The Secret Connection Between Pastries and Career Success

I’m writing this on the plane back from Madrid after 2 days of roaming the parks, scoffing pastries and demolishing a 500g ribeye steak.

Whilst you may hear Madrid and think ‘tapas and wine’, we had some of that on the first night and it didn’t hit the spot.

Sure, the nibbles are tasty. But normally I want something bigger to tuck into.

And wine can be nice. But I’m a lightweight and alcohol doesn’t agree with me, so I normally avoid it. That’s why it was my first drink in 3 months.

But I’m not proclaiming to be a patron saint. Whilst I’m not a huge booze fan I love a sweet treat – I’ve demolished 3 pastries today and I’m sat here feeling like a fat fuck (Kinder Chocolate Cronut was the best btw). I’m crossing my fingers I haven’t put on loads of weight so my PT doesn’t bollock me.

You might be thinking Albert, I don’t care about your eating habits. Fair enough. It’s just this got me thinking, everyone has different interests, preferences and passions. And it’s better to play into these (e.g., by trying to find Madrid’s best bakery) instead of doing something you don’t like (e.g., post-football beers) to try and fit in.

You can extend this when looking for work. It’s better to work out the types of jobs and industries you’re most interested in and go full-steam after those. Instead of applying for lots of different jobs and industries you’re not that keen on just so you can ‘get into the field’.

Because even if you do get interviews using that strategy, who do you think’s going to impress more? Someone pretending to enjoy it to get their foot in the door or the candidate who’s actually keen on the industry and company, did their research and can’t help smiling when he’s in the interview?

The second person sounds like me in the interview for my current job, and we know how that turned out…

So stop settling for jobs you don’t really care about and plan how you’re gonna land your DREAM Data Science Job.

I hope that was some food for thought…

Albert