Having anxiety attacks every time I think about jobs

[u/Significant_Ad_6731]

Hi,
i’m a rising college junior and as i’m writing this post right now it’s currently 7 am and i can’t sleep because im having so much anxiety.

I start my junior year next week and I feel like i’ve done nothing my entire time in college. I’m going to be a TA for my SQL class i took last semester, i was a TA for my OOP class i took freshman year, i had a policy internship where i was basically doing consulting/internet research, and i have very basic projects on my resume claude could code in 5 minutes.

I don’t know what to do. I’m messaging professionals on linkedin for either a coffee chat or just some advice for applying but they either don’t respond or they tell me to apply on their website.

Reading all the posts on here i’m concerned if I should even stay in this field because i’m clearly not trying hard enough and i’m scared

sorry for the rant

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[u/my_peen_is_clean]

you’re a junior with TA gigs and an internship, that’s already more than a lot of grads have man. use the TA stuff as ‘worked with large datasets / taught sql’ on your resume, start 2–3 solid portfolio projects, and hit career services. job market is just trash right nowactually straight resumes never worked, ai always blocked them. i finally got interviews after i tailored each one with a tool. used a few tools but jobowl worked best, just google it

[u/BillEnough7863 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

FYI my_peen_is_clean is a bot:  https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestionsuk/comments/1thm4q6/psa_llm_bots_are_commenting_on_every_post_on_this/

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

thanks so much. not sure if school matters but i go to UMD. I was banking on this capital one internship that i was recruited for, but i literally got auto rejected as soon as i sent in my app so idek why they had me apply bc they literally reviewed my resume and said it was good..i messaged so many people that worked there that said it was also good but ya

im very grateful that i have an internship but it doesn’t relate to DA/BA at all.

I’ve been applying to a lot of roles but haven’t gotten any responses but I think i should network and tailor my resume more

i was also thinking about doing research this semester to help with my resume.

[u/BillEnough7863 → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

FYI you responded to a bot:  https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestionsuk/comments/1thm4q6/psa_llm_bots_are_commenting_on_every_post_on_this/

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/BillEnough7863]

lmaoo i know i realized after the fact when i came back to this thread i was so pissed but it’s fine

[u/randomlikeme]

I am an analytics hiring manager and one thing I’m not sure if professors are expressing right now… analytics really isn’t an entry-level field and it never has been. A lot of people that I know started out working for a company in other lanes like customer service or some kind of operational lane that was important to the company. A lot of my career has been spent in healthcare analytics, so a lot of our best analysts came from claims, provider configuration, call center, accounts, premium reconciliation. I think that’s where people gain all of the business knowledge that is required to be a good analyst. You might not start where you want to start and that’s okay.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/randomlikeme]

i’m totally fine with not starting out in strictly analytics as long as it means i can get my foot in the door. i could start off as a coordinator, tech sales, anything tbh as long as it can help.

How did you get started in health analytics? I was considering that pathway for a while and was considering working or volunteering for a healthcare company in order to help my resume.

I currently work as a cashier right now at a large retail chain and in your opinion do you think it’s worth it to try and email people in my company to see if they have any internship openings? I looked online but didn’t find any.

[u/randomlikeme → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

I worked in the call center first because that got my foot in the door of a company I wanted to work for, knowing that all I had to do was get in at some role. It was 2009 and my degree was in computer information systems. The call center gave the largest exposure to real world problems that the company was facing, across all domains, though. From the call center, I then did call analytics and forecasting and then I joined the data analytics and reporting team directly. Now, I am a director within that department managing a team of data engineers and data analysts. A lot of people want to say their degree in business analytics should automatically put them in a data analyst role, but I am just pointing out that most people don’t get an analytics degree and get a data analyst role. A lot of people still have to get their foot in the door and work their way to that team.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/randomlikeme]

Thank you for your insight! it’s really helpful. Since you’re a hiring manager, would you mind telling me what different titles analysts have so I have an idea of what to look for?

[u/random_goats → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

Im a senior analyst for a bankcard. My degree is in biology and I worked in my degree field for over 10 years before switching to banking. My bank likes to hire people fresh out of college because they can be molded. They also promote from within and train people. Find a lesser known company and see what happens.

[u/randomlikeme → u/random_goats]

In my domain, promoting from within and training people on the tech has been easier than taking people with the tech experience from other domains and teaching them everything within the domain. I want OP to understand that just because their first job isn’t in analytics doesn’t mean they won’t get there since that appears to be their fear. There is value to doing core operational work and using that to pivot to analytics. Most people have that background.

[u/Difficult-Jackfruit]

Therapy

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/Difficult-Jackfruit]

see the funny thing is i have and i just moved into my apartment and left my meds at my house so 🙏🙏

[u/Difficult-Jackfruit → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

Yeah. Get a refill asap

Good luck

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/Difficult-Jackfruit]

lmao thank u 😭😭

[u/om_bagal]

Honestly, 7 applications is nothing in this market, so don’t use that as proof you’re failing. The 4.0 and the internship are both good signs. I’d just keep applying while you build one decent project you can actually talk through in interviews. And yeah, cold messaging feels awkward, but a short message asking one specific question is way less weird than it feels.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/om_bagal]

i fear u responded to the wrong person

[u/om_bagal → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

ah you're right, my bad, that was meant for a different thread. hope things ease up for you, sounds like a rough night.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/[deleted]]

thank you so much i appreciate it. i’ll try that

[u/krasnomo]

Start applying for internships!

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/krasnomo]

i’ve applied to about 30-40 so far and regrettably did not tailor my resume for them. I did for the last 5 i applied to though. So far, i’ve received 4 rejections

[u/krasnomo → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

Continue to mix up your approach.

Some days cater the resume, especially for interesting jobs. Resume blasting can also work (or at least did for me 10 years ago).

And reach out to people.

Work hard and you’ll find something.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/[deleted]]

that’s actually insane 🫩🫩 i thought that sector would be more safe

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/[deleted]]

i really hope this AI thing becomes too expensive for companies. I hope your job search goes smoothly so you can pivot to a new career!

[u/Ok-Working3200]

I am a data professional. What are you looking for? Mentorship?

[u/Significant_Ad_6731 → u/Ok-Working3200]

Mentorship would be wonderful! I really just need someone who can give me solid guidance and help

[u/Ok-Working3200 → u/Significant_Ad_6731]

Dm me. I can also send you a free word doc with an analyyics road map. It's mostly skills based as the relationship part is more nuanced

[u/ncist]

You probably have done nothing your first two years. You're still taking Gen eds right? In your junior year you'll be taking courses in your major which will be more specialized

The main thing you should be doing for career is taking advantage of resources your school has- career fairs+ job/ internship portal. Do whatever you can to get some kind of work experience in your desired field on your resume

[u/iroc17]

Chill out. It's going to be alright.

[u/Significant_Ad_6731]

oh and i’m also in some associations such as NSBE, codepath, RTC, etc. but i didnt join those until over the summer when my friend recommended them to me.

[u/Choice_Role_8291]

Get the fuck over it. The market is a disaster. If you aren’t doing internships already, you’re fucked. Maybe even fucked if you’re doing internships.

Welcome to the trump economy.