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David: Soccer Coach to Data Analyst at ESPN
38 Plays6 months ago
David is a Sports Data Analyst at Disney Streaming focused on ESPN digital. Before completing the Springboard Data Science certificate in 2022, David worked as a Technical Director and coach in youth soccer for 13 years after graduating with his Masters of Science in Mathematics.
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Transcript
Introduction to David's Career Journey
00:00:15
springboard
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Life After Tech Bootcamp. I hope your summers are kicking off in ah exciting fashion. um I hope your vacations, fun things planned. But until then, we have another alum to talk to. And I'm really excited to introduce you to David today. David is a sports data analyst at Disney streaming focused on ESPN digital. Before completing the springboard data science certificate in 2022, David worked as a technical director and coach in youth soccer for 13 years after graduating with his master's in science and mathematics. Hi David, how are you today?
00:00:56
David VanHeeswijk
I'm doing very well. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
00:00:59
springboard
Absolutely a pleasure. And I know you have some exciting news to share.
00:01:04
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah. ah Yeah. It's been a really fun, and fun last couple of weeks because I just got married last weekend.
00:01:10
springboard
Oh my gosh, congratulations. i need I wish I had a sound bite that had like a woo hoo or something, but we'll just have to settle for my shrill woo hoo right now.
00:01:22
David VanHeeswijk
Totally fine. Yeah. No, thank you. It was a very exciting, very fun time.
00:01:26
springboard
Yeah, I'm sure it's always great to reconnect with family. And um I feel like once you get to the age of getting married, it's like all the friends come together.
00:01:37
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I'm actually at the age where all my friends have kids. so it's been It's been fun because we we gave them an excuse to pawn their kids off to various other family members and they all let loose.
00:01:40
springboard
Oh my gosh, okay.
00:01:49
David VanHeeswijk
and i mean it made it It made for a good overall experience.
00:01:53
springboard
Yeah, I know. I am not a parent, but I can certainly imagine wanting a night without the kids just to like, maybe have a drink or two more than I normally would at an open bar, so.
00:02:07
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, twist your arm. ah
Transition from Soccer to Data Analytics
00:02:11
springboard
All right. Well, before you got married, you pulled off a career change, really just hitting all the check marks here. Um, so let's talk about what you were doing before you started working at Disney streaming. You were a soccer coach.
00:02:27
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, um so I was in grad school in 2013 and at the same time to pay for living I guess I was also coaching various things like the college team that I was at as well as the high school team in the area and I had I had aspirations to move out of Louisiana's where I grew up and that's where the university is and I decided to apply for a couple things and I got a job interview with
00:03:01
David VanHeeswijk
New York Red Bulls to coach youth soccer here in New York. And so I went and did an interview, got the job, moved to New York, which is like half the battle. And then once I got here, I basically stuck around and and and bounced bouncce between you know various coaching jobs and eventually ended up in director roles, which culminated with a role at a local like nonprofit sports organization in the city. And within that organization, there there were not just soccer, there was other sports and everything like that. um There were a lot of questions you know on on like how how the organization could optimize... um What's the word that they...
00:03:50
David VanHeeswijk
Donations like they basically they were trying to do trying to figure out ways to get a more efficient donor to organization relationship um And so like I started working with some of the people on that side of things and I realized like the Processes that were in place were pretty archaic And my understanding coming from math math was my educational background. I started to try to like essentially redefine what eventually is like data analytics, more or less. So this was this was before COVID and COVID hit. And at this point, ah you know, as most people had a little bit of time to kind of reevaluate who they were and what what they're doing. I realized that I was really enjoying this part of like,
00:04:39
David VanHeeswijk
getting my hands into data and actually like trying to to to make sense of things or to help you know solve big problems within an organization, rather than just like using my voice and enthusiasm like I was as a coach. Nothing wrong with that. It's just you know like it's more fun to to do things with data, as I'm sure a lot of people who are listening to this may agree, which is why they're here in the first place.
00:05:05
springboard
Yeah.
00:05:05
David VanHeeswijk
So um so I decided at that point um during COVID, I had a lot of time. I didn't really have a lot going on. So it made total sense for me to make the jump into data.
First Steps in Data Analytics Career
00:05:21
David VanHeeswijk
After doing some research, Springboard came along and I went through the process of a data science certification. And then I got my first job August 2022 with Bed Bath and Beyond, which if you don't know much about what's happened with them more recently, it was it was a great job. Like the people that I was working with were were fantastic. Unfortunately retail in general is is it's not a very high, it's a pretty volatile market to say the least.
00:05:58
David VanHeeswijk
ah But with that, I was able to then pivot towards Disney. And that that was more or less because of my ah time at Bed Bath and Beyond and data, but also my time preceding that 13 or whatever years it was that I was coaching soccer. like It kind of went hand in hand because it's like I have a really big deep base of sports knowledge, but I also have the data tools to be able to actually answer questions in the realm of data analytics for sports.
