example of how I used whatever to solve a problem. It wasn’t going to do me any favors to say that I’d taken a Coursera course on Topic X. But saying “Here’s a project I did on Topic X”, even if it is a “toy” project, is useful. Make the example succinct, concrete, and as an opportunity to show how you solve problems.
Engage and grow your community
Ask friends, family, colleagues, fellow alumni, friends of friends, communities of like-minded folks, or anyone who you can speak to for advice and help. Basically, “network.”
Although it is far from my default setting to ask for help, I tried to ask for it unabashedly. Reach out to people, cold call/email, ask for introductions. Identify opportunities to ask questions about themselves and their career paths, ask them for recommendations of 2-3 others who they could connect you to, and thank them for their time (at least a note, and a token gift if they were particularly generous with time). I re-engaged with alumni networks with abandon, and would encourage you to do the same.
Look for Slack channels (e.g., OutInTech), Twitter communities (e.g., BlackInData), LinkedIn groups, MeetUps (e.g., RLadies) and other virtual networks where you might get intros to jobs or resume advice.
Better yet, use these conversations and communities to find referrals so that you get to the top of the pile when the HR/Talent/People teams are searching submissions. (I had no idea about referrals, b/c they don’t exist in academia. But trust that they are mutually beneficial, not just someone doing you a favor).
People love talking about themselves and feeling helpful (Exhibit A: this 2 part blog post about myself with advice on what I did so you can, too), so ask with the confidence of a mediocre white man.
Connect with others making similar moves, especially networks of other PhDs
If you do have a PhD and are trying to make this move, connect with folks who have either made a very similar move or have networks / communities of and resources for folks who have. Two particular favs are Jennifer Polk and Chris Cornthwaite whose content includes more relevant advice for folks in other social sciences and in the humanities.
Use their communities to see how much PhD folx are thriving out of academia:
Tell me what you've learned about yourself since leaving academia.
— Jennifer Polk, PhD (she, her) (@FromPhDtoLife) December 18, 2020
(A follower requested this question!)
Bea Capistrant
Research Lead & VP of Healthcare Innovation
Data Scientist focused on health, health care, and technology that makes the world better.