🎯 Mark Freeman II

onthemarkdata.com | Senior data engineer helping brands with GTM and content strategy.

I'm a community health advocate turned data engineer interested in the intersection of social impact, business, and technology. My life’s mission is to improve the well-being of as many people as possible through data—especially among those marginalized.
 
As the founder of On the Mark Data, I use this platform to help brands connect to data professionals through captivating content.
 
I received my M.S. from the Stanford School of Medicine and I'm also certified in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, I have worked within numerous startups where I have put machine learning models into production, integrated data analytics into products, and led migrations to improve data infrastructure.
 
The culmination of my technical skills, content success, and experience within startups would make me an asset whether you are looking to create a successful content strategy, engage in influencer marketing campaigns, or develop a go-to-market strategy for your startup.

You can learn more about opportunities to collaborate, my media appearances, or my content at onthemarkdata.com.

Tech Lead, GTM Engineering

• Joined as employee one to lead GTM at Gable to help us reach our first customers.
• Worked with the CEO to establish our GTM strategy, content strategy, and messaging for technical audiences.
• Building internal data products to drive our GTM strategy and sales.

Hannes Mühleisen (co-founder of DuckDB) doing his slides like SQL queries is so damn cool.

The most powerful communication is often what's not said.

Dev 🤝🏼 GTM | O’Reilly Author | [in]structor (33k+ Learners)

No alternative text description for this image

Joe Reis recently inspired me to consider Claude Code as a writing tool when he challenged the notion of context graphs.

He essentially took the Foundation Capital article that has been going viral and ran it through Claude Code.

It instantly transformed a very theoretical article into an entire code repo you could explore on his public GitHub (then used that as a tool to critique).

A thought then popped into my head:

"What if my writing was so clear that you could throw an entire article into Claude Code and it would one shot a working POC of the presented ideas."

Welp, the implementation chapter of our book (Ch. 7) is public on GitHub and is stored as a README file.

So let's see if my writing is clear enough for AI to one shot it.

I downloaded the repo to my local machine, got rid of every file except the README, the JSON dataset, and a folder of diagrams from the chapter.

Then I prompted: "This is my technical chapter of the book. Implement it."

I couldn't believe it... In about 10 minutes it was spinning up a Docker image, loading data into Postgres, and then running my tests.

Keep in mind I spent a couple intense weeks building that codebase for the book.

To be clear, I'm not advocating for such code to be useable, but rather it's now a tool that I can use to further validate my writing.

Present your novel ideas.
But show the working POC.

It's the same as in academia where you have research papers that include code and data for repeatability.

The bar has risen for everyone now. Talk is cheap.

Crazy Idea: I use claude code on a live stream where I'm building an app from scratch.

But...

People on the live stream can enter prompts on my behalf while I'm building to either help or mess with the project.

I think the chaos would be both fun and hilarious.

You didn't hear it from me, but the coolest talk at Data Day Texas is happening at 2:55PM in room 204 👀

Live coding exercise for my conference talk at Data Day Texas? You bet!

Saturday - 2nd Floor - Ballroom 204

Code: The Untapped Metadata Source Driving Most Data Failures

Over the past three years, collaborating with organizations implementing data contracts and writing the O'Reilly book on the topic, it has become abundantly clear that data is surprisingly the wrong surface to address systemic data issues —we actually need to focus on code. Code not only defines what data is captured and moved through software systems, but it's also the ultimate source of truth in how a business operates and its documented changes over time. This is evident in how some of the most significant internet outages can be traced not only to code changes, but also to how those changes affected underlying data models. In this talk, I share case studies and lessons learned in extracting metadata from code and using it to enforce expectations across software systems and data products.

Remember back in the ancient internet times when you could use this cool thing called HTML to customize your Myspace profile.

Just randomly hacking away at sections to see what changed. Copy and pasting random code and hoping it works.

Vibe coding feels eerily similar.

What data scientist experienced in 2023 with the realease of ChatGPT is the same experience software engineers are experiencing today with Claude Code.

Back in 2022 I was transitioning from data science to data engineering, and a major project that led to that promotion was building and deploying a natural language processing pipeline.

Back then I was using SpaCy, which was an opinionated framework for implementing the latest production-ready NLP models.

Yeah... I open up ChatGPT and immediately see the "advanced" work I put into production was now antiquated.

