How to Become a Data Analyst

14Preparing for/Recovering from a Layoff

I want to take a chapter to talk about something that you probably are not ready to think about yet—your next job search. There will come a day when you are ready. For me, it came sooner than I expected.

Don't Ignore Red Flags

About six months after I got my first data analyst job, I started to see some red flags. Although I loved being a consultant and the work I was doing, my company make decisions that changed the working environment—and not for the better. I felt “squeezed” by my company for all of February (my seventh month on the job); there was not enough work for me and my team to do, but they wanted us to be getting as much work as possible out of our clients.

Then, at the end of February they laid off some of my coworkers in customer success and operations. None of the data analysts were laid off, but I did not feel safe. I'd heard for months how companies had been laying off people left and right, even loyal, talented, hardworking employees. My company assured us that our jobs were safe and that they valued us as employees—and then turned around and encouraged my boss to help us find ways to upskill on our own time, that we did not get paid for, to learn more skills that would benefit the business (with no intention of giving us a raise).

It was at that moment that I decided I needed to prepare myself for the possibility of a layoff—or quitting. I could tell that my entire team was dissatisfied with the new direction of ...