Don’t Take the Job

Jarring, I know. But don’t do it. It’s too easy to wrap up all the considerations surrounding a new role and call it a ‘job’, without understanding the underlying make-up of this opportunity.

This is particularly true in the software space, but you should look to translation the below out to whatever industry you find these ‘jobs’ in.  

At its core, a ‘job’ consists of three primary ingredients: a team, a platform, and a market. We’ll unpack all three of them. And after recently joining DataCamp, I’ll share a bit of insights as to how my decision was influenced by these.

The Team.

You’re going to spent the majority of waking hours with these people. More time with them than your spouse / partner. Scary, but true. You’d better be ready to enjoy them. This isn’t just a ‘do I like the team’ question. When you really unpack it, there is much more to it.

• Will they help me grow?
• Can I help them grow?
• Will we have a healthy balance of pushing each other forward?
• Does this apply for all layers of the organization?
• Is their work meaningful for them?
• Would they pass the ‘airport test’? (would you be OK with them during a 10 hour layover?)

Through the lens of DataCamp, the answer was yes for all of them. The passion this team has for building an education platform is astounding. From the leaders and founders to the recent graduates embarking on the first step in their career - it was contagious from the first time I connected with them. In my opinion, meaning is one of the most important team components.

It’s also the way they work together. You must not only look at the team on an individual basis, but how do they interact with each other? Is it rooted in transparency and accountability? In this case, yes. Those are two key attributes I look for and it was a resounding yes.

The Platform.

Especially within Customer Success, there is a lot of pressure that comes with being the voice of the customer. We have the opportunity (duty) to ensure we are making the right decisions on behalf of the customer. Especially as you have your user base break 6, then 7, then 8 figures. Your decisions will be impacting more people than you could have ever imagined. That’s a lot of weight on your shoulders. Not alone (you’ve obviously got a Product team behind you), but you are the voice.

• Is the platform one you can get behind?
• Does it take into account the voice of the user, or the buyer? Or both?
• Do users love the platform? Do you?
• Do you want to be the intersection of this platform and the customer base?

Given that DataCamp offers both a B2C and a B2B offering, I was fortunate to have the ability to explore the platform in a self-guided way (because of the consumer facing nature of the business), and had a phenomenal experience while doing so. I sat in the seat of our users with no (or very low) experience in the Data Science field, and came out with a basic understanding after taking a course. It worked from the first login.

The Market.

You can look at this through many angles, and it’s best to choose what is most applicable to you, but the way I think about this is: it the market large enough? And is it something I want to be a part of?

Is it large enough? This is important, at least to me, because I’ve always felt a need to drive towards making an impact on something much bigger than myself. It slightly leans back towards being the voice of the customer mentioned above, but you have to ensure it’s a market size that matches the impact you want to have.

Is it something I want to be a part of? There are many companies with great teams, strong platforms, in big markets - but not necessarily a market that I want to be a part of.

For me - I found that within DataCamp, the market is perfectly aligned. As we look at the massive amounts of data that is generated on a daily basis, it is requiring more and more of us to be data fluent on a global level. The size of the market is there. More people will need to be data literate today than yesterday, and this process doesn’t end. The skill gap isn’t getting any smaller.

But is it one I want to be a part of? This became more real to me as I had kids, and looked at the misalignment between rising costs of formal education and the associated results. Especially when you zoom out to the furthest level and realize that a very small percentage of us globally have access to formal education, not to mention the financial resources support it. Something has to give. Education must be different in the future, and while I’m not sure what it will look like, I want to have a part in painting that picture in a way that makes it more accessible for the masses.

If you’re interested in learning more about the specifics of how and why DataCamp started, check it out here.

So how did I think about this ‘job’?

• The team - one of the most hard working, transparent, result-focused, and passionate teams I’ve ever met.
• The platform - one that is truly supported by our user base (quick thank you to every DataCamp user).
• The market - one that I want to be a part of.

Once I broke those down, it became very apparent to me that I didn’t just want a ‘job’,  nor to be a part of the organization, I wanted it to be a part of who I am.