- 6 weeks ago
Big Tech is Overrated, but why?
In this video I break down the change that Big Tech has taken post-covid and why it isn't the most desirable industry to be in any more.
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In this video I break down the change that Big Tech has taken post-covid and why it isn't the most desirable industry to be in any more.
____________________________________________
RESOURCES:
💻Analyst Builder - https://www.analystbuilder.com/
📖Take my Full MySQL Course Here: https://bit.ly/3tqOipr
📖Take my Full Python Course Here: https://bit.ly/48O581R
📖Practice Technical Interview Questions: https://bit.ly/46pDqqL
Coursera Courses:
Google Data Analyst Certification: https://coursera.pxf.io/5bBd62
Data Analysis with Python - https://coursera.pxf.io/BXY3Wy
IBM Data Analysis Specialization - https://coursera.pxf.io/AoYOdR
Tableau Data Visualization - https://coursera.pxf.io/MXYqaN
Udemy Courses:
Python for Data Science - https://bit.ly/3Z4A5K6
Statistics for Data Science - https://bit.ly/37jqDbq
SQL for Data Analysts (SSMS) - https://bit.ly/3fkqEij
Tableau A-Z - http://bit.ly/385lYvN
*Please note I may earn a small commission for any purchase through these links - Thanks for supporting the channel!*
____________________________________________
BECOME A MEMBER -
Want to support the channel? Consider becoming a member! I do Monthly Liv
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LearningTranscript
00:00Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Alex the Analyst Show.
00:02Thank you guys so much for watching.
00:04Today, we are going to be talking all about
00:05why I think big tech is overrated.
00:08Now, this is a personal opinion.
00:10This is what I personally believe.
00:12Not everybody is going to agree with me,
00:14and in fact, I know there are going to be comments down below
00:17being like, Alex, you never even worked in big tech.
00:19Why do you think big tech is overrated?
00:21You have no right to be saying that, and that's fine.
00:23I actually encourage that,
00:24and if you have a kind of opposite opinion of me,
00:27I want you to let me know because, you know what?
00:29I can admit that I can be wrong.
00:31Now, if you have not joined one of these Alex the Analyst shows before,
00:35this is my long-form episodes where I just talk about things.
00:38You come in, you hang out, and that's it.
00:41It's just super simple.
00:43And so this isn't one of my short 8-10 minute videos.
00:46This is my long one.
00:47It's going to go 30 minutes, an hour, hour and a half.
00:49As long as it needs to go, it will go.
00:51But it's pretty simple in the fact that I just talk.
00:54I have no background music.
00:55I don't do anything.
00:56So just plug it in or listen to it while you're driving
00:58or while you're working out or whatever it is.
01:01And that's kind of how we do things around here.
01:03Now, I have a lot to get to.
01:06I have a ton of different points over here,
01:08and I'm going to talk to a lot of them.
01:10And as I'm going through,
01:12I'll share just some of my experience
01:13as I've kind of got into tech
01:16just in an unnatural way,
01:18or not an unnatural, but an unusual way.
01:22Because I started out working
01:23at a small healthcare analytics company.
01:25I then got into a Fortune 500 company
01:27where I worked up through the ranks.
01:29I then started a YouTube channel,
01:30which, you know, if you're watching this,
01:32this is my YouTube channel.
01:33And then through that,
01:34I started an ed tech company called Analyst Builder.
01:37And I also started consulting on the side
01:39about two and a half years ago.
01:41That consulting has led me to work
01:43with some of these big tech companies
01:44that we're going to be talking about today.
01:46And I'm not going to go into super specifics
01:48on every single, you know, tech company.
01:51I'm just kind of talking about tech companies in general.
01:54I'm talking Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Twitter, Meta,
01:59all of these different companies
02:01I would consider tech companies.
02:02And so, well, I wouldn't consider them.
02:05They are tech companies.
02:06And so over the past few years,
02:07I've consulted with a lot of these companies.
02:09I've gotten to know a lot of the employees
02:11at these companies.
02:12I've had friends who have worked at these companies.
02:14I've also had a lot of people
02:16who have wanted me to come in
02:17for interviews at these companies.
02:18And so I'll share a lot of these experiences as we go
02:22and how my viewpoint has really changed over the years.
02:26So I'm going to start back.
02:27I'm not actually going to jump into this.
02:29I'm going to start back really quickly
02:30on just briefly my journey.
02:32So when I got that healthcare analytics company,
02:35my main goal, I was like,
02:36man, I really want to work at Amazon.
02:38That was like my goal.
02:39I would love to work at Amazon as a data analyst.
02:43I was like, if I could get there,
02:44that was the pinnacle of success for me.
02:46But I knew it would take a while
02:49because I knew that I didn't have the experience.
02:51I had no relevant experience
02:53that could get me to that pinnacle of success in my mind.
02:57Now, this was back in 2017.
02:59So back in 2017, I was just fresh out of college
03:02and I was ready to get working.
03:04And so I started working at the Fortune 500 company.
03:07I was like, okay, this is huge
03:08because this is kind of the next step
03:10to getting bigger experience
03:12kind of at a name brand company,
03:13which will then really help me get into big tech.
03:17And so as I started working
03:18at this Fortune 500 company,
03:20which was Amerisource Bergen at the time,
03:22they recently changed their name
03:23to something like Concerra or something like that.
03:26I don't know.
03:27But as I started working there,
03:29I started realizing a lot of different things.
03:31One, a lot of the people who were working there
03:33were previous tech employees.
