Thinking about swapping your 9‑to‑5 for client work, but worried that a long German–style notice period will kill your chances?  In this live interview, seven‑year data‑freelance veteran Dimitri walks through his experience of taking his freelance career to the next level.

About the Speaker: Dimitri Visnadi is an independent data consultant with a focus on data strategy. He has been consulting companies leading the marketing data space such as Unilever, Ferrero, Heineken, and Red Bull.

He has lived and worked in 6 countries across Europe in both corporate and startup organizations. He was part of data departments at Hewlett-Packard (HP) and a Google partnered consulting firm where he was working on data products and strategy.

Having received a Masters in Business Analytics with Computer Science from University College London and a Bachelor in Business Administration from John Cabot University, Dimitri still has close ties to academia and holds a mentor position in entrepreneurship at both institutions. 🕒 TIMECODES00:00 Dimitri’s journey from corporate to freelance data specialist05:41 Job tenure trends, tech career shifts, and freelance types10:50 Freelancing challenges, success, and finding clients17:33 Freelance market trends and Dimitri’s job board23:51 Starting points, top freelance skills, and market insights32:48 Building a lifestyle business: scaling and work-life balance45:30 Data Freelancer course and marketing for freelancers48:33 Subscription services and managing client relationships56:47 Pricing models and transitioning advice1:01:02 Notice periods, networking, and risks in freelancing transition 🔗 CONNECT WITH DataTalksClub Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.html Subscribe to our Google calendar to have all our events in your calendar - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/... Check other upcoming events - https://lu.ma/dtc-events LinkedIn - / datatalks-club
Twitter - / datatalksclub
Website - https://datatalks.club/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH DIMITRI Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/visnadi/

We talked about:

Dimitri’s background The first steps of transitioning into freelance Working with recruiters (contracting) Deciding on what to charge for your services Establishing your network Self-marketing Contracting vs freelancing Which channel is better for those starting out? Cutting out the middleman Where to look for clients and how to vet them The different way of getting into freelancing Going back to a full-time job after freelancing Common mistakes freelancers make Dimitri’s resource suggestions Reaching out to Dimitri

Links:

LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/visnadi The DataFreelancer website: https://thedatafreelancer.com/

Free ML Engineering course: http://mlzoomcamp.com Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Lera’s background Lera’s move from Ukraine to Germany The transition from Marketing to Product Ownership The importance of communication and one-on-ones The role of Product Owner Utilizing Scrum as a Product Owner Building teams and cross-functionality Lera’s experience learning about search The importance of having both technical knowledge and business context Open developer positions at AUTODOC What experience Lera came to AUTODOC with How marketing skills helped Lera in her current role Lera’s resource recommendations Everything is possible

Links:

Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/leracaiman_elasticsearch-ecommerce-activity-7106615081588674560-5WQO

Free ML Engineering course: http://mlzoomcamp.com Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Hugo's background Why do tools and the companies that run them have wildly different names Hugo's other projects beside Metaflow Transitioning from educator to DevRel What is DevRel? DevRel vs Marketing How DevRel coordinates with developers How DevRel coordinates with marketers What skills a DevRel needs The challenges that come with being an educator Becoming a good writer: nature vs nurture Hugo's approach to writing and suggestions Establishing a goal for your content Choosing a form of media for your content Is DevRel intercompany or intracompany? The Vanishing Gradients podcast Finding Hugo online

Links:

Hugo Browne's github: http://hugobowne.github.io/ Vanishing Gradients: https://vanishinggradients.fireside.fm/ MLOps and DevOps: Why Data Makes It Differenthttps://www.oreilly.com/radar/mlops-and-devops-why-data-makes-it-different/ Evaluate Metaflow for free, right from your Browser: https://outerbounds.com/sandbox/

Free MLOps course: https://github.com/DataTalksClub/mlops-zoomcamp

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Aleksander’s background The difficulty of selling data stack as a service How Aleksander got into consulting The Mom Test – extracting feedback from people User interviews Why Aleksander’s data stack as a service startup was not viable How Aleksander decided to switch to consulting Finding clients to consult Figuring out how to position your services Geographical limitations Figuring out your target audience The importance of networking and marketing Pricing your services The pitfalls of daily and hourly pricing and how to balance incentives Is Germany a good place to found a company? Aleksander’s book recommendations

