Who is Rho Lall?

My name is Rho Lall. I’m a data scientist, a full-stack senior analytics engineer. I have practical experience in several industries across a multitude of technologies. I have a BS in Economics and an MS in Data Analytics. And I've also been able to help several junior analysts break into more technical roles.

Starting out I didn’t have any of these advantages. In fact, it was only a few short years ago I was just like you . . .

 I had the skills and talent, but I couldn’t seem to get a job. I spent hours upon hours sending out resumes, only to hear crickets in response.

 I found it frustrating in 2013, to read about the DS talent gap. And again in 2017. The punch line is we are still hearing about it in 2023. It felt like I was doing something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

 I had the skills and talent; I won a data science competition; I used natural language processing to solve real problems at work. No one cared. I couldn't get an interview let alone an offer.

I struggled.

I was frustrated.

I want to share with you how I overcame my own inexperience.

The Goal: Get Paid to Leverage Data

There are a lot of people who dabble with Data Science as a hobby, I was one of them.

I had a good job. I was working predominantly in Excel.

I didn't want to do data on the side. I set an intention to make it a career.

The Traditional Job Search

I researched each company and tailored my resume to each listing.

I filled out applications night after night.

I completed two analyst internships.

I did cold outreach on Linkedin.

I attended local data science meetups and conferences.

I won a data science competition. Did I mention I won a data science competition?

I even mailed my resume out to local businesses.

Life Happens

And then life happened. 2016 was going to be my breakout year.

I was sitting in the parking lot outside the Doctor's office when I called my wife. She prattled on about I can't remember what. After a few minutes she stopped getting ready to hang up she asked, "How did it go at the Doctor’s?"

"The cancer is back."

"That's not funny," she said.

"I'm not joking."

In 2014, I was diagnosed with Cancer. It was hard with a young baby. But now, that young baby was three. He has a baby brother. I’m not afraid of dying, but I cried when I realized all I would leave them was a goodbye.

They wouldn't know me. They wouldn't remember me. They would only know how hard it was for them to grow up without me.

The Real Challenge.

The thing is the cancer wasn't the real challenge. We all carry stuff. That's part of the deal. It was the cancer bills.

10k would have solved everything for me. Just an extra 10k. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of being torn down by small problems. On top of that, I felt like an imposter. I didn't know enough: machine learning, python, R Tableau, etc.

So I redoubled my efforts filling out applications, and customizing my resume to each job description. But I had nothing to show for my trouble.

The First Aha. 

Then one day I was venting to my good friend and mentor, Dane Gilson. He said to me, "If you aren't getting callbacks then there is something wrong with your resume."

 That was the first aha. 

I realized,

• The job of my resume is to get callbacks. Nothing more.
• It's not supposed to sell them on hiring me.
• It's not an index of everything in my job history.
• It's not a substitute for an interview.

Hacking My Resume

• That is when I started to approach my resume like code
• I broke it down, identifying each part and its function
• I tested each part to see if it was functioning
• I found the broken parts
• I iterated until I found a solution that worked

The 100k Offer Framework

This became the cornerstone of my 100k Offer Framework - A 7 Step Framework to Land the Offer. This helped me laser focus my effort and clearly see what wasn't working.

I broke the interview process into its functional parts and key objectives:

• resumes get screens
• screens get interviews
• interviews get offers
• offers get the job

Each part is like a rung on a ladder whose sole and only job was to get me to the next rung. You might be thinking, “I know this.” Or “I’ve heard this before.”

 But if we looked at your resume, would it tell a different story?

My Results

- more callbacks                          - more hiring interviews

- more recruiter screens              - more offers

- more technical interviews         

Achievements

When I envisioned the type of work I wanted to be doing, this was it.

• I'm a full stack data scientist, A Sr Analytics Engineer.
• I have a career, not just a job.
• I’m doing meaningful work that I enjoy.

Who I Became

I get paid to

• deliver data products
• to assume wisely
• to combine assumptions & data to drive insights.

I no longer "do data" on the side. I’m a professional. I get paid to write code.

I want to show you how to do the same.