I've been writing this newsletter solo for almost a year now, mostly sharing thoughts on dataviz. 😳
Along the way, people often ask me how I got into this field, and if I have any advice for a career in data.
So today’s issue is a bit different. I’m sharing 10 career tips, and telling you my story along the way.
It’s more personal than usual. A little cliché, a little cheesy… but hey 🤷♂️
1️⃣ Time adds up (quickly)
Twelve years ago, I started working in academia as a bioinformatician, studying the wheat genome.
That’s when I fell in love with dataviz. I made a radical decision: every single day, I’d carve out 30 minutes to learn making graphs with R. I’d open the vignette of an R function and study every possible option.
I kept that habit going since then!
Today, I run 6 websites that get around 500k visits per month. They generate passive income, opened doors to job opportunities, and more.
If you can find just a few minutes per day every day, you can become the best at something in your company, and it will open doors.
Bonus: it forces you to be efficient with your time. Just to make room for those 30 minutes!
My GitHub activity for open source projects. Each square is a day. If green, I pushed some code that day.
2️⃣ People matter (cheesy alert 🧀)
I’ve been incredibly lucky in my career, and most of that luck came from the people I met along the way.
I asked so many questions to my friend Guillaume that he eventually convinced me I could build a website to showcase my dataviz work. That moment kickstarted everything.
Years later, when I joined Datadog, things got really tough. I was dropped into a huge JavaScript codebase, surrounded by people way more experienced than me. I was completely out of my depth. But I kept asking questions and offered help wherever I could. I made it through because of the support around me. That's just 2 examples among so many others!
Don’t go it alone. Talk to people. Be curious. Be kind. And give back as much as you can.
3️⃣ Live below your means
If you start making more money, don’t rush to buy a Ferrari or take on huge debt to buy a big house.
Instead, try to save some of it. To me, savings mean freedom.
Have an exciting startup idea? You can go for it. Feeling stuck in your job? You have the option to leave.
Living below your means lets you take risks. And taking risks is often the key to growing your career.
I’m not the best writer, but Justin Welsh often writes about this those days:
Life is short. We all have the same 24 hours every day, and once they’re gone, you can’t get them back.
So don’t waste your time. Be intentional with how you spend it. Make every hour count.
Are you doing a task manually that could be automated? Automate it.
Is there something you dislike doing and you have some savings? Consider hiring someone to help.
Is there a tool you use every day? Learn all its shortcuts to work more efficiently.
Are you spending too much time polishing a project but no one will notice the difference? Don’t be a perfectionist.
I worked in Academia for several years in France and Australia. I've seen so many ppl using tech the wrong way! If you're just making a few graph per year, why not using data wrapper instead of coding? If you use R, are you using it the right way? The list goes on. Time is so important to me that it's the topic of my productive R workflow project. People love it because it really increases your productivity and make you save so much time on the long run.
5️⃣ The best investment: yourself
Imagine you have two options: - Spend 2 hours learning an internal tool at your company, or - Spend 2 hours learning something more general — like Bash, JavaScript, or dataviz theory.
Choose the general skill.
You won’t stay at your company forever. But the skills you build will stay with you wherever you go.
Every minute you invest in yourself now will make you a better person for the rest of your life. The best time to invest was yesterday.
6️⃣ Personal branding
I hate those words. But you might be the most skilled person for the job, if you can’t show it, no one will know.
By spending just a small fraction of your time on "personal branding", you can stand out and unlock better opportunities:
Keep your LinkedIn page in good shape. Post occasionally to show the niche you’re mastering
Work on side projects that prove your curiosity and passion
Build a personal homepage that makes you memorable
Two years ago, I was looking for help with the Python Graph Gallery. I found Joseph, a 22-year-old student with a blog about statistics and a few side projects. He started freelancing with me, then did an internship. Now, he’s my associate on matplotlib journey and has a steady stream of Python data clients. 🔥
Visibility matters.
My little homepage I created with the worst HTML skills got me so many opportunities.
7️⃣ Career gaps aren’t a big deal
I remember my father telling me that if you stop working, you’ll be blacklisted from good jobs.
In my experience, that’s simply not true.
Right after finishing my degree, I spent six months crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat. I learnt so much and I still found a job afterward.
If you feel like you need a break, take it. Life’s too short to push through just because you’re afraid of what it might look like on your CV.
That said, it is usually easier to land a new role when you’re already in one. So plan accordingly.
little memory from the middle of the atlantic
8️⃣ Code = GitHub
GitHub is where your code should live. It lets you store your work online, track changes, collaborate with others, and share your projects with the world.
I spent four years in academia writing code every day without using it. Looking back, I can’t believe how much time I wasted.
That’s why the very first thing I built as a solopreneur was a course on productivity and reproducibility in R. With a strong focus on Git and GitHub. If you don't know what it is, let me explain you why it's a lifesaver.
9️⃣ Time > Money
Four years ago, I got a kid (🎉) while working at Datadog, a demanding big tech company. My salary was great 🚀, but I was constantly rushing, with no time to truly enjoy life.
Eventually, I resigned and became a solopreneur. My income dropped by half… but my quality of life went way up.
I don’t know if I should have made the move sooner. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed and have the opportunity to do so, know this: trading money for time can be one of the best decisions you make. I'm kind of going in circles now, time to end this 🤔.
🔟 You're always job hunting
If you only start looking for a job when you need one, it’s already too late.
You’ll have fewer options and little leverage in negotiations.
Instead, keep your ears open. Always. A recruiter reaches out but you're not planning to leave? Take the call anyway. Skim job boards now and then.
You never know when the perfect opportunity will show up!
Conclusion
Okay, this turned out cheesier and messier than expected 😳 But hey, it’s the first time I’ve written about something other than making charts!
I realize it ended up being a lot about time. But please don’t take it as some ode to hustling or working hard as much as you can! Don't work too much but when you do, be smart!
There’s a sentence I love, no idea where it comes from:
J'adore m'ennuyer, mais je déteste perdre mon temps**
**I cherish boredom, but I can't stand wasting time.
See you next week for the last issue before summer break!! Yan
PS: I’m still here, on the other side of the reply button. If something in this resonated, let me know --> it’d make me feel a little less alone out here 😀