00:06:31
springboard
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So let's back up. I'd love to understand. So it sounds like you're trying to you were kind of exposed to data analytics. It just sort of they just kind of came about. What made you think, okay, like I'd love to hear the story of how you connected the dots from like, I'm interested in data analytics. It's coming up. Why was it necessary to then get a bootcamp to kind of propel you to be a true data analyst?
00:07:06
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, um well, two main reasons. One, um while I had the educational background, being that I was actually in a PhD program for mathematics, but I finished with a master's. um You don't really get the the the in in the weeds kind of experience in in the schooling side. So I had to like the base of like the ability to learn these highly technical concepts that data science more or less has in abundance um from that direction. the other The other side of it was like um there were real problems that I was trying to solve at at
00:07:52
David VanHeeswijk
my last soccer job, I guess, relatively. So um seeing that there were were real problems to solve, and I didn't actually have the skills to solve them correctly. like I was basically like looking up, like how do I do these things? And then I was realizing, i was like I remember these concepts from school, but I don't know how to actually like do anything with them. Because like first of all, like identifying what data I have, like that's that's a very non-starter kind of question. If you don't know the answer to that, you know, it's an issue. So I recognize that there was there were definitely like gaps that needed to be filled. And so a boot camp, that's essentially what it's there for. It's to say like, hey, like you have a lot of like, you have the you have the enthusiasm, you have the the knowledge base, you just need to like, hone those skills and and understand how to like, target what you're learning to a to a very specific
00:08:49
David VanHeeswijk
you know job area, I guess, in this case.
00:08:53
springboard
Sure. Yeah, it kind of sounds like it was the string that put everything together from your
Educational Impact and Skill Development
00:08:59
springboard
education and your um current work and all of that and just interest as well.
00:09:06
David VanHeeswijk
um Yeah, essentially if I was thinking of it like from a percentage side like I was probably at like 60 to 65 percent of what I needed for the current job that I have but ah Springboard gives me that like next 20 to 25 percent that I was missing from a skill side um And that and like the the closer you get to like a hundred percent like aptitude for a specific position the harder it is to make those like intermittent gains, so um definitely Definitely a lot to learn for sure. You kind of do need a base of some sort to like kind of start off with before you go into something like a boot camp. But Springboard definitely had it enough of the what I needed like to to give me like the ability to not have to fake it as much as in the in the term, fake it to make it. like I didn't have to fake it as much as I would have prior to that.
00:10:02
springboard
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And I even remember when I was looking at career switches, you can't just do a 180 or like a big do over stamp. You do have to have a bit of a foundation unless you really want to start completely at square one. And I feel like most people that they've worked for a few years don't want to do that.
00:10:23
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I mean, everybody's situation is different. i I fortunately was able to use the pandemic as kind of a a launch pad. For those that are like trying now, it might be a little bit more difficult because, you know, bills have to be paid. Yeah, there's life has to be lived, that kind of thing. So yeah, no, it's definitely it's definitely a challenge depending on what your situation is. and Yeah.
00:10:49
springboard
Yeah. Yeah. Career change is not an easy fee. Um, I always, you know, I did the UX UI program and I definitely would never stop someone from pursuing that career if they really wanted to, but I'm always very clear, like it's not easy. Like it will take up a lot of your time. It's, it's basically like going to a grad school program. Any person you've met who's working full time and in grad school, you won't see them much. So.
00:11:19
David VanHeeswijk
No, it's...
00:11:19
springboard
But moving on, we, excuse me, you, um, you know, you're learning like the extra percentage of the skill sets you need. Um, did you actively go into this bootcamp trying to find a new job or was it just sort of a byproduct of that?
00:11:38
David VanHeeswijk
The goal is always to find to start the career in data.
00:11:42
springboard
Okay.
00:11:43
David VanHeeswijk
um like It wasn't the only goal, certainly. But it was definitely the main main main goal. um Within the course, like once I was more familiar with all of the things that it had to offer there, there were other types of goals that I think are are pretty important that are supplementary to to gaining a ah career, but also just like generally good for working within your career once you're in it as well. so I'd say getting getting into data was definitely the main motivation, but it's evolved. like Everything
Strategic Job Hunting and Networking
00:12:21
David VanHeeswijk
evolves over time. You get more information, you start to like change how you think of it.
00:12:27
springboard
Of course, of course. And then let's talk about the job hunt. So you finished the course. um What was that like?
00:12:36
David VanHeeswijk
Uh, yeah, uh, the, the job hunt was, I mean, it, it, it was challenging for sure. In the sense that like, uh, it's not something I was very familiar with. Uh, every job that I had before that within soccer was more or less like, like I was leading into another job. Like it wasn't, um, I mean, with the exception of the last one, most of them, it was like, I would meet someone and then it'd be like, Hey, like I really like what you're doing. Like I'm going to move over to your. club or or your organization that kind of thing.
00:13:06
David VanHeeswijk
and The one moving into the city again it was somebody that I knew knew this knew the director that hired me so um completely different in terms of that because I didn't know anyone ah in the data side.
