Hey friends,

When you're looking for jobs, have you seen a job description and felt like you are underqualified for the job? And the next thing you know, you self-reject yourself and never click the "Apply" button.

Why?

Well... Guess what? This happens to most of us, including myself in the past. But something happened to me that changed my mind to ignore the job descriptions and apply anyway.

In today's issue, I want to share how I landed a data science job that I was underqualified for simply because I ignored the job description and applied anyway. Finally, I'll share how this experience has forever changed the way I approach job searching.

Hopefully, this would be helpful to your job search journey.

Let's get started! 🚀

🙊 Applying for a job that I was "under-qualified"

4 years ago, I was looking for a data science job, and I came across a big data engineer role at Micron. But when I read the job description, I was completely floored.

Besides Python programming skills, I had zero experience in other skills required, including SQL (yes, I didn't know SQL back then 😂), pySpark, Hadoop, ETL, Javascript, and Angular. Did I mention I had zero knowledge in the semiconductor industry too (you get it...)?

I probably didn't meet at least 70% of the job requirements.

But still, for some reason, I decided to give it a shot and applied for the job anyway. I also asked a friend of mine who was working at Micron for a referral to stack the deck in my favour.

1 week after, I got an interview from Micron! Amidst all the excitement, I was hesitant of going for the interview.

• What if they wanted to test my SQL skills?

• What if they asked questions I didn't know how to answer?

• Worse, what if they realise I didn't have the skills they required?

While all these questions were valid, I decided to attend the interview with the firm belief and confidence that I could add value to the company (with my skills and experience) and learn on the job along the way for other skills I didn't yet have.

During the interview, I tried my best to answer all the questions as much as possible. For the questions I didn't have the answer to, I'd just share my thought process for approaching the problems instead of sharing my solution. Most importantly, I was being authentic without any fluff.

🤯 I got the job offer

After the interview, I got the job offer within 1 week!

I was very fortunate because the director was willing to bet on me despite my lack of skills and experience.

Turned out that joining Micron is one of my best decisions so far. Throughout my period at Micron, I was grateful to have worked with some of the most talented people in data science, learned how to manage projects and work with various stakeholders.

1 year after, I was promoted to become a Data Scientist.

I learned firsthand how to build end-to-end data science solutions in an organisation, from understanding business needs, defining problems and KPIs, getting data, cleaning and analysing data, to developing and deploying machine learning models at scale.

And this, my friend, is how I landed a job that I was underqualified for simply because I ignored the job description and applied anyway.

💡 Here's what I've learned

I realised that most job descriptions are just a list of buzzwords that companies throw together to hopefully find the perfect candidate in the sea of job seekers. I've personally seen these job descriptions across various sizes of companies.

I also learned that many companies don't actually know what they want from a candidate for a job role (especially for a data scientist role as it could mean anything and everything - unfortunately). Because they don't know what they want, so they list down every skill they think the job might need.

Instead of self-rejecting yourself after looking at a job description, think about how you can add value to the company by leveraging your unique skills and experience. Most importantly, have a growth mindset to continue learning other new skills.

Your attitude matters.

The next time when you see a job that you're interested in? Apply.

Ask for a referral from your friends (if possible). Approach the recruiters or hiring managers and tell them why you would be a great fit. Do whatever it takes to stack the deck in your favour.

You've got this!

🚀 Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1. Book a coaching call with me if you need help in the following:

2. Promote your brand to ~1000 subscribers in the data/tech space by sponsoring this newsletter.

3. Watch my YouTube videos where I talk about data science tips, programming, and my tech life (P.S. Don’t forget to like and subscribe 💜).

4. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter for more data science career insights, my mistakes and lessons learned from building a startup.

That's all for today

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed today's issue. More than that, I hope it has helped you in some ways and brought you some peace of mind.

You can always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter and we can chat.

See you again next week.

- Admond