03:34So we had a lot of people who used to work at,
03:37either it was Toyota,
03:39which isn't technically a tech company,
03:40but in their tech division,
03:42some larger companies who used to work at Facebook,
03:45who used to work at Twitter or all these places.
03:48But now they were coming in to work
03:49on a lot of our data infrastructure and stuff like that.
03:51And so it was pretty neat.
03:52I got to talk with them
03:53and get to know them quite a bit
03:55and actually find out why they didn't work there anymore.
03:58And so it was through this time
04:00at the Fortune 500 company where I was like,
04:02I don't know if I really want to.
04:04You know, it seems like a lot of work,
04:06not as big of payoff as I was thinking.
04:09And then especially after I quit my job full-time,
04:11started doing consulting full-time
04:13and started working directly with people
04:14who are working there and with these companies,
04:17I absolutely was like, I'm not even gonna try.
04:19I don't wanna work at this company.
04:21And then of course, you know,
04:23let's say in early 2024,
04:26I've had some of these companies reach out
04:27or, you know, I've had people who work
04:29at these companies reach out saying,
04:30hey, we have an opening.
04:31I really like your YouTube channel.
04:33I would love for you to come and work with me.
04:35That'd be awesome.
04:35And so I've had these experiences
04:37where now I could have, if I wanted to,
04:39I absolutely could have worked at these companies,
04:41but I've always turned them down.
04:43And so that's a little bit of background
04:44for kind of where I'm coming from.
04:47It's not just, I'm a hater,
04:49I hate big tech companies.
04:50I just think for a lot of people,
04:52it's not really worth it anymore.
04:54And there are a lot of downsides.
04:56I think the downsides are starting
04:57to even outweigh the kind of pros.
05:01And the pros are the biggest one is money.
05:04You're going to make more money
05:05in these technical jobs.
05:07But also the other biggest thing
05:09is that you have a name brand on your resume
05:11and people want to say,
05:12hey, I work for that app
05:14or that company that you like or that you use.
05:16And so there is this kind of recognition
05:18that you get with working at these companies.
05:21So let me jump into it
05:22with all that background information.
05:24And give me a second,
05:24I'm going to take a sip of water really quick.
05:28With all this background information,
05:30the first and probably
05:32one of the biggest downsides right now,
05:34and just so you know,
05:35I'm recording this at the very end of 2024.
05:38Might release it in 2025.
05:40But the biggest one right now is tech layoffs.
05:44This is not unique to just big tech in general,
05:48but it is kind of bigger news in big tech
05:52because when people hear
05:53that Amazon let go of 50,000 employees,
05:55that's a big deal.
05:57And the reason why it's such a big deal
05:59is because it's just one company.
06:00Now this is happening across the board,
06:02especially in the United States.
06:04A lot of people are losing their jobs,
06:06but it's at smaller companies.
06:08And so smaller companies let go of 20% of their company,
06:11you know, that's not going to be
06:12big breaking national news.
06:14If Amazon lets go of 20% of their employees,
06:16that's going to be insane news
06:18because they have millions of employees.
06:20Now it wasn't 20%,
06:21but you get the picture.
06:22And so a lot of these big tech companies
06:24have been in the headlines saying,
06:25hey, we're letting go of,
06:27let's say 5% of our staff,
06:2810% of our staff.
06:29And that's a really big,
06:32kind of scary thing to think about.
06:36Excuse me.
06:36And so job security is not there anymore
06:38in these big tech companies.
06:40From around 2010 and onward,
06:43up until maybe like 2020,
06:45job security was really good
06:47at these big tech companies.
06:48In fact, once you got in,
06:49you stayed for a long time
06:51where you kind of bounced around
06:52different tech companies.
06:53But you stayed in that tech world
06:54because there were so many jobs available.
06:56It was growing so fast.
06:58Hiring in big tech was like,
07:00you could even get jobs
07:01just as recruiters in big tech
07:03and make a massive amount of money.
07:05And so all of these factors
07:07during that time period
07:08made it just such a great place
07:11to want to get into
07:12because you're going to make a lot of money.
07:13You're going to be working
07:14at a name brand company
07:15and you're going to have
07:17so many perks and benefits.
07:18I mean, talking free meals,
07:20you get subsidies for your apartment
07:22or your living.
07:23You may even live on campus
07:24at some of these big companies.
07:25So there were a lot of benefits
07:27to working at these companies.
07:29Now, right when COVID hit
07:30or after COVID hit,
07:32people started working remote.
07:33A lot of these companies
07:34started sending people home
07:35and a lot of those benefits went away.
07:38And then we started seeing layoffs.
07:39And so right around 2021 into 2023,
07:42even into 2024,
07:44which we're in now,
07:45we've seen kind of this rise
07:47in people getting laid off.
07:50That's not a good thing, obviously,
07:52but the job security that once was
07:55is no longer there.
07:56So once you get that job,
07:58you could be let go
07:59in the first six months.
08:00You could be let go in the first year.
08:01You may not have a job
08:03the same year that you were hired.
08:05And that's really scary
08:06for a lot of people.
08:07And I myself,
08:08I have a family feed.
08:10I got three kids.
08:11I got a wife.
08:11I can't be worrying
08:13about getting laid off.
08:14In fact, that is why
08:15I left one of my previous jobs.
08:17It was that small
08:18healthcare analytics company.
08:19I actually loved that job.
08:21I wanted to stay there long term
08:22and they actually had a plan for me
08:23to get promoted
08:25and stay in that company.
