![\"Azadeh](\"https:\/\/d2ndlgeoq4u3ju.cloudfront.net\/azadehmainintro2-min.png\" "\\"Azadeh")
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Azadeh loves math. She told me many times during our chat. It\u2019s logical, always has a right answer, and numbers don\u2019t lie. She began preaching her love of mathematics in her job as a teacher around the world, before finally deciding to settle for a career as a math teacher.<\/strong><\/p>\n But the Covid-19 pandemic forced her out of her comfort zone. Keen to level up her math skills and broaden her analytical skills, she retrained for a career in data. Since graduating from CareerFoundry, she\u2019s secured her first job in the industry, working remotely as a data analyst at a fintech company. This is her career change story.<\/strong>\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n Hi Alison. I am originally from Iran, where I did my bachelor\u2019s degree in applied mathematics. I lived in Malaysia for about three years, where I did my first master\u2019s degree in e-learning technologies, and then I moved to the U.S.<\/p>\n I had been teaching math throughout my bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in Iran and Malaysia, but when I moved to the U.S. I knew that I would require an education degree to be hired as a teacher. I started working in retail, then in a private tutoring school where I taught a range of mathematics levels; from high school to middle school to SATs. I then did a second master\u2019s degree in secondary mathematics education, preparing for a career in teaching in the U.S.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n After I graduated, I quit my part-time jobs and was getting ready to apply to full-time teaching jobs. And then the pandemic hit. The spring and summer of that year, I applied to about 15 school districts\u2014not schools, districts, to get a teaching job, and I just couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Teaching is a very hard job, but I was really good at it and I love math, so I justified that it would be the job I was going to have for a lifetime. The pandemic forced me out of that comfort zone though, and the job and the future that I had in mind.<\/p>\n My boyfriend actually encouraged me to look into data analytics. I was very scared about changing paths again though, at first. I didn\u2019t want to go back to school\u2014a third master\u2019s degree sounded ridiculous, so he encouraged me to self-study.<\/p>\n I started self-studying for four or five months, but I soon started to feel that I needed guidance and structure. There\u2019s a sea of information out there\u2014actually not a sea, an ocean\u2014and I needed some structure to guide me through the learning process. I know some people get to where I am now without a bootcamp, but I felt that it was what I needed. I started researching schools, and then I picked CareerFoundry.<\/p>\n By this point, I knew I wanted to get into data. I felt I was a good fit for it, given my background. I just love math. I think my brain processes mathematical concepts well, and I had good analytical skills already, it just needed to be transferred to be useful in the field of analytics.<\/p>\n I\u2019m very determined and finish whatever I start. I\u2019m not a quitter. During the first year of the pandemic, I actually studied with Codecademy,<\/a> which has some career paths for data analysts. I learned a little bit of SQL<\/a> and Python<\/a> but then it got really advanced.<\/p>\n I actually made a spreadsheet and compared all the bootcamps and schools I was researching. I wanted it to be online, and I wanted to have some sort of job guarantee. Some people look at job guarantees as a course that is going to get you a job, but that\u2019s not how I look at it. I looked at it as a company that trusts its program enough and has enough support in place to offer the guarantee.<\/p>\n I also looked at the course content, and CareerFoundry\u2019s Data Analytics Program<\/a> covered exactly what I wanted: Excel, SQL, Python, and a visualization tool, Tableau.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n I had a very good experience with my mentor, Bill Tracy, and my tutor. They were both extremely responsive. I think my teaching background also helped with my expectation of these relationships. I didn\u2019t expect my tutor to hold my hand, or help me if I couldn\u2019t install software.<\/p>\n At the same time, I made good use of the appointments with my mentor. I talked with him a lot about data\u2014not even necessarily the career aspects of the industry or the job hunt, but just running things through him and having a discussion about data.<\/p>\n The analytical feedback that he gave me was exactly what I needed for the next step. Toward the end of the program, before submitting my final tasks, I wanted to meet with him first and talk through my work, which was very helpful. I loved that.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a slow reader, and I know that\u2019s specific to me, but when the course said it would take an hour to read through the material, it would take me a lot longer. Reading is different from learning. You can read over something, but that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve learned it.<\/p>\n Overall, I loved it. As I mentioned, one thing that I really wanted from the course was to learn how to start from scratch when you are given raw data, and how to get some conclusion out of that data. And I got to do that, especially with the program\u2019s last achievement. I was able to look at the data, interpret what I thought it was going to mean, manipulate, clean, and analyze it.<\/p>\n I like learning for the sake of learning, but because I was putting these skills in my resume and portfolio, mastering this whole process was really what I wanted. I wanted to be able to confidently say, \u2018I know SQL, I know a visualization tool, and I have good analytical skills.\u2019 When it came to my interview, I was actually able to say all of that and support it with multiple projects I\u2019d completed to prove myself. And I think it mattered because I got a job!<\/p>\nHi Azadeh! Thanks for talking with me today. Could you tell me a bit about yourself and your background?<\/h4>\n
Sorry to hear it. Did you have your heart set on becoming a teacher at this point?<\/h4>\n
What made you turn your attention to data instead?<\/h4>\n
When you were self-studying, were you purposefully thinking about retraining for a career in data, or were you just looking to learn something new and see where it took you?<\/h4>\n
Why did you decide to study with CareerFoundry?<\/h4>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/d2ndlgeoq4u3ju.cloudfront.net\/azadehquote4-min.png\" "\\"A")
<\/p>\nWhat was your relationship like with your mentor and tutor?<\/h4>\n
What was the most challenging thing about the course?<\/h4>\n
Was there a highlight or something in particular that you enjoyed the most?<\/h4>\n
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