00:13:19
springboard
yeah
00:13:21
David VanHeeswijk
and and And to be fair like I also wasn't really familiar with the idea of like creating a personal brand or networking. And in the sense that you need to be able to do, like especially in a tech-heavy job, a lot of the tech-heavy companies or companies that that rely on tech, they also rely on the current structure of of how hiring is done, which is through like hiring managers or recruiting firms or whatever.
00:13:44
springboard
Yeah, I know.
00:13:52
David VanHeeswijk
And and so the screening process for that, you know if you don't understand it, you just kind of feel like you're kind of in the dark. So that part was challenging for sure. But as as I got more efficient with what I was doing, um I started to get more more at least bites for interviews. like Maybe the first two months, I didn't really get anything from anyone other than like informational interviews. And those were ones that I was like basically pleading with people to, hey, can I talk to you for a second? and
00:14:24
David VanHeeswijk
Um, you know, some people, some people just, you know, they don't have the time or whatever, and that's totally fine.
00:14:27
springboard
mean
00:14:28
David VanHeeswijk
But, uh, gradually it starts to feel like there's something happening after about like, you know, and for me, it was about three months into the post graduation.
00:14:40
springboard
Okay, so that's not actually a long time. So clearly you were doing something right. um What do you think worked for you in the job hunt?
00:14:51
David VanHeeswijk
Uh, okay. So I had a plan, um, in the, so I basically tried to create like a, a very like quantifiable plan and how I was going to attack each part of the problem. And, and some of it, some of it I got from my career coach, like the different strategies on how to like apply for jobs or how to, to network and, and like resume building, uh, cop, um, cover letter who i can't think of the word cover letter building. like Those all were definitely not things that I was very good at or familiar with. so I leaned on the person who was the expert for those, and then I created a plan to like say, I started off with, like you know I think it might have been 15 people I was reaching out to the first couple of weeks, and then I realized like
00:15:42
David VanHeeswijk
based on the amount of time that I had, I was able to adjust it to, in my case I had more time, so i add I adjusted it to a higher number, but then I realized like a lot of the connections that I was making were not really very deep, so so then I corrected that and actually started doing like, I'm going to find five companies and then I'm going to target people within those companies that have jobs that are or working within the field or the realm that I'm actually trying to apply to. And then I used whatever information I could get to try to find hiring managers, try to find
00:16:22
David VanHeeswijk
Whomever I would be working with if I was trying to to to work in a position and that's when it started to kind of click was because I was actually talking to people who were trying to like fill the position so they were able to get very specific information about like what was needed a Lot of times like I wasn't the right fit like they needed somebody who was a lot more experienced And that's okay because they're paying a lot of money for somebody to come in to be an expert It's not it's not like
00:16:41
springboard
Sure.
00:16:48
David VanHeeswijk
entering the mailroom. It's like
Job Application Challenges and Breakthroughs
00:16:49
David VanHeeswijk
you come into a company, you're basically one of the experts in your field, straight up.
00:16:54
springboard
Yeah, I think some people don't realize just how much pressure there is on hiring managers. And I know the hiring process could be better for everybody. Getting ghosted by an employer is just We've all been there, um but I do, you know, yeah, I think there's just a lot of pressure on hiring managers. Like if they hire someone that's just not a good fit and they have to let them go in three, six months, that looks bad on them. So it's, and it's not necessarily that the employee that they hired is bad, but just if it's not a good fit, yeah that's not good for anyone.
00:17:31
David VanHeeswijk
No, yeah i I empathize with everyone within the system. It's a system that's not designed. It's designed for a type of... work process that like has exploded, I guess.
00:17:43
springboard
yeah
00:17:44
David VanHeeswijk
yeah The amount of connectivity that we have like to jobs outside of our immediate bubble is like way, way higher than it ever was years before. So it's it's not going to be something that gets fixed overnight. And hiring managers, as you said, their their job is very very challenging. They're spending you know a lot of money. like Companies are usually spending a lot of money to try to get people in. And then once they get in, they have to spend more money to try to train them and things like that.
00:18:08
springboard
Okay. Uh-huh.
00:18:11
David VanHeeswijk
So yeah, there's definitely a pressure to to make sure you get it right the first time. um
00:18:15
springboard
Yeah. And also, I think there's a bit of a misconception that you can learn a lot on the job. There are just certain skills you need to come in knowing. And I remember when I was looking at a career switch, I thought maybe going into project management right but might be right for me. um And while I did a project management and a job, I was a project manager for another industry, but to get into tech, like If you don't, I didn't know what Asana was. I didn't know what HTML was. And thinking back, I was so naive, but yeah, company's not going to teach you these. be Like if someone else knows how to use Asana versus me, who's like, what's that? You know, there's going to be other competition above you. So.