08:26But they started missing paychecks
08:28and I got worried
08:29that I wasn't going to be able to
08:31have a job to feed my family.
08:33And that's very worrisome.
08:36Now, it depends on where you are in life,
08:39at what stage of life you're in.
08:40And if you're right out of college,
08:42you know, you don't,
08:42it's okay if you get laid off.
08:44You can go back
08:44and you can live with your parents.
08:45You can go and bunk with a roommate
08:48who still has a job,
08:49you know, stay in their apartment,
08:50whatever it is.
08:51But for someone like me,
08:52I'm the breadwinner of my family.
08:54I can't kind of risk that.
08:56And so you can't be as,
08:59at least at my age
09:00or, you know, where I am in life,
09:02I can't have that level of risk
09:04for these types of jobs.
09:06And that's a lot of people out there.
09:07A lot of people want families.
09:08They want to get married.
09:09They want to, you know, have kids.
09:11And that is not a good thing
09:14when you're working at these companies.
09:16You have a lot of lack of job security.
09:19The next thing is corporate bureaucracy.
09:22Now, I put this there
09:26because as I've kind of progressed in my career,
09:28I have found myself really despising management
09:35in a certain level.
09:37Management just gets in its own way
09:39and it is not fun.
09:40I was an analytics manager for about a year
09:44and I got out of it quick.
09:45I was like, I hate this.
09:47This sucks.
09:48And big tech companies
09:50have an immense amount of bureaucracy
09:52when it comes to so many different things.
09:55And so these kind of smaller companies,
09:57you get it on a small scale.
09:59You know, you have this manager who wants to do this.
10:02You have this person who wants to do this.
10:03But a big tech company,
10:05it gets amplified times 10
10:06because there's a lot of public opinion.
10:09There are, you know,
10:10people who have their own self-interest
10:12put above every other interest.
10:14And so you have to play all this politics.
10:17And there's so many, so much red tape
10:19and there's so many issues with this.
10:21Now, that was, you know,
10:24my just personal take.
10:25But I've talked to a lot of people
10:27who were managers, directors
10:29at these big companies
10:30who are making like, you know,
10:32mid six figures.
10:33I'm talking four, five, $600,000.
10:35And they were just killing it.
10:37And a lot of them left
10:39because of, you know,
10:40this bureaucracy or this red tape
10:43or this, you know,
10:44whatever you want to call it.
10:45It just made it miserable.
10:47It makes it absolutely miserable
10:49to be a part of.
10:50Now, some people kind of thrive on that.
10:52Some people really like the politics of it.
10:54I just personally don't.
10:56And so, you know,
10:57that's become even more prevalent
10:59as we started seeing, you know,
11:01people starting work from home
11:02and all these things.
11:04Sorry, my camera just randomly turned off.
11:06Had to fix that.
11:07But I think that's something
11:09that not a lot of people think about
11:11once they get into big tech.
11:13You know, once they get into big tech,
11:14they're absolutely,
11:15they see it every day,
11:16but they don't think about it
11:17before they get into big tech.
11:19And so, you know,
11:21this red tape,
11:22all this stuff,
11:23you're going to get that,
11:23the politics,
11:24you'll get that at every company
11:25on some level.
11:26It's just amplified immensely
11:28when you're working
11:29at these big tech companies.
11:31So I think that's something
11:32that I know I personally don't like.
11:35I hate it.
11:35I don't want to be a part of it.
11:37And I know that's the same
11:38for a lot of different people.
11:39All right.
11:40The next thing is,
11:43let's see,
11:44work-life balance.
11:44Now,
11:46everybody knew
11:48that work-life balance
11:49in big tech was bad,
11:51right?
11:51It was like 60-hour weeks.
11:53You don't spend a lot of time
11:54with your family,
11:55yada, yada,
11:55but you were making
11:56an immense amount of money.
11:57And you had good job security.
11:58And so a lot of people were like,
12:00they were okay
12:00with that lack of work-life balance
12:02because they knew
12:03that the trade-off
12:04down the road
12:06was going to be worth it.
12:07You know,
12:07or the immediate, right?
12:08They're going to have
12:09a really well-paying job.
12:12But today,
12:13that's not really the case.
12:15You're still required
12:16to work a lot of hours,
12:17whether you're remote or not.
12:20But there isn't that knowledge
12:22that you were definitely
12:23going to have a job
12:24down the road.
12:25You're going to have a job
12:26in a year or two.
12:27So people are starting to,
12:29and this has, you know,
12:30been from other people
12:31I've talked to,
12:32people are starting to realize,
12:32they're like,
12:33wait a second,
12:34why should I be working
12:3560, 70 hours a week,
12:36which is insane, right?
12:3860 or 70 hours a week
12:39for this company
12:40that may just lay me off.
12:42Like it doesn't matter
12:43in six months.
12:44You know,
12:44why would I put in that work?
12:46And so a lot of people
12:48aren't seeing that
12:48trade-off anymore.
12:50It's, you know,
12:50there's still a name brand,
12:51there's still good money
12:52and big tech,
12:53but they're like,
12:54you know,
12:54I have responsibilities
12:56in my life.
12:57I can't just work
12:5860, 70 hours a week
12:59and not have anything
13:01pay from that,
13:02not have any big thing
13:03to show.
13:05That's just a small one.
13:07I'm not touching
13:07on that one too much.
13:08All right,
13:08here's the next one.
13:09And this is what I think
13:10is kind of another one
13:14that I personally
13:15really resonate with.
13:18I really like making a difference.
13:21I like making an impact.
