10 ways to make getting fired the best thing that ever happened to you.
Yes, I mean the best. Better than your wedding day. Better than the birth of your child. Better than that time you went skydiving and swam with dolphins and camped in the Sahara dessert all in one day
Over on Medium, I recently shared 10 practical steps I took after losing my job, which helped me skill up fast and find an even better one. But my audience here are data people, and you love links. So this is a condensed version, with loads of resources and some extra focus on the data- and software development- domain. This article is for you if:
You're looking for a new job (especially in tech)
You're just interested in tech in general
You're actively trying to shape and improve your career, whatever the domain
Sound good? Let's go.
To do... or not to do... here is your checklist:
Be humble
Maybe you were already thinking of a job switch. Maybe it was long overdue. Just be careful how you tell people that. Being let go can still feel like a slap in the face, even if you'd been dreaming of leaving. So don't let your wounded pride do the talking.
It’s ok to mention that you'd been longing for a change, but stay humble. You can talk about how you’re excited to make the most of whatever opportunity comes next. But still, express gratitude about your colleagues, and everything you learned in this role.
At the risk of sending you spiralling into a whirlpool of checklists, here are some extra tips on how not to burn bridges when you leave your job.
Network like crazy
Take this chance to preserve your connections:
Share your LinkedIn / Twitter / Medium profile in the company’s internal messaging platform; encourage everyone to connect. Share your Substack, too. Share mine, even. Just kidding.*
Look through the company’s organigramm for people you can learn from — especially those you didn’t often work with. Actively connect with them.
Hate sending LinkedIn connection requests? Here are some tips and templates to make it easier.
*Definitely not kidding.
Be brave. Talk to your idols.
Now may be your last chance to chat in person with your career heroes, such as a team leader, a higher level manager, or anyone else whose work you admire.
Invite these people for a coffee chat. But on the day, don’t just spring them with broad questions like, “here’s your latte, now how should I shape the rest of my career?” That’s way too much for anyone to answer on the spot. Prepare 1–2 questions which directly relate to this person’s skills and experience, and which aren’t Google-able! You can mention the themes of the questions in your invite, so that this mentor can give it some pre-thought, if they like.
And remember, this doesn't have to be the one and only time you talk to these people. This could be your chance to find a mentor, and do your career an invaluable service.
Here are 10 tips on finding a mentor and getting the most out of that relationship.
See how far you’ve come? Write it down!
Write some notes on the following questions; this will help you in both your resume building and your interview preparation.
What did you specialise in?
What did you enjoy most?
When did you have to demonstrate leadership or mentorship?
What was a significant challenge, and what did you do to resolve it?
Which technologies did you touch? Which of these were new to you?
When did you have to communicate ideas, results, or technical details with your superiors, leaders, or management?
What are some things you, your team, or the company could have done better?
What were some original ideas you had while working there? (It doesn’t matter whether you managed to implement them; it’s about your ability to reflect on a situation and find ways to innovate and improve).
Crowdsource your resume
It's time for a resume update, so ask your team and manager for input on your hard and soft skills. They’ll probably spot the things you missed. Also, check your work tracking tool (like Aha, GitHub, Jira or Asana), for issues you worked on and the tools you used.
Having turbo-charged your CV like this, ask HR to check it. They'll know the best ways to attract other recruiters, but there's another bonus: since HR likely worked only indirectly with you, it means that the skills they suggest you add or highlight are probably your key strengths. Or at the very least, those are clearly the skills most visible to those outside your direct team. So if you think you have key strengths but the HR person doesn’t mention them, it might mean you’re not making them visible enough. That could be something to change, in your next job.
Once your CV content is perfect, here's a resume tool I love for perfecting the design, too.
Learn while it's still free
This last job probably included tools, technologies, or processes that you were only peripherally aware of. Now’s the time to capitalise on that rough knowledge, as it's hugely useful over learning from scratch.
So try to capture the big picture of what was happening. Ask the people responsible to give you an overview, and check out your internal documentation. The aim is to learn the pros and cons of the tools you used, and how they fit the overall architecture. Also, if your company provided an online learning platform, use it! Download course materials for any topics that were on your career path, or that might help your future career.