While I wouldn't throw an LLM at my production project back in 2023, I was intimately aware of what was required to get business value out of text.

What ChatGPT showed me was that a large portion of the difficult parts of NLP were now just a simple API call... and more importantly, highlighted the inflection point if the momentum of change followed.

Fast forward to today, and so many software engineers built side projects over the holiday break and experienced the exact realization I had back in 2023.

"This LLM accomplished way more than I expected, and I can see an inflection point if this trend continues."

Imagine what will be accomplished in the next few years.

I help people land their first data job within 90 days

Hey! I'm Avery! 👋🏻   My mission is to help working professionals break into data science. Let's connect!

🚀 Creator of Data Career Jumpstart; the data bootcamp that helps you start your data career by building an online portfolio full of projects!
Course includes: 
1) Data Skills (Python, R, SQL, Data Viz, ect)
2) How To Do Projects & Build A Data Portfolio 
3) How To Build Your Personal Brand 
4) How To Land Your Dream Job That Is Remote, High-Paying, and Fun 👩‍💻👨‍💻

📧  Sign Up To Get Updates: DataCareerJumpstart.com!

⛰ Running an analytics firm called Snow Data Science where we take on all sorts of data projects. From building custom dashboards, to predictions via machine learning, we are helping organizations utilize the power of their data. Have a project in mind? Send me a DM. Or visit, SnowDataScience.org. 

🏀   Landed a project with the Utah Jazz via LinkedIn post

⛽   Ex-ExxonMobil Data Scientist: solved complex supply chain problems, made beautiful data visuals, and taught data science to 300+ engineers! 2x company wide analytics champion. 

🔬 I fell in love with data at Vaporsens. I was hooked on finding meaning and insight from their chemical sensor data. The feeling was addicting. I felt like a super hero. I've never looked back.

📕 First author published as undergrad in IFAC. Novel research on anomaly detection in manufacturing data using machine learning. Feel free to read: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405896319309073

📊 I am obsessed with data. Don't believe me? My dog has her own fitbit 🐶 My iPhone app usage has a dashboard 📱 My Chick-Fil-A visits are already predicted for next month 🐥  I run, breath, and sleep data 📊 What more proof can I give? 🤪

💬 Message me to talk about: How to break into data science, how to build a data science portfolio, and how to build a personal brand. 

Find me on:
🌐  DataCareerJumpstart.com
💻  GitHub: https://github.com/AveryData
🎥  YouTube: AVery Data
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/datacareerjumpstart/
✏️  Medium: https://medium.com/@averyjs
🎉 TikTok: @verydata

📧  Sign Up To Get Updates On My Latest Course: DataCareerJumpstart.com!

Avery Smith

If I wanted to become a Data Analyst in 2026, here's what I would do personally... 

Really, there's only two steps:
1. What to learn? And how to learn it?
2. How to stand out?

That's really it. 

When it comes to what to learn, I think less is more personally.
Otherwise, you spread yourself too thin and burn out. 

Focus on The Big 3:
1) Excel
2) SQL
3) Tableau

How to best learn them?
Build projects with them.  You'll learn incredible quickly.

That's it skill wise. The rest is about standing out.
Which is harder IMO... 

To stand out, you have to do things people don't do
Often times, that means doing uncomfortable things
And that sucks (because who likes doing hard things).

BUT do these awkward things now...
And you'll live comfortably after! 

Those things are:
• network
• do projects
• send cold messages
• talk to friends and family
• post on linkedin
• build a portfolio
• update your linkedin
• optimize your resume 
• share your portfolio
• talk to people

Not fun - but they pay off

That's the short version of what I'd do. 
Long version: https://lnkd.in/e5szGmXT

Hope it helps!

Founder @ Data Analytics Accelerator - I help people land their first data job (even with no prior experience)

If I wanted to become a data analyst in 2026

If I wanted to be Data Analyst in 2026 (starting from scratch), here's the 7-step roadmap I'd follow to land my first data job:


Step 1: Learn the RIGHT data tools
There's a bunch of data tools you could be learning. But most are a distraction. Learn only 3 data tools: Excel, SQL, Tableau. That's it. These are the tools that matter the most. Ignore everything else. 