13:23I like my work
13:24to mean something.
13:26In big tech,
13:28and this is just
13:29from a lot of,
13:30you know,
13:31firsthand accounts
13:31that I've listened to.
13:33They were like,
13:33you know,
13:33I was working on
13:34a third page,
13:36you know,
13:37design of a settings page
13:39that no one
13:40will ever see.
13:41Or I was working on like,
13:42you know,
13:43for example,
13:44like a data analyst,
13:44data scientist.
13:45I was working on some analysis
13:46for some secondary team
13:48of this company.
13:50I was working on some secondary team
13:52for this branch
13:53to do some analysis
13:54and build some dashboards
13:55that I knew no one would ever see
13:57or use in any way.
13:59And it just feels very,
14:02very sad.
14:04Like you're working really hard
14:06on something that you know
14:07no one's going to use,
14:09no one cares about,
14:10it's just work.
14:12And, you know,
14:13when you were coming up
14:14in the 2010s
14:16and the,
14:16you know,
14:17up to 2020,
14:18the work was kind of meaningful.
14:21It was building something
14:22and you were doing something.
14:23But now a lot of these companies
14:24have scaled to a point
14:26where there's not
14:27as much meaningful work
14:29to be done anymore.
14:30Now there's still work to be done.
14:32I'm not saying that's not true.
14:33But you're not making
14:34a huge impact anymore.
14:36Unless you were designing
14:37the next big thing
14:38in that company,
14:39which is,
14:40you know,
14:40maybe several hundred people
14:41out of the tens of thousands,
14:42you're maintaining.
14:44You're maintaining some data.
14:46You're building out
14:47or maintaining something
14:48that was already built out.
14:49It's not super important.
14:51And a lot of people
14:53kind of resonate with that.
14:54They're like,
14:54I don't want to work on something
14:57that means absolutely nothing.
14:59I want to work on something
15:00that means something.
15:01That's why a lot of
15:02really intelligent tech people
15:04will gravitate towards startups
15:06because you're building something,
15:07you're owning it,
15:08and it's meaningful.
15:10And that's kind of how
15:11these large tech companies
15:12today used to be.
15:13They used to be
15:14these small startups
15:15and then they started scaling.
15:16And then they scaled
15:17even too high
15:18and now we're seeing
15:19these layoffs.
15:19And so the impact of work
15:21isn't really there anymore.
15:23It's not as important.
15:25You're really,
15:25you know,
15:26working on,
15:27most likely,
15:28I mean,
15:28there are going to be
15:29some people
15:29who are doing
15:29some meaningful work.
15:30But for most people
15:32working at these companies,
15:33they're not doing something
15:35that's super useful
15:36and meaningful.
15:37When I worked
15:37at a small healthcare
15:38analytics company
15:39with like 50 employees,
15:40the work that I was doing
15:41was 100% meaningful.
15:43Everything that I did
15:44was, you know,
15:45working with a customer,
15:46working with a client,
15:47or working with my boss.
15:48Everything was meaningful.
15:49And so the smaller the company,
15:50the more meaningful
15:51your work is going to be.
15:52And these big tech companies
15:54have just scaled
15:54to almost an overly large size.
15:59I don't know how best
16:00to say that.
16:01But you know what I mean?
16:01It's like,
16:02do you really need
16:03300,000 people
16:04to run this company?
16:06Do you need 1,000 data analysts
16:08to analyze this data?
16:10Probably not.
16:11And so, you know,
16:13the work that you're doing
16:14may not be meaningful
16:15in any way.
16:16And that makes me really sad.
16:19I found that
16:20when I became a manager,
16:22and this is kind of
16:22what I didn't like
16:23about being a manager,
16:24is the work that I did
16:26was not as important.
16:29I was managing people
16:30who were doing good work,
16:31who were making a difference.
16:33But I myself didn't feel
16:34like I was making a big impact.
16:36Like, I felt like
16:37if I left tomorrow,
16:38my team would have been able
16:39to do really anything
16:41they were going to do.
16:42They could still get
16:42all the work done.
16:45And, you know,
16:46I felt like I was doing
16:47good stuff every so often.
16:48You know, I was helping
16:48drive us to kind of a more,
16:51a less siloed approach.
16:52We were getting everything
16:54together in Azure,
16:55and I was hiring people.
16:57And, you know,
16:57some of it was meaningful.
16:58Absolutely.
16:59But I hated feeling like,
17:02you know,
17:02half of what I was doing,
17:04it's just busy work.
17:05It wasn't useful.
17:06I'd like to have impact.
17:08And so when I started consulting,
17:10I could directly see,
17:12I'm like,
17:12I would give them this advice,
17:14or I would help them
17:15implement this,
17:16or I would help them,
17:17you know,
17:17vet these different softwares.
17:19When I was doing that,
17:20it was having an immediate impact,
17:21and I loved that.
17:22I found that
17:23to be really purposeful.
17:24And so as I've talked
17:25to all these different people
17:26who have worked
17:27at these companies,
17:28most of them,
17:29not all of them,
17:30but most of them were like,
17:31yeah,
17:32my work wasn't that important.
17:34You know,
17:34I did this,
17:35and I did this,
17:36and I did this,
17:36but it wasn't like
17:37super impactful.
17:39And it just didn't make sense to me.
17:41And so that's one thing
17:42that I personally think
17:43is really overrated
17:45in the tech world.
17:46Everyone thinks
17:47they're going to jump in
17:47and work on the next big thing.