00:19:01
David VanHeeswijk
yeah Yeah, I mean, it's it's all perspective, right? The hiring manager's job is to eliminate as many people from the pool as possible. Because at the end of the day, they the the people who are actually doing the technical interviews and the people who are like eventually going to make the decision on who's going to hire you, they they're working full time. So like they don't have a lot of time to to do hundreds of interviews for one position. So the hiring manager is going to find any reason to to get rid of you. And and once you kind of wrap your head around that, like
00:19:33
David VanHeeswijk
yeah have to have your moment of grief and everything with like the idea of like that's not very fair usually but once you get you get into your head like okay this is the game that i'm playing then you kind of say okay well how do i make myself actually sound better than everyone else that is higher like you know jumping in and usually the way that works the world works and i'm going back to the way i used to get jobs is like If you know a person and you talk to them or whatever, like usually they'll be like, hey, actually we have a position here. If you want to like try to apply to it, I'll push you to the top.
00:20:04
springboard
Yeah.
00:20:05
David VanHeeswijk
because Because a face is a lot easier to so like vouch for than just a piece of paper or a message and ah or an email or whatever. like The more personal you can make it, the better. So like connecting with the actual people who matter, that's you that's a lot bigger, for sure.
00:20:23
springboard
Absolutely. Yes, I agree. And you did eventually get your first job at Bed Bath & Beyond. So what was that process like? Did you reach out to the hiring manager there?
00:20:34
David VanHeeswijk
Ironically, no. so I had been doing all of the all of the things that I just described for all these other jobs. I had i had applied to Bed Bath & Beyond somewhere before I graduated, but it just took that long for the the the application to all but come all the way around. so i was like i mean It must have been seven months because when they reached out to me saying, like hey, you applied for this position, like do you have time to interview? In my head, I was going, I don't remember. flying to this job
00:21:01
springboard
yeah
00:21:03
David VanHeeswijk
so
00:21:03
springboard
a Yeah.
00:21:04
David VanHeeswijk
So then I went back and looked at my like notes and stuff and I realized I was like oh this is this is this is when I applied was like in you know I think it was like I started the interview process with them in like July and I had applied in January and so that's the other side of it the other side of it is sometimes companies are putting these positions up and then they just don't have time to actually get to them until like you know whatever their hiring cycle is. like Some companies have like specific times of the year where they they can hire and promote and stuff.
00:21:32
springboard
Yeah.
00:21:37
David VanHeeswijk
and that's um That was definitely the case in in this one. so Everything I said before that was irrelevant for this one.
00:21:42
springboard
Okay. Yeah. You know, it's so ironic you say that because my job I got through a recruiter and my career coach was a former recruiter, worked in-house and agency side. And she's like, you're probably going to get your job through networking. You can try working with recruiters. I'm not going to tell you stop because that is an option, but you're going to get it through networking. And then I ended up getting my job through a recruiter. So, you know, nothing, and nothing against her advice. She was great. ah But it is kind of funny how, yeah, I i always try to remind people job hunting, like,
00:22:22
springboard
Just try it all. um
Interview Processes and Technical Skills
00:22:24
springboard
It's kind of like dating in a way where, you know, you're not always just going to, so you might be doing everything right, but you're just not going to mesh with someone. And that's kind of job hunting techniques to me.
00:22:36
David VanHeeswijk
yeah it's uh it's not right until it's right kind of thing uh for sure and to be fair like you know it's it's a high volume game too for in this case maybe hopefully not for dating too much but i mean maybe i don't know yeah don't have to worry about that anymore but
00:22:51
springboard
Oh, I don't know if, yeah, I hope not either. So, yeah, we we know as of last week. Well, I would guess a little bit before then too.
00:23:03
David VanHeeswijk
Probably, yeah. No, I'm kidding. ah Yeah, no, it's fun.
00:23:07
springboard
I don't know.
00:23:08
David VanHeeswijk
it's Yeah, it's it's very it's very similar in in a lot of ways. It's like, whatever people give you advice at the end of the day, something will eventually work, and you just have to keep plugging away, and then eventually something happens.
00:23:21
springboard
Absolutely. And so when you, okay, they reached out, you had the job interview. What was that interview process like with them?
00:23:29
David VanHeeswijk
Um, so the way I remember this whole thing was actually I was in the, I was in the process of interviewing with three companies, them and two others. Um, and so their interview process was pretty straightforward. It was, uh, hiring manager spoke to me for about 30 minutes, which also coincided with like the behavioral interview or or whatever. Um, luckily for myself, I've never really had an issue in. with that. like that's all Working with parents of kids for so long and having to talk to people of all different walks of life, it's a skill that I've i've developed over time and i and I was leaning on it a lot. like Just basically redirecting questions and whatever, making the person... you know
00:24:16
David VanHeeswijk
genuinely not hate me. ah So that part was fine. And then I had three technical interviews, or two technical interviews, and then one was like a follow up interview with the eventual, my boss at the time. The two the two technical interviews were one was with SQL,
00:24:33
springboard
Thank you.
