Are you struggling with getting ahead financially?

So was I, but then I found a solution.

Here is my story of how I doubled my income in one year, without side hustles, and set myself on the path to financial freedom.

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1/ I started as a civil engineer in the US but despite the good salary, the prospects were not that good.

The field was getting saturated, and the salaries stagnated.

A 3-4% yearly increase with a 2-3% inflation is barely a raise.

2/ I was trying to save for a mortgage downpayment but was getting nowhere.

The house prices were increasing at a rate where I would never be able to afford one.

That's when I decided to move back to the EU and change to another profession.

3/ So if you are looking for a change here's what you can do from my experience.

Right now there is a great demand for people in the analytics field.

Having a background in engineering, math, stem fields in general helps.

4/ Utilize your analytical skills and supplement them with some coding and data analysis skills.

The easiest way to begin if you don't have much coding experience is Excel.

It has some very powerful tools, like Power Query and Power Pivot, VBA and Macros.

5/ They can import, clean, analyze, and visualize large sets of data from various sources.

And all that without having to copy-paste thousands of rows in your workbook.

This will make your files much smaller in size, and faster to use.

The best sources are on Youtube.

6/ Many quality courses for free on how to use these tools.

7/ After you have mastered Excel, you can try learning SQL

This is a software language pertaining to databases and how to extract, add, modify data into them

The best course for free on youtube is this

8/ After that, you can look into some coding languages like Python

The best courses I found on Youtube are

9/ A very good module in Python that handles table-like data similar to Excel is pandas

The best courses I found on Youtube for pandas are

10/ After you have mastered these tools you can start looking for jobs in the data analysis field.

Many companies in different sectors look for people with these skills.

By switching jobs I got a 50% higher salary than my previous one.

11/ Once they hire you, talk with your manager and set goals.

Ask what it would take for you to be considered a top performer in the group.

Try to find processes inside your group where tasks are repetitive, time-consuming, and are done manually.

12/ Create a robust process using Excel tools, Power Query, and Macros.

Present to the team and show how it is
- Easy
- Reliable
- Robust
- Replicable

13/ Everyone knows how to use Excel, but I guarantee you almost none know how to use it properly and efficiently.

Show that the tools have the potential to be used in other groups with some minor modifications.

14/ Demonstrate how much time they save by using them, instead of performing their tasks as they did so far.

After you have shown your worth and value to the team you can negotiate a big raise.

I got a 10% after 6 months, and 15-20% after another 6, plus bonuses.

15/ If you are valuable and not easily replaceable, they will prefer to pay you more than lose you.

Then, ask to work remotely a few days a week.

16/ After you show that you are more productive working from home, ask to work remotely going to the office once in a blue moon to stay in touch.

17/ Use the time you save from commuting and chit-chatting in the office kitchen to work on your personal development

- Online courses
- Side Hustles
- Networking
- Exercising

18/ If you follow these steps, your life will become much easier, and your income will skyrocket.

Maintain the same lifestyle, invest the difference, get started with side hustles.

This way you set yourself for achieving financial freedom.

Use your 9-5 to quit your 9-5

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