17:49Typically,
17:49you're working on this like
17:51team that does
17:52some random thing
17:53that you've never heard of.
17:54You just got into that company,
17:55and so you're like,
17:56I'm willing to work on it.
17:57But you're not going to make
17:58any big impact.
17:59And I hate to say that like that,
18:01but it's kind of true.
18:03All right,
18:03let me look at my notes real quick.
18:09Yeah,
18:09so this kind of goes back to,
18:12or kind of goes to
18:13what we were just talking about.
18:15So this is
18:16the desire to work on
18:17smaller,
18:18more diverse projects,
18:20as well as
18:23limited availability
18:23to do
18:24different types of work.
18:26When you get,
18:27when you're working
18:27at a small company,
18:28you work on everything.
18:30You work on,
18:31you know,
18:32data collection.
18:32You work on data transformation.
18:34You work on data pipelines.
18:35You work on the
18:37data visualization,
18:38and then working with clients
18:39and stakeholders.
18:40And you have your hands
18:41on a lot of different things.
18:41So you wear a lot of different hats.
18:43When you work at a big company,
18:45typically you're working in,
18:46you know,
18:47a very specific
18:49and very niche role.
18:51And sometimes that's okay.
18:52In fact,
18:53you know,
18:54back when I was
18:54at my Fortune 500 company
18:56as a data analyst,
18:57I was on the data collection team.
18:59That's what we did.
18:59It was under our
19:00data science umbrella.
19:01We were data collection.
19:03That was kind of like
19:03my specialty.
19:04And I learned
19:05an immense amount
19:06about data collection
19:07and it was amazing.
19:08And I loved
19:08every second of it,
19:09like ETL processes
19:11and even data engineering
19:12and stuff like that.
19:13I have a very big fondness towards.
19:15But I didn't work
19:17at data visualization
19:17at all.
19:18And I did in my previous role,
19:20but I didn't get to work
19:21on it at all
19:21in that role.
19:22Maybe a little
19:23in Power BI.
19:24But I also didn't work
19:26a ton on
19:27different types of analysis
19:28that I would have liked to do.
19:29I didn't get to work
19:30with different tools
19:31that I would have liked to do.
19:32And so there are pros
19:33and cons to this one specifically.
19:35The pros are
19:36is that you can really niche down
19:38and become an expert
19:39in this area.
19:40The con of it is
19:41is you don't get to work
19:42on with a lot
19:43of different tools
19:44and you don't get to work
19:45on a lot of different areas.
19:46And this only becomes
19:47even more so
19:48when you're working
19:49at big tech companies.
19:51I have talked to
19:52so many people
19:53who've worked
19:54at Instagram specifically.
19:55And they're like,
19:56at Instagram,
19:58you know,
19:58there's only
19:59so much you can do.
20:01And when you have
20:02thousands,
20:03tens of thousands
20:03of employees,
20:05you know,
20:06you get really niched
20:07down into one specific thing.
20:09This is the only thing
20:10you work on.
20:11And to me,
20:13that just sounds miserable.
20:14That just sounds horrible.
20:15I think most people
20:18who work
20:19want to do
20:20different things.
20:21They want to be creative
20:22and they want
20:23their work to be valued
20:24and they want to try out
20:25new tech stocks
20:25and they want to do
20:26different things.
20:28In a big tech,
20:29you don't really get
20:30to do that.
20:31You don't.
20:32In fact,
20:33one of my old buddies,
20:34he worked at Amazon
20:35for like three years.
20:37And he said,
20:38in those three years,
20:39he worked with
20:41the exact same tech stack,
20:42but he only ever worked
20:43on two things.
20:45It was two projects
20:46for a long time.
20:48They were big projects,
20:49but he's like,
20:51I didn't work
20:52on anything else.
20:53Even if I,
20:53even if those projects
20:54were completely stalled
20:55and we were waiting
20:56like a month to do stuff,
20:58he's like,
20:58I would not work
20:59for a month.
21:01And I was like,
21:01what do you do
21:02in that time?
21:02He's like,
21:03well,
21:03you do,
21:03there are some trainings
21:04that you can do.
21:05You know,
21:06there are busy work
21:07that I could get done,
21:08but he's like,
21:08there was nothing
21:09I could do
21:09because those were
21:10my only projects
21:11that were assigned to me.
21:12Those were my projects.
21:13I was like,
21:15that sounds horrible.
21:17I mean,
21:17some people might love that
21:19because you're getting paid
21:20to do nothing.
21:21But for people
21:23who really want to learn,
21:24who want to progress
21:25their career,
21:26who want to do big things,
21:28that's not fun.
21:30And so,
21:30big tech is just,
21:33it's at this point,
21:34it's gotten to this point
21:35where,
21:37you know,
21:38if you want to make a difference,
21:40if you want to work
21:41on things that are meaningful,
21:42if you want to,
21:44you know,
21:44try out new tech stacks
21:46and learn new skills,
21:47excuse me,
21:48it's going to be
21:49very difficult to do that
21:50unless you just have
21:51a great manager,
21:52you have a great team
21:52that's super flexible
21:53and wants to help you with that,
21:55you're probably not
21:56going to get that.
21:57One other thing,
21:58and I didn't even write this down,
21:59is as you work
22:00at bigger companies,
22:02a lot of times
22:02you'll work with
22:03proprietary software
22:04that no other company
22:06is going to use.