Step 2: Find different data roles
There's more than just "Data Analyst" out there. I'd learn about financial analyst, business analyst, marketing analyst, product analyst, healthcare analyst, BI engineer. These are data analyst roles with funny names, but they're way less competitive because no one is looking for them... except you now : )


Step 3: Gain experience
"I can't get a job because I don't have experience... Why don't you have experience? Because I can't get a job. Why can't you get a job?" The Circle of Doom. So you'll have to make experience. Projects = Experience. Build projects and you'll have experience. 


Step 4:  Make a portfolio
Your projects are invisible unless they're on your LinkedIn, on your resume, they have a URL, and they're easy to read. LinkedIn, Carrd, GitHub Pages. Any portfolio > no portfolio. Don't overcomplicate it.

 
Step 5: Optimize Resume + LinkedIn
These are the only things recruiters see. Maximize them. 7 sections you need: clear profile picture, useful banner photo, detailed about section, bulleted experience section, featured section with projects, comprehensive skill section, thorough education section. It's worth the time.
 

Step 6: Apply to a lot of jobs
It should feel like hunting. It will be difficult. Take time. Suck. Think of it like baseball. In baseball if you hit it ⅓ times, you're an absolute hall-of-famer. In job apps 5/100 is good. You're going to get rejected 95% of the time. That's okay. Accept it.


Step 7: Cram for interviews (later)
Wouldn’t even worry about interviews until I landed one. Then I'd study like crazy. Practice behavioral & technical questions. Interviews aren't as bad as you think.


I actually run a program that walks you through how to do all this. We're starting a special new 2026 cohort next Monday 👇

https://lnkd.in/eYZh7_-U

Roadmap to Become an Analyst in 2026

WHAT COMPANIES ARE HIRING DATA ANALYSTS IN 2026? 

If you're looking to get hired as a data analyst this year, you NEED to save this company list. These are the company job boards you should be monitoring like a hawk.

 1. Accenture
 2. Amazon 
 3. McKinsey
 4. Deloitte
 5. Citi
 6. American Express
 7. Capital One
 8. Tata Consultancy
 9. Cognizant
10. TD
... see full list below 


Data Analyst jobs aren't disappearing - you just have to know where to look!


🔖 Save this post for reference
♻️ Please repost this so others can become aware!
🎧 Listen to my full job market breakdown: https://lnkd.in/eg_9WkSh

🥳 I moved to Spain! Surprise! 

Over the next 3 months, my family and I are having the experience of a lifetime living "la buena vida" in Spain. 

I'm excited to live by a beach, try some delicious tapas, walk everywhere, improve my Spanish, appreciate the Moorish architecture, and just enjoy living somewhere completely new. 

Now, I know many of you may be thinking...

 "Avery's on vacation for 3 months?!? Oh, no! Where will I get all my data content from?" 

Have no fears - I'll still be working. 

So you can expect my usual content cadence:
• LI posts (daily)
• YT vid + Podcast (Tuesday's)
• Newsletter (Wednesday's) 

I'll be sharing some pics, my musings on Euro life, and other such things on my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eEkD3CsA

🇪🇸 Hasta luego!

Here are my predictions for Data Analysts in 2026:

𝟭) 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 
I think it will actually become easier to land a data analyst job compared to 2025. The number of data analyst roles is expected to stay the same, but competition will decrease as the hype shifts toward AI and automation jobs. This means fewer applicants for traditional data analyst positions, making it less competitive. Thus, easier to break in and actually land a job. Simple economics. 

𝟮) 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄 (𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁𝘀)
Companies will start to adopt AI tools more widely for analytics, but I don't think this won’t lead to fewer jobs or mass layoffs for data analysts. Instead, AI will become an additional tool for analysts to use. Large enterprises are slow to fully roll out new technologies, so adoption will be gradual and ultimately take years. The role of the data analyst will shift, focusing more on the ability to connect analysis to actionable business decisions and results, rather than being purely technical.

LESS important: 
→ How to do the analysis

MORE important: 
→ What analysis to do 
→ When to do it 
→ Translating results to business

𝟯) 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿 
In 2026, your industry or domain expertise will be a bigger differentiator in landing a job and getting promoted. With “how” to do analysis becoming easier and easier and easier to do (mostly thanks to AI and data tools), “what” to do, "when to do it" and “why” becomes key. Understanding business context and industry-specific knowledge will matter waaaaaay more than your technical skills. Career pivoters with DEEP subject-matter knowledge from other fields can use that as an advantage in analytics.

What do you think? Am I wrong? What did I miss?

2026 Data Predictions

There's an infinite number of data tools you could possibly be learning. 