00:24:35
David VanHeeswijk
And then the other one was a general problem solving technical interview. So it was like, they gave me a problem and then I kind of spoke my way through it. that That was probably one of the easier interview processes that I'd been in. um At the same time, I had been in another interview process, which was a, I wanna say I got to the ninth interview and five of those were technical interviews. Like, one of them was a take-home project, which basically took about 15 hours at least. It might have been 20 hours by the time I actually finished it. ah There was python in a Python technical portion. There were SQL technical portions. There was another problem-solving one. I don't remember what the last one was, but either way, it was it was like it was a very involved process. so
00:25:28
David VanHeeswijk
you put those two together like juxtaposition is like the one that I was that I ended up not like I ended up at the end of the ninth interview they were like okay we're gonna go with someone else totally fine, you know, heartbreak or whatever. That one actually made the other one so much like less stressful. Because, because I was just kind of like, okay, well, this this other one, I'm i'm doing all this preparation for and I'm like jumping through these hoops, the bed bath and beyond one is like, it's a sequel thing. I've already been practicing it for these other technical interviews. So
00:26:00
David VanHeeswijk
Let me just go through and explain my like thought process. So like it works out like I think, and and a lot of people that I've talked to, it's the same way. It's like, once you do start getting interviews, they kind of start to like happen all at once. Like it's almost like all the hiring managers or see you for the first time. And then you break the code on how to, to get past them. And then all of a sudden now you're getting all the technical interviews at the same time too. So you just get a lot of practice at that point.
00:26:27
springboard
Yeah, absolutely. I'm curious. So I know in design when they give ah an interview where it gives a take-home project, it's quite controversial because we've already had our portfolio and why are you making us do extra work? But is it more common in a data analyst interview? um Is that a fair way to assess your skills or is that also kind of controversial in your field work as well?
00:26:54
David VanHeeswijk
Well, um I would say it's less controversial. Like with UX and UI, you guys you guys are actually like building something, like creating something.
00:27:02
springboard
Yeah.
00:27:04
David VanHeeswijk
ah Normally with like the positions that I was getting a lot of the interviews were actually data analytics, even though I had done the data science boot camp or whatever. and Data analytics is more or less like for a lot of companies, it's like a business stakeholder comes to you. So i' I'm coming from like when you're actually doing the jobs, a business stakeholder will come to you and be like, Hey, what's going on, and they could be as general as that.
00:27:22
springboard
Yeah.
00:27:27
David VanHeeswijk
And so like, you have to kind of like jump through all the hoops to do that. And so In a sense, like a portfolio is a good starting point for for a person who's like trying to like assess how competent you are. The other way is to see how you think on the fly, because there's a lot of that that within the work realm.
00:27:45
springboard
Mmm.
00:27:48
David VanHeeswijk
So like it depending on the the what you're doing, like it could be like as broad as what I just said, or it could be something like, hey, I need you to work with these data engineers to to you know make sure that the data is of a certain quality or whatever like uh for our analytics purposes in another realm that's like also pretty ah pretty standardized and that that could be a little bit easier, but the the problems range so far that like you can make a portfolio and that doesn't still give the quite it doesn't give quite the right sense of your skill set because your skill set is really your ability to think on like to be able to ask the right questions and then answer the questions.
00:28:32
David VanHeeswijk
So I would say no, ah not not super controversial. um it If you have really good projects, you absolutely should showcase them and like be proud of them and like you know bring them up as often as you can. But part of the fun of data analytics is solving new stuff. so
00:28:50
springboard
Sure. That makes a lot of sense. I guess we will have to show how we think on the fly a whiteboarding challenge. So that makes a lot of sense. And I guess, yeah, with us, we're designing experiences and there's many ways to go about it, which is why I don't think take-home work is worthwhile to us. But yeah, it sounds like if you need to analyze data, it's not really that, like there's not many ways to do it if you want to analyze a certain way.
00:29:18
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah.
Joining Disney and Work-Life Balance
00:29:19
springboard
I got that right.
00:29:20
springboard
makes sense. Well, you got your job at Bed Bath and Beyond. so um But you're not there anymore. So what happens in between if you'd like to share?
00:29:20
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, exactly.
00:29:29
David VanHeeswijk
Sure. We
00:29:30
springboard
We all know what happened to Bed Bath and Beyond.
00:29:32
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I was ah was fortunate enough to to have gotten my job well before everything went south.
00:29:40
springboard
Yeah.
00:29:40
David VanHeeswijk
um Basically, i was I was working, just normal, and I started to get a few recruiters reaching out to me. So this is something that, considering how how long it took to get anybody to even like answer an email like saying, hey, like actually, we would like to interview you, that kind of thing. but kind ah After a year of working, like recruiters will start to like say, hey, like you actually have a background that fits what we need. So being that I had been coaching soccer for 13 years, that's like a lot of my resume.
00:30:08
springboard
Yeah.
00:30:14
David VanHeeswijk
I tried to like figure out a way to sell it in a data way. It's really hard to do because not a lot of it is data related in the sense of like how industry thinks of it. Um, it's problem solving, but it's, it's hard to sell somebody on that unless they've actually been in the position. Uh, but, but if you're in a sports like domain, that's actually hugely valuable because then it's like, Hey, actually you do know a lot about the way sports works and therefore like you kind of have, um, a leg up on other data people with regards to answering questions from the business stakeholders who are thinking from the sports perspective and not from the data perspective.