22:07This was,
22:08I have some friends
22:09who worked at Meta,
22:10this was particular
22:11at certain tech companies
22:12who have internal systems
22:14and software
22:15that they wrote
22:16from the ground up
22:17that was only used
22:18at that company,
22:19it was not used
22:20at any other company
22:21in the world
22:21and so they would learn
22:23this system,
22:23they would use it
22:24for several years
22:25but it was completely
22:25non-transferable
22:26to any other company
22:28and I was like,
22:29what's the benefit of that?
22:30He's like,
22:30well,
22:31there's no benefit.
22:32He's like,
22:32unless I want to go back
22:33and work at,
22:34let's say,
22:34Facebook.
22:35He's like,
22:36there's no benefit to it.
22:37It was really good
22:38for their use case,
22:39for their company
22:40but any other company
22:41that would try
22:42to adopt that software
22:43or do anything like that,
22:44it would be worthless
22:46and so again,
22:48it just points back
22:48to you aren't going
22:50to grow beyond
22:52a certain point
22:53and that's true
22:54in a lot of companies
22:54but at big tech companies,
22:56when you're really
22:57niched down
22:58and you're really
22:58pigeonholed in this one area,
22:59working on one or two projects
23:00and you're using,
23:01you know,
23:02all this very specific software
23:03just for that company,
23:04if then you want to go
23:05work at another company
23:06or you want to do
23:07something else,
23:08it's hard to get away
23:09and then you have this thing
23:10called golden handcuffs
23:12and that's another thing
23:13I wanted to talk about
23:14which is golden handcuffs
23:15is a very real thing.
23:17I somewhat experienced it
23:20at my previous job
23:21when I was a manager
23:22but luckily,
23:23it wasn't as bad for me
23:24because I had my YouTube thing
23:25and I had my consulting
23:26thing on the side
23:27but, you know,
23:28I had a good salary.
23:29I was doing really well
23:31but I didn't feel like
23:31I was making a difference
23:33and a lot of people in tech
23:35will tell you the same thing.
23:36It was like,
23:36hey,
23:38I'm making a lot of money.
23:39I'm making $200,000 a year
23:40but I'm doing nothing
23:42and I'm going nowhere
23:43and I don't know what to do.
23:46I can't really leave you
23:47because my standard of living
23:49has increased.
23:49I have a really expensive apartment.
23:51I need to be able to afford it
23:52but I don't want to work here anymore
23:53and so you kind of get trapped
23:55and there's a very high correlation
23:59between things like suicide
24:00and depression
24:01and getting burnt out
24:03because of all these different factors
24:05and so just a few things.
24:09Let me look at my list really quick
24:11while I get a drink of water.
24:15So the next thing
24:17and this is true for a lot of companies
24:18but again,
24:20is very different at the tech level
24:21is this intense feeling of competition.
24:27I never really felt this
24:29at other companies.
24:30When I was working at healthcare analytics
24:32or my old Fortune 500 company
24:35or my consulting
24:36that I do a little bit of now
24:38but not as much
24:39and then of course like analyst builder,
24:41there's none of that
24:43but I can tell you that
24:44from a lot of accounts,
24:46this is something that is really intense
24:49especially at places like Google and Facebook.
24:51These companies,
24:52it's a competition
24:54of who can do it better,
24:56who can do it more,
24:56who can get more recognition
24:57and that's just like
24:59a really dog-eat-dog world.
25:01It's not a cooperative environment
25:03to get things done
25:04and so,
25:06you know,
25:06all of these things that I'm saying,
25:08what you need to do
25:09is you need to kind of look at yourself
25:12and be like,
25:13what do I value the most?
25:15If it is money,
25:16big tech can still be a great option for you
25:18although,
25:19again,
25:20you may not have a job
25:21for a long time
25:22in this current environment
25:23where tech is at
25:25but if money is the main thing for you,
25:27you don't have a family,
25:29you know,
25:29you don't personally care
25:31about work-life balance,
25:32then I say go for it.
25:34You'll learn a lot.
25:36These companies are of course
25:38big and great
25:39because of,
25:40you know,
25:40their tech stocks
25:40and a lot of different things
25:42but
25:44it's not for everybody.
25:46It's definitely not for everybody.
25:48And so,
25:49I'm highlighting a lot of these areas
25:51and
25:52I'm going to go back
25:53to something I talked about earlier
25:54which is,
25:55you know,
25:55I've had a lot of companies
25:58especially as I've gotten larger,
25:59my YouTube channel has gotten larger
26:00and
26:02my name's,
26:03you know,
26:04a bit more known
26:05in the data community.
26:06I've had a lot of companies reach out.
26:07In fact,
26:08I've consulted with tech companies
26:09who then were like,
26:10hey,
26:10would you come work with us?
26:12And
26:12my answer is always no
26:14for a lot of reasons
26:16and
26:18for me personally,
26:19one of the biggest
26:21things that I
26:23am really
26:25against
26:25when it comes to working
26:26in big tech
26:27is
26:27I prioritize
26:28my family
26:29above
26:30all of my work,
26:31all of my YouTube,
26:33all of my business,
26:34all of those things.
26:35And so,
26:35for me personally,
26:36I know that if I were to go
26:38and work at one of these big companies,
26:40it would demand a lot from me.
26:41It would take time away
26:42from my family.
26:43And that's just a,
26:44that's kind of a non-starter for me.
26:45I'm like,
26:46I'm not even gonna go
26:47in that direction.
26:48And so,
26:49you know,
26:50maybe earlier on
26:51in my life
26:52when I was just getting started,
26:53I absolutely would have taken
26:54one of these jobs.