Doing this can help you in future jobs, and even in your job interviews. If one of these technologies comes up, and you’ve taken these steps, you’ll be able to say: my last company used this tool to do XYZ. Although I wasn’t involved, I understand what it does and why it’s used, so I’m confident I’ll pick it up quickly.
Luckily there are plenty of free learning materials out there for everyone. I can’t tell you what to focus on, but I, for example, learned SQL between jobs. A lesser-known but really valuable resource that helped me was SQL Zoo.
Your bio is your elevator pitch. Make it good
It’s no doubt time to improve your LinkedIn or Twitter profile. And let's not forget the cover letters you'll need to write. All of these need an elevator pitch, and now’s the time to craft it.
Reflect on the direction you’ve gone in your last job. Is that something you want to further specialise in? If so, say so! Or are you ready for a pivot? In that case, think of how your experiences will help you do that. Then plaster it all over your socials, your CV, and cover letters.
Condensing your skills and goals into an elevator pitch will help you know which jobs to apply for, and it will show recruiters why you’re qualified, and what you want. That last part is vital. There’s no point landing a job you’re overqualified for if it doesn't inspire you. You’ll stagnate, and end up either sticking with something you dislike, or quitting and having to repeat this whole process again.
But wait, social profiles, CV, cover letter... those are all written mediums. Isn't an elevator pitch something I'd tell people in, well, an elevator? Traditionally yes, that's what's meant by it. But your written bios should also convey your unique voice. They should give a feeling not only for your qualifications but also your personality. That's why I'm a huge fan of creating a written elevator pitch, which I place in my LinkedIn bio and work into my cover letters, for example.
Here are some tips to get you started.
Not quite qualified? You mean, not yet…
Nobody ticks all the boxes on a job ad, but companies know that. So you can and should still apply. But take note of the tools that come up often, for which you lack experience. Voila! You’ve got yourself a learning plan.
Don’t freak out if the plan is long — just do what you can, and do it iteratively. So in one week you could read the readme for each tool. In the next week, you could skim through a tutorial for each one. In the next week, start playing with the tool itself.
I like to listen to introductory tutorials on YouTube. Here are some channels and playlists I love:
Emma Ding, talks about data science, stats, product development, and how to ace an interview in these domains.
Adam Marczak, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Full Course.
FreeCodeCamp's Complete PySpark Tutorial.
Anything from Techworld with Nana. Her explanations and tutorials on DevOps are fantastic.
The aim is not to become a pro in any specific new tool, but to get an idea of what it does and how it fits the landscape. If it comes up in your new job, you'll already have a head start. But the benefits of doing this can start as soon as the interview. Imagine how capable and proactive you’ll look when you say, “I haven’t worked with tool XYZ before, but I looked into it to prepare for today. It seems similar to tool ABC, with which I am familiar. So I’m confident I can learn it quickly.”
Do a project
I know, I know, you're already flat out busy, writing applications and preparing for job interviews. But if you can find the time, then doing a project will benefit you in more ways than one:
You can add it to your portfolio (which, let’s face it, you’ve wanted to update since forever).
You can use it to learn or practice some skill, which will serve you in an interview and your future job.
You can experience the joy of being free to work purely for yourself, on a project you chose.
Not sure which project to start? Naina Chartuvedi has a tonne of tutorials on her Medium page, such as '60 Days of data science and ML', and many more.
Set up systems for continuous learning
All this cramming shouldn’t stop when you start a new job. To give yourself the best chance of kicking ass in the future, think ahead about how you’re going to keep learning.
I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn and Twitter for this. There are so many experts sharing useful tips and interesting resources, which will help strengthen your big picture understanding. But I recommend that you take some time and curate your 'following' list. You want it to be full of A-class people, and remove as many distractions as possible.
The side-effect of this is, by interacting with these experts, you'll also slowly but surely be building up your profile and personal brand.
To that end, here are two tools for helping you check the strength of your brand on LinkedIn (Social Selling Index) and Twitter.
Good luck!
Thanks for reading, and may these practical steps open many doors for you!
If you find yourself with multiple offers on the table, here’s a great post from
on helping you choose which job will help you build a successful long-term career.If this article helped you, please share it or subscribe, and I’d love to hear your success story! You can leave it in the chat or find me on Twitter (where I talk about data, tech, ethics, and more).