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alkrusz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/alkrusz Website: www.leukos.io

Free data engineering course: https://github.com/DataTalksClub/data-engineering-zoomcamp

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Pauline’s background Pauline’s work as a manager at IBM What is indie hacking? Pauline initial indie hacking projects Getting ready for launch Responsibilities and challenges in indie hacking Pauline’s latest indie hacking project Going live and marketing Challenges with Unreal Me Staying motivated with indie hacking projects Skills Pauline picked up while doing indie hacking projects Balancing a day job and indie hacking Micro SaaS and AboutStartup.io How Pauline comes up with ideas for projects Going from an idea on paper to building a project Pauline’s Twitter success Connecting with Pauline online Pauline’s indie hacking inspiration Pauline’s resource recommendation

Links:

Website: https://wintopy.io/ Pauline's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pauline_Cx Pauline's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulineclavelloux/  Blog about Indiehacking: https://aboutstartup.io

Free data engineering course: https://github.com/DataTalksClub/data-engineering-zoomcamp

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Nikola’s background Making the first steps towards a transition to BI and Analytics Engineering Learning the skills necessary to transition to Analytics Engineering The in-between period – from Marketing to Analytics Engineering Nikola’s current responsibilities Understanding what a Data Model is Tools needed to work as an Analytics Engineer The Analytics Engineering role over time The importance of DBT for Analytics Engineers Where can one learn about data modeling theory? Going from Ancient Greek and Latin to understanding Data (Just-In-Time Learning) The importance of having domain knowledge to analytics engineering Suggestion for those wishing to transition into analytics engineering The importance of having a mentor when transitioning Finding a mentor Helpful newsletters and blogs Finding Nikola online

Links:

Nikola's LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikola-maksimovic-40188183/

ML Zoomcamp: https://github.com/alexeygrigorev/mlbookcamp-code/tree/master/course-zoomcamp

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Juan’s background Typical problems in marketing that are solved with ML Attribution model Media Mix Model – detecting uplift and channel saturation Changes to privacy regulations and its effect on user tracking User retention and churn prevention A/B testing to detect uplift Statistical approach vs machine learning (setting a benchmark) Does retraining MMM models often improve efficiency? Attribution model baselines Choosing a decay rate for channels (Bayesian linear regression) Learning resource suggestions Bayesian approach vs Frequentist approach Suggestions for creating a marketing department Most challenging problems in marketing The importance of knowing marketing domain knowledge for data scientists Juan’s blog and other learning resources Finding Juan online

Links: 

Juan's PyData talk on uplift modeling: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VWjsi-5yc3w Juan's website: https://juanitorduz.github.io Introduction to Algorithmic Marketing book: https://algorithmic-marketing.online Preventing churn like a bandit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1uqeBNUlRM

MLOps Zoomcamp: https://github.com/DataTalksClub/mlops-zoomcamp

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html

We talked about:

Data-led academy Arpit’s background Growth marketing Being data-led Data-led vs data-driven Documenting your data: creating a tracking plan Understanding your data Tools for creating a tracking plan Data flow stages Tracking events — examples Collecting the data Storing and analyzing the data Data activation Tools for data collection Data warehouses Reverse ETL tools Customer data platforms Modern data stack for growth Buy vs build People we need to in the data flow Data democratization Motivating people to document data Product-led vs data-led

Links:

https://dataled.academy/

Join our Slack: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

We talked about:

Shawn’s background and his book Marketing ourselves Components of personal marketing Personal brand for an average developer Picking a domain: what to write about? Being too niche Finding a good niche Learning in public Borrowed platforms vs own platform Starting on social media: Picking what they put down Career transitioning: mutual exchange of value Personal marketing for getting a new job Getting hired through the back door Finding content ideas Marketing yourself in public — summary Open-source knowledge Internal marketing: promoting ourselves at work Signature initiative Public speaking Wrapping up Discount for the coding career book 75% of the engineering ladder criteria are not technical

Links:

Shawn's personal page: https://www.swyx.io/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swyx Book of the week page: https://datatalks.club/books/20210510-the-coding-career-handbook.html (with a discount for DTC members!)

Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html

Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html