26:56But now that I have
26:57some more experience,
26:58I'm in a different stage
26:58of my life,
27:00it's not even an option
27:01at this point.
27:01I mean,
27:02unless they were,
27:03you know,
27:04some tech company
27:05wanted to make me like
27:06head of some division
27:07and it was
27:08an insane amount of money
27:09to turn down,
27:10I might do it
27:13with my wife
27:13and be like,
27:14hey,
27:14you know,
27:14this is gonna be horrible.
27:16It's gonna take time
27:17away from the kids.
27:18But in the short run,
27:20you know,
27:20I'll do it for maybe
27:21a year or two
27:22and then I'll pivot back
27:23to my other stuff
27:23and I can get it
27:24on my resume
27:25and I could,
27:26you know,
27:27make it valuable
27:28to be able to take.
27:30But it would be
27:31an extreme circumstance
27:33for that to happen.
27:34And so,
27:35I say all that to say,
27:37big tech
27:37had its big run
27:39and there's still
27:39a lot of value
27:40at working
27:41at big tech companies,
27:42but it is not
27:43the same prestige,
27:44it is not the same pay,
27:46it is not the same reliability
27:47and consistency
27:48that it used to be.
27:49And so,
27:50you know,
27:51back in 2017
27:52when I was first
27:53breaking in,
27:54they still had
27:54a lot of those things.
27:55They had the perks
27:55and the benefits
27:56and I wanted that.
27:58Especially as like
27:59someone right out of college,
28:00I really wanted that.
28:01But it's not the same anymore.
28:03And so,
28:04you know,
28:05I feel like
28:06these perceptions
28:07and these things
28:08are some of them
28:08are still there
28:09that they're great places
28:11to work at,
28:12you get all these benefits,
28:12but it's just not there anymore.
28:15And a lot of people
28:16will tell you,
28:17like people who used,
28:18who worked at Facebook
28:19back in like 2015
28:20who went back
28:21and worked with them again,
28:22just someone I know
28:23who did that,
28:24they were like,
28:24it was completely different.
28:26The vibe was different,
28:28the culture was different,
28:29the benefits were different.
28:31Working,
28:32a lot of people
28:32were working remote
28:33versus in person
28:33and he liked working in person.
28:35And so he's like,
28:36everything was completely different.
28:37And so,
28:38I don't know how long
28:39he's going to work there.
28:39He said he probably
28:40wouldn't work there
28:41that long.
28:42And so,
28:43these are just things
28:44that I think
28:46a lot of money,
28:48a lot of time,
28:49a lot of people's thoughts
28:52and ideas
28:53have gone into
28:53thinking that
28:54tech is just
28:55this amazing,
28:56beautiful thing
28:56that's like a golden
29:00opportunity
29:00to change your life.
29:02And maybe it is for some.
29:03I think for a lot of people
29:04it's way overrated.
29:06It is built up
29:08in society
29:08and in our heads
29:10but the reality
29:11is just not living up
29:12to that.
29:13And so,
29:14that's what I,
29:15that's a lot
29:16of my personal opinions
29:17as well as opinions
29:18of a lot of other people
29:19who have worked there.
29:20Now,
29:20I'm going to reiterate it
29:22just one last time.
29:23I never worked
29:23in big tech.
29:24I could.
29:25I could probably call up
29:26some of the people
29:26who reached out to me
29:27and be like,
29:27hey,
29:28you know,
29:28if you want me to work there,
29:30I'll work there.
29:30I could get it on my resume
29:32and I'm sure people
29:33on YouTube
29:34would find that
29:34really interesting.
29:35I could give my perspective
29:36but it just,
29:37it isn't worth it
29:38for me anymore.
29:39It's not something
29:40that's even crossing my mind.
29:41I have no ambitions
29:43or aspirations
29:44to do that.
29:45I have Analyst Builder
29:46which is my startup
29:46for EdTech.
29:47I have my consulting.
29:48I have my YouTube
29:50and I work with a lot
29:51of really interesting,
29:53awesome people.
29:53And I just,
29:54it's not,
29:55not something
29:56I want anymore.
29:57It's not.
29:58And so,
30:00all that being said,
30:01that's my opinion.
30:01That's what I think.
30:02If you have a completely
30:03different opinion,
30:04maybe you work
30:04at one of these companies,
30:05maybe you're like,
30:06oh,
30:06I work at,
30:07you know,
30:08Twitter
30:08or I work at Snapchat
30:10if that's still a thing.
30:11I don't follow Snapchat
30:13that much anymore.
30:14I'm sure it is still a thing.
30:15But if you follow
30:16one of these companies
30:17and you're working at them,
30:19let me know your opinion
30:20because maybe you have
30:21a completely different opinion
30:22than I do
30:23and you work there
30:24so you might have
30:25a little bit more credibility
30:26than I do.
30:27This is just my thoughts,
30:28right?
30:28This is just a jam sesh.
30:29We're just talking.
30:31Let me see
30:31if there's anything else.
30:37I'm going to say
30:37that's it.
30:38I'm going to say
30:39that's it.
30:39That has a few more
30:40other things
30:40but I touched on
30:40a lot of them
30:41as we went through it.
30:43But,
30:44yeah,
30:44let me know
30:45what you think.
30:46I think that
30:47is pretty accurate.
30:49It is pretty
30:50stinking accurate.
30:51So,
30:52let me know below.
30:53Before we go,
30:54I do something
30:55on the end of these episodes
30:56where I give you
30:57the vegetable of the month.
30:58I used to do these monthly.