00:30:31
springboard
Right.
00:30:52
David VanHeeswijk
So. Um, I had gotten a, um, a few different recruiters reaching out to me. One was, uh, with a, um, one of the ticket, not ticket master, but a different one, um, here in New York city. that also works with the New York Nets or Brooklyn Nets, I guess they're Brooklyn. yeah and then And then I went through that interview process and it ended up not being a thing, but then a person from Disney reached out like two weeks after that and was like, Hey, like we were looking at your
00:31:30
David VanHeeswijk
Your profile, and we're creating a division in in our streaming side for ESPN Plus specifically. So you kind of fit the bill for a data analyst if you'd like to interview. That was pretty much it. It was just just like, as soon as I started interviewing and I started talking to the people that I'm working with now, in in my head, I was like, I'm absolutely making this jump as soon as it happened. because This is what I actually wanted to do originally was was work in the field and also do data. So for me, that's how that worked.
00:31:58
springboard
Yeah.
00:32:00
David VanHeeswijk
It was just a recruiter eventually reached out to me because they found me.
00:32:05
springboard
That's incredible. And how long have you been there and this new job?
00:32:10
David VanHeeswijk
ah Coming up ah well a little past a year and a half, so I think I'm on like almost 20 months.
00:32:18
springboard
That's fantastic. And what has your day in and day out been like? Because it sounds like this is almost like a dream job in a way.
00:32:26
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, ah you could say that for sure. ah When I started um the, I guess the, so Disney is is going more towards like the return to work side. So like I basically work four days a week in the office, one day remote, which is not bad considering like for me it's about 20 minute commute via like a boat and a train. So it's not like, It's not terrible. I know if I was driving, I'd be definitely think differently.
00:32:57
David VanHeeswijk
but ah um But the good thing is that like a lot of people are a lot of people on my team are coming in, but a lot of the other teams
00:32:58
springboard
Yeah.
00:33:07
David VanHeeswijk
ah are a little less um consistent in that way. So like we end up having a lot more space within our office. and We get free snacks and stuff like that. So that's really nice.
00:33:17
springboard
Love the three snacks.
00:33:18
David VanHeeswijk
And and I have two dogs. they They both like to distract me whenever I'm working from home. So it it was kind of one of those things where I was like, I really enjoy working from home. I don't mind working in the office. There are definite benefits of both. whatever balance works for whomever is working is what works for me. This works fine. um I can get enough work done to where the day that I'm working remote, I could just put headphones in and just cruise through whatever I need to. And luckily my team also has the idea of like, if I need to be doing something, like they'll, they'll like go to meetings for me and stuff like that.
00:33:59
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, so like my day-to-day is very simple. Just go in work a bunch of meetings on zoom And then leave and come home and It's pretty legit.
00:34:11
springboard
That sounds pretty great. And then you get to talk about sports all day as well.
00:34:14
David VanHeeswijk
Oh Yeah, there's that side too. Yeah, I know it's it's it's very surreal for sure if like I mean for me in the sports side ESPN is one of the main
00:34:28
springboard
Yeah, if you're good at it, it's the sports channel.
00:34:28
David VanHeeswijk
Names brands or whatever like it it is like the main brand of sports in the u.s.
00:34:30
springboard
Yeah.
00:34:33
David VanHeeswijk
So like being able to work In in the organization is it's pretty wild also being able to work in Disney is pretty wild because it's huge Not just from a personnel perspective but just from a reach and the amount of different things that are going on like the people that I that I work with
00:34:44
springboard
Thank you.
00:34:53
David VanHeeswijk
ah just on the data side the things that they're working on are just it's it's really fun because it's like you get to like hear all kinds of great stories from all kinds of different walks of life and things that you wouldn't normally do if you were working in like when I was working as a coach all the coaches are pretty similar like they all have a very similar vibe like this is it feels more like um I don't know diverse I guess culturally
00:35:20
springboard
Sure. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I guess um since this is your dream job, I'd imagine you hope to stay for a bit. But what do you think is next for you now that you're here?
Future Aspirations and Patience in Career
00:35:33
David VanHeeswijk
Well, um, so I'm in data analytics right now. Um, to your point about like project management or whatever before, I don't know if it was in this interview or before we were talking, but, um, my, uh, my goal would eventually be able to like be able to run my own team and and and create my own data product within an organization. Uh, I definitely don't have any plans of leaving. my current team, more or less. But um like anything, you do you do kind of have to keep progressing skill set and effectiveness and the ability to like make make change within within your own world. So like i'm I'm working my way up the ladder trying to eventually get into a position where I can start to to
00:36:24
David VanHeeswijk
either have my own team to build something that I can you know hang my hat on or develop enough skills within different realms of data to then maybe do that somewhere else. But that's a ways down the line. Right now it's there's a lot to be done within my current role. and There's a lot to be done within the the greater team architecture that that will allow me to at least like continue to grow. And being that I've only been working in data for two and a half, three years, I'm not like in a huge rush.
