Two signals that get you hired

I got a spam email this morning. A staffing agency pitching their AI talent services. I almost deleted it. But then I looked closer. These cold email agencies do their research. They know what makes companies respond. They’ve tested thousands of messages. So what did they lead with? Speed. Two of their three bullet points […]

5 fixes for your stuck brain

In my previous post I shared what surprised me on our challenge kickoff calls. Twenty people. Smart. Motivated. Stuck. Not because of skills or resources — because of psychology. (Missed it? Read it here.) Today: the fixes I gave them. 1. Identify your saboteurs. What stopped you last time? Netflix? Perfectionism? Shiny object syndrome? Write […]

“I don’t know why I stopped”

This week I ran two onboarding calls for our new 6-week AI challenge. Twenty people. All smart. All motivated. I asked each person: “Why did you join?” I expected answers about skills. About AI. About career goals. Instead, I heard this (exact quotes): – “I took a course a year ago. Haven’t made progress since. […]

But is it a real project?

A reader replied to me last week: “Are side projects even real? Won’t recruiters dismiss them as toy projects? Feels like a Catch-22.” Here’s what you’re missing: There are unlimited companies out there. Yes, Google wants team projects. Amazon wants 5 years of experience. Meta wants a PhD. But Google, Amazon, and Meta are not […]

Learn through building

Most people learn like this: Course → Course → Course → “Now I’m ready to build something” We’re seeing the fastest learners flip it: Project → Learn what’s needed → Project → Learn what’s needed They learn through building, not before building Sounds obvious. But watch what happens in practice: Someone wants to learn AI. […]

Experience is a proxy

Recruiters use experience as a proxy. They don’t actually care how many years you’ve worked somewhere. What they care about is: can you do the job? But they can’t know that from a resume. So they use proxies = signals that predict whether you’ll deliver results. Years of experience is one proxy. But it’s not […]

Work backwards

Today I had a call with one of our PRO members. Let’s call him James. James wants a job in data science. He’s been studying for months. Courses, certifications, tutorials. 30 minutes a day, sometimes more. But something’s off. He keeps asking: “Am I learning the right thing?” That question is killing his progress. Here’s […]

The #1 Thing

Working on your second-best problem (for your career) feels productive.  No one will blame you. But second-best problems give you second-best returns. Incremental improvements, not career-changing leaps. Example: Your real problem is you don’t have a portfolio that proves you can deliver results. But instead you start another course. You tweak your LinkedIn. You learn […]

Why most learning plans fail by February

New year, fresh start, big plans… sound familiar? January is when you map out everything you want to learn. Python. AI. AWS. MLOps. The list grows fast. Then February hits. Work gets busy. That course sits at 23% complete. The motivation fades. I’ve taught enough people to have seen this cycle for years. What separates […]