My advice? Don't get distracted - focus on The Big 3: SQL, BI Tool, Excel.
Nothing else.

Why? These are the lowest hanging fruits. 
They're EXTREMELY in demand, and not that hard to learn.

Study them & in a few weeks you'd be able to:
- upload data
- explore data
- clean data
- visualize data
- analyze data
- query data
- report data

That's more than enough to get started.
Don't burn out trying to learn 238 new tools at once.

Just stick to The Big 3. 


ps - i'm launching a new cohort of my data analyst bootcamp on Monday where I teach these big 3 by doing projects: https://lnkd.in/eYZh7_-U

--------------------------------------------------
♻ If you found this helpful, reshare it so others can find it!

my request to all the recruiters & hiring managers out there 👇

My Advice to Aspiring Analysts...

Your job as a data analyst is actually pretty simple 👇

Want to learn how to do this with me? https://lnkd.in/eYZh7_-U

Your Job as a Data Analyst

You can be a Top 1% Data Analyst candidate by:

- Having a project portfolio
- Being able to communicate your findings
- Sending cold messages
- Attending data meetups 
- Documenting your learning
- Having an ATS friendly resume
- Posting on Linkedin 3x/week
- Asking your network for help 
- Practicing interviews beforehand
- Having an optimized LinkedIn profile
- Building projects 

Skills don't differentiate you 
How you present yourself does

want a step-by-step guide to doing all this? 
we start tomorrow https://lnkd.in/eYZh7_-U

----
Found this helpful? Please hit the repost button so others can benefit!

Fresh data roles that are hiring right now!
(Apply before the roles close)

Data Analyst (Litera)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eiRRa8ij

Performance Marketing Analyst (Stouffer Legal)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eHJXJc2T

Senior Financial Analyst (Stryker)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ee6BERQ5

Associate, AI Data Specialist (Walmart/VIZIO)
Link: https://lnkd.in/e2pp-EqH

Cvent and Data Specialist (Amex GBT)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eUfTgZA2

Principal Financial Analyst (Westlake)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eRzU25ge

Business Intelligence Engineer Intern (New York City Football Club)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ep5JnQkw

Digital Marketing Analyst (Brunswick)
Link: https://lnkd.in/evAHjYDK

Data Specialist (Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities)
Link: https://lnkd.in/e2TKqFDn

Lead Healthcare Analyst (Cohere Health)
Link: https://lnkd.in/euZPMGRp

Data Specialist (Commercial Real Estate) (Northmarq)
Link: https://lnkd.in/e5GM4NWt

Oncology Data Specialist (Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eMDqTQEX

Senior Data Analyst, Strategy & Insights (Success Academy)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eZJVeCtp

Marketing Analyst (Renewal by Andersen)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eUKDcFnh

Happy applying and good luck!
Find more roles here: https://lnkd.in/e4HAmxxQ

I'm tired of people falling for these data myths... 👇

7 Big Myths About Data Analytics - Avery Smith

Dear Aspiring Data Analysts,

Here are 7 important lessons I think you should know 👇

Data Analyst Roles in 2026 - Avery Smiths

Fresh data roles that are hiring right now!
(Apply before the roles close)

Data Analyst (FNIC)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ewW39Mhm

Principal Data Analyst (Navigator Platform) (Capital One)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eJbhhDwW

Data Analyst, Summer 2026 (Co-op/Internship) (BMO)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eGqCTrfB

Search Marketing Analyst (PVH/Calvin Klein)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eb2Cp4Ra

Enrollment Data Analyst Intern (Chubb)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eHGzJRS6

Philanthropy Associate Data Analyst (Rocket Companies)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eFZWTt8R

Senior Data Analyst (International Rescue Committee)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ehZwzpUR

Financial Analyst (KLA)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ek7sazh5

Legal & Business Operations Data Analyst (Kahana Feld)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eSp6YUeK

Marketing Analyst (T Bar M Camps)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eEJ7FPYh

HIM System Data Analyst (Presbyterian)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eee38HHQ

Healthcare Analyst (EXL Health)
Link: https://lnkd.in/eC_gfyfp

Happy applying and good luck!
Find more roles here: https://lnkd.in/e4HAmxxQ

Everyone keeps asking me if data analyst jobs are dying. I think 2026 might actually surprise you. 

I've been watching this field since 2018, and something interesting is happening right now. 