00:36:59
David VanHeeswijk
to work my way all to like the C-suite or anything like that. I'm definitely not there from a skill set. And I know that from from just seeing other people within the the organization and how brilliant they are. like i'm like I need to learn you know from them as much as its try to like push push on and on and on.
00:37:19
springboard
Yes, I think there's something to be said for patience. I don't know what your experience has been like just with other people's careers. I know for myself, I very much always wanted to progress really rapidly. I definitely did that in my previous career. And then with this new career in UX, I'm not looking to rush. like I definitely do want to advance at some point. I can't be at the same level for the rest of my career. but Yeah, I've just been noticing a lot of people in general have been wanting to take their time, learn, and then gradually move up the ladder when the timing feels right.
00:37:57
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I mean, if you have a good fit, like certainly you wanna be able to like be confident in what you're doing. And I guess the urgency of like moving up also is, you know, relative to a lot of factors, like are you being compensated correctly or or are you in a position where your work-life balance is at least good enough at the time or whatever. So the higher up you are, the more you can control those things theoretically. um And so they're like that could be a motivation for a lot of people from and then if you're in a position where you're like You're you finally are doing something like that You really want to do then of course you want to you know, like make sure that you get all of what you need But I feel like there's always there's always there should always be an urgency and like a motivation to push on so
00:38:49
David VanHeeswijk
while patience is definitely one of the things that is valuable for sure, especially like even before you get the job. Once you get it, patience is still very valuable, but also having a little bit of like a fire lit under you definitely makes it more meaningful because like you have somewhere you're going. And I think like, especially when I was in the, in springboard, like there was a clear direction. It was to get a job.
00:39:15
springboard
Mm
00:39:16
David VanHeeswijk
Like once you're in the job, it's not as clear because there's so many different avenues that you can follow.
00:39:19
springboard
hmm.
00:39:22
David VanHeeswijk
So that could be part of it is the fact that it's so like, it's like widened out opportunities. So it's like, I don't, you don't want to like, just beeline it through one direction and not even like have a moment to to enjoy the view, I guess.
00:39:37
springboard
Yeah, that's a really beautiful way to put it. And a perspective I never considered is, yes, Springboard is very structured in a way. um that's I hear a lot of criticism where they'll say like, oh, like a lot of the curriculum is just articles online that you can find yourself. But I think a lot of people fail to realize how curated all of those articles and those resources are put together. And that takes a lot of time and a lot of foresight to understand how to structure everything. And yeah, getting into the job hunt, everything is very, I don't want to say handheld, but you're very supported. You're put on a nice little pillow. And then yeah, I, now that you say it like that, it does make a lot of sense. Like starting my job has been so fulfilling, but it has been very, like, yeah, I'm i'm on my own.
00:40:33
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I feel like on the criticism part, I guess like it.
00:40:41
David VanHeeswijk
That's probably true that you can actually find a lot of information anywhere. And the fact that Springboard has curated it is helpful to some people, maybe to others who are like a lot more like deep-diving and the internet.
Reflecting on Career Transformation Journey
00:40:55
David VanHeeswijk
it's It's maybe not as helpful. But like the the thing about the bootcamp is that it gives you a enough of everything to be able to like be successful. And so some of it is not going to seem as useful. Some of it is going to be absolutely vital Because like if you had all those skills, you don't need the boot kit.
00:41:10
springboard
And then.
00:41:14
David VanHeeswijk
So I think i think if if i'm if I'm trying to say, like yes, be critical of like I could do this part, whatever. But like in my case, I might agree with, like oh, I could find these articles on my own. But I have no idea how to build a brand. I don't know how to do that. And that's why I'm actually in this thing, is that I'm i'm working with someone who understands exactly what I'm doing. and also understand something I don't know. That's essential for me to actually get the career that I want. so i think it's i think you know it takes a it If you zoom in on something, you can always be very critical of it, but if you if you zoom out a little bit, you can see that like it's just one part of a mini.
00:41:58
David VanHeeswijk
and it gives context for where where you're eventually going. So if it's something you already know or if it's something that you think that you can find on your own, cool. Continue to do that research and like build those skills because that you might be better at that than others and that gives you a leg up. whenever you're going to like actually apply. um And then just focus a lot of time on the things you're not very good at, because that's really, at the end of the day, like that's what a bootcamp is there for, is to give you a boost in those areas.
00:42:29
springboard
Yeah, for sure. Well, with that being said, um is looking back on this whole experience, what do you have any reflections or just thoughts about it all? like You've kind of come through such a transformation. I'd imagine it's, I can't think of a good word, but I would imagine it's just, like your life has changed so much. So it's like, what does that feel like?
00:42:58
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I don't know the word either. I know what you're saying though.
00:43:00
springboard
Okay, thank you.
00:43:00
David VanHeeswijk
um it's It's a lot. um No, I would say like, you know, everybody's situation is different. So it's really hard to like say like, oh, from my from my vantage point, just do this and this and this and you'll be fine.
00:43:15
springboard
or
00:43:16
David VanHeeswijk
um
00:43:18
David VanHeeswijk
It's going to be tough in the moment. And it's definitely not like, It's definitely not easy changing a lot about what you're doing. For the most part, I feel like everybody who's going through this is probably trying to change something, whether it's you're graduating college and you're trying to change out of the idea of being a student, to being a professional, or if you've been a professional in one area, it's changing careers, or if you haven't worked for a while and now you want to work, like changing from from less than more or you're you're working a ton and now you want to work and make more money to work less like all of those things are very big changes and and and honestly it's just you know it goes back to the idea of like you you you have more success as you build more like of a network of relationships and stuff like that and and taking those mo like those little bits from like the people that you meet within the realm the field or whatever like
00:44:19
David VanHeeswijk
It's huge one of the one of the biggest things that like helped me kind of keep Keep focused relatively is like one of the people I entered did an info interview with he was working at peloton they didn't have any positions that I was really qualified for but um He lives like I live in Queens He lived in and Brooklyn and like, you know, I did an informational interview and then like a month later he reached out I was like, hey like I'm going over to ah place in between us and like if you want to come grab a drink, like we can do that. and so like I just went and met.
00:44:51
David VanHeeswijk
We had a conversation over a couple of beers and then went back home. and it was like like that was That was very valuable because like even if I didn't really get anything job related, like I made a made a connection with somebody. like
00:45:03
springboard
do
00:45:04
David VanHeeswijk
like And that's what you're doing through this whole process. I know it sounds like ridiculous because like I really just want a job. I don't care about all that. But um it's it's it's definitely like you make friends, like you you learn, your your life evolves. like Life is still happening. So like understand that this is just
Networking Insights and Conclusion
00:45:21
David VanHeeswijk
part of that process. And the change is going to be for the better, whatever you're doing. It will be for the better as long as you're like you have a plan and you're like trying to work your way through it.
00:45:26
springboard
Yeah.
00:45:32
springboard
Yeah. And to your point about the friend you met up with, I think there's something to be said about just making a connection, not expecting anything out of it. Years ago, I had an interview for a big fashion company that a lot of people would have heard of, um really, really cool opportunity. I didn't end up getting the job, but a year later, I was already in my tech bootcamp. The hiring manager reached out and she just was like, I have a job, do you want one? Because it was that informal. um And at the time, it was was quite hard to say no, because I knew if I had taken that job, my UX career would have been stalled.
00:46:10
springboard
However, that goes to show like you never know what impression you're going to make on people. And at the end of the day, people want to hire people they like. They want to work with people they like who have made an impression. um And they're going to remember you if they're in a bind where they need someone. So yeah.
00:46:30
David VanHeeswijk
yeah No, that's that's a pretty cool story for sure Yeah, no, I I just I think it's I think it's important to keep in mind that like, you know We're all humans and like sometimes it's sometimes it's gonna be like a huge amount of getting ghosted but sometimes you make a friend along the way sometimes you you get an opportunity that comes along that you're just like I had like Like in my case, a bed bath, like I applied to it, not thinking I was going to get anything from it. And then eight months later I get something and it's like, where did this come from?
00:47:02
springboard
Yeah, exactly. Well with that being said, is there anything that we didn't get to talk about today that you'd like to share?
00:47:11
David VanHeeswijk
Um, no, I, you know, overall, uh, you know, always enjoyed having these conversations with anyone from springboard. So anybody who's able to listen to this, you know, feel free to reach out to me. I'm usually not super, super busy, but I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can either way.
00:47:29
springboard
Yeah, the wedding is passed, so now I'm sure you have plenty of free time.
00:47:32
David VanHeeswijk
Yeah, I can breathe now. and i and
00:47:35
springboard
Well, if someone wants to reach out to you on LinkedIn, would you be able to spell your name so they're adding the correct David?
00:47:41
David VanHeeswijk
Yes, last name is V as in Victor, A-N-H-E-E-S-W-I-J-K. And before you ask, Van Heeswig is the way we pronounce it.
00:47:57
springboard
I like it. It sticks out. My last name is very generic. um And know I wish I had like a more interesting name, but this is these are the cards I was dealt in life. I think I could have gotten a worse one.
00:48:10
David VanHeeswijk
I mean, move to move to a country where, you know, your last name is not very common and you'll feel special. if i If I lived in Holland, it wouldn't be super super crazy.
00:48:22
springboard
You know, now that you've given me that suggestion, I really think that's the path of least resistance right now.
00:48:26
David VanHeeswijk
right It's all perspective, right?
00:48:29
springboard
Exactly. Well, David, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story. For anyone listening, if you would like to ask David or myself any questions, or even if you're an alum and like to be featured as a guest, please email me at alumnipodcast at springboard dot.com.