30:59Now I just do them,
31:00you know,
31:01when I can
31:01because I have
31:02a lot of other responsibilities.
31:04But,
31:05I'm going to
31:06give you
31:07the vegetable
31:08of the month
31:09and then
31:10you can go put that
31:11in the chat.
31:11that tells me
31:12that you got
31:12to the very end
31:13which is,
31:14I mean,
31:15bravo.
31:16I did a lot of rambling.
31:17I chatted for a long time.
31:19I wasn't perfect.
31:20Definitely not perfect
31:21but I said
31:22what I needed to say.
31:24And so,
31:25if you were able
31:26to get to the very end,
31:27I want you to go
31:28and put,
31:29wait,
31:30what was it?
31:32See,
31:32now you got to wait
31:33a little longer.
31:35Rutabaga.
31:36You need to put
31:37Rutabaga in the chat.
31:39I don't know
31:39how to spell that.
31:40That's up to you
31:41to figure out.
31:42You know what?
31:42Don't even try to spell it.
31:43Just spell it phonetically
31:44the best you can.
31:45Rutabaga.
31:47And that's it.
31:49Believe it or not,
31:50and this is going
31:51to be wild
31:52to everyone,
31:53I don't have
31:53a monitor here.
31:54I just have laptops.
31:56Two laptops.
31:57I don't have a monitor.
31:58I bought a laptop,
31:59a monitor
31:59for the first time ever.
32:00I'm going to put it
32:01right over here
32:02in the corner
32:03of my office.
32:04My father-in-law
32:05recently got
32:06a 40-inch
32:084K TV
32:09that he used
32:10as a monitor.
32:11And I went over
32:11to his house
32:12out in Dallas
32:13not too long ago
32:14and he's like,
32:14Alex,
32:14you have to get
32:15one of these.
32:16I'm like,
32:16I'm not getting,
32:17that's huge.
32:18I'm not getting it.
32:19It's massive.
32:19So I got a 27-inch
32:22monitor
32:22for like 300 bucks,
32:24which all of them
32:25are like 500 to 1,000.
32:26So I got this one
32:27on eBay.
32:28We'll see how it works.
32:29I didn't want to pay
32:30a lot of money for it.
32:31But I think it's going
32:33to be a good thing.
32:33It's supposed
32:33to be getting in today.
32:34So maybe I'll share
32:35something on like
32:37Instagram or something.
32:38But what else
32:39is going on in my life?
32:40I'm driving up
32:41to Pennsylvania.
32:42It's an eight-hour drive
32:44with three kids
32:45very soon.
32:46It's in like two weeks
32:48to spend Christmas
32:49with my wife's
32:51side of the family.
32:52And so that's
32:54going to be a drive.
32:56We got three kids,
32:5812, 5, and 4.
33:00So wish me luck.
33:01Um, just really
33:04wish me luck on that one.
33:05What else do I have to say?
33:06Anything interesting?
33:07Um, I don't know.
33:08That's all that's going
33:09on in my life right now.
33:10Um, business is going well.
33:14Consulting has been
33:15really interesting.
33:16Um, around the holidays,
33:17I get a lot of people
33:19wanting me to promote
33:20their products.
33:21And what's been really
33:22great about doing
33:24my own thing
33:24and starting my own
33:25business is I don't
33:26have to take those anymore.
33:27Back in the day,
33:28I used to,
33:29and there were some
33:29companies that I kind
33:30of knew or had
33:30heard of and I took
33:31their endorsements
33:32and I kind of,
33:33you know, wish I
33:33didn't have to,
33:34but I need to pay
33:35the bills.
33:36Now I don't have to.
33:38And so I get to
33:39choose who I sponsor
33:41and who I don't.
33:42And so I take on
33:43very few sponsors.
33:44Um, it's been
33:45really freeing.
33:45And so this year I
33:46got the most amount
33:47of requests I've ever
33:48gotten.
33:49It was probably like
33:50a hundred plus
33:50of different companies
33:52and startups and AI
33:53products and data
33:54products and all
33:55these different things.
33:56And people wanting
33:56me to speak at,
33:57you know, uh,
33:58different conferences
33:59and, and, uh,
34:00um, all these
34:00different things.
34:01And I just get to say
34:02no to all of them.
34:03Uh, it's really freeing.
34:04And back in the day,
34:05I used to have to take
34:06some of them and I
34:07don't have to do that
34:07anymore.
34:08And that's in huge,
34:10you know, uh, um,
34:11it's a huge benefit to
34:12you guys because you
34:13guys don't have to see
34:13products that maybe you
34:14aren't as interested in
34:15or they're kind of a
34:16niche product where I
34:18like them, but I know
34:19you guys wouldn't, but I
34:20still promote them
34:20anyways.
34:21Um, just because I like
34:22them.
34:23I think they're a good
34:23product.
34:24Uh, but now I don't
34:25have to do that.
34:26It's a big part of
34:27from you guys, uh, you
34:28know, helping me out on
34:30YouTube and watching my
34:30stuff or going to
34:32Analyst Builder or just
34:33supporting me on social
34:34media.
34:35Those things help me a lot.
34:36And so I just want to say
34:37I'm really appreciative of
34:37that.
34:38Um, it really, it really
34:40allows me to be more
34:41selective in what I do,
34:42how I do it.
34:43And for that, I just
34:45wanted to say thank you.
34:46So, uh, all that being
34:47said, I'm going to end it
34:48here.
34:49Thanks for, uh, thanks for
34:50watching and I'll see you
34:51in the next one.