My third prediction should get you most excited if you're switching careers.

In this issue, I'll:
🔮 Share 3 bold predictions about data jobs in 2026
🚀 Explain the AI shift everyone's getting wrong
💼 Show you 5 real jobs you can apply to this week

View newsletter: 🚀 Data Career Newsletter

What’s 2026 going to look like for Data Analysts? I’ve been thinking about this for awhile… And while, I'm not a fortune teller, I have been watching 

Open article: Will Data Analysts Survive 2026? 3 Major Predictions by Avery Smith • 5 min read

Will Data Analysts Survive 2026? 3 Major Predictions

You don't need a computer science degree to work in data.

I recently spoke to a former teacher, a pizza delivery driver, and a night shift worker. They are all data analysts now.

If they can do it, you can do it too.

In this issue, I’ll:
🔑 Walk you through what all three did to stand out
👀 Show you how to stop being invisible to hiring managers
💼 List a few data roles to explore this week

Read the full story here 👇

This issue is brought to you by Premium Data Jobs. Ever wish you could find a data job that didn’t have 100+ applicants? Ever wish you could find a da

Open article: How to land a data job when you have no experience by Avery Smith • 5 min read

How to land a data job when you have no experience

For a long time, data was the "sexiest" job in the world. Now, the hype has settled down, and reality has set in. 

If you are trying to break in now, you probably feel late. You feel like the easy days are gone. And you are right, but that is actually good news. 

In this issue, I’ll:
🏦 Reveal the top 3 industries hiring analysts (it’s not Tech)
📉 Share why "Big Tech" layoffs don't matter for you
🚫 Bust a common myth about AI taking your seat

Read the full issue to see what is really happening.

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Here's the link to the training replay 👉 https://event.webinarjam.com/login/xo273b5hvof6va9s9

Live SQL Workshop

Want free SQL training? Come to my FREE live SQL workshops 👉 https://www.datacareerjumpstart.com/sql-workshop

Podcast Plug

Want to hear all the podcast episodes? Listen on any of the following:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1nfBfEtCmuvJkPQgR3bS5a
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-career-podcast/id1547386535
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@averysmith/videos

Job Hunt Shortcut

Learn how to job hunt the easy way 👉 https://www.datacareerjumpstart.com/jobwebinar

Random

datacareerjumpstart

snow-datascience

This issue is brought to you by: FindADataJob.com. This is my 100% free data job board. 30+ new jobs posted every day. Bookmark it for later! If you’r

The state of data jobs in 2026

Ken C.

It's never been harder to land a data job. I'm trying to help. I just dropped a new podcast episode with 3 real-world stories of people that actually pivoted into data analytics. 

Through their stories, you'll learn:
1. How to upskill quickly
2. Where to apply for jobs
3. What skills to learn them
4. Why portfolios truly matter
5. Some practical ways to network
6. How to get paid to learn the rest
7. How to stay motivated & not give up

Full 40-minute guide: https://lnkd.in/eRbrX2yK

Hope it's helpful,
Avery


--- 
♻ Repost to share with others 
🔖 Save to revisit down the road

Today is National Quitter's Day.
It's the day where we all abandon our New Year's resolutions. 

You celebrating?
Personally, I am. 

Unfortunately, I quit a lot.
 Like all the time.
Like way more than I care to admit. 

Sometimes I just give up
But often, I just get distracted. 
Shiny goal syndrome, you know? 

But this year, I'm trying something different...
(and maybe you should too?) 

Instead of huge, year-long goals...
I'm running "tiny experiments"
Think microscope goals

I don't even like using the word goals
More scientific hypothesis 
Not desired result - just curiosity

I will [BLANK] for [BLANK] days

Write down how I feel
Write down what happens

Then choose one of these options:
A) keep doing it
B) edit the experiment
C) kill the project 

I stole this framework from Anne-Laure Le Cunff, PhD 
I'll keep you updated on how it goes

Would love to hear what you think about it? 



---
p.s. if you thought this was interesting, hit reshare so others can learn!

I have zero data certificates to my name. It sounds crazy, but it is true.

And I've landed every data job I've ever had without one.

Everyone thinks you need a fancy paper from Google or IBM to get hired. But actually, those just make you look like everyone else.

There is a better way to show your value that actually works.

In this issue, I'll:
🧠 Break down the 3 things that actually build trust with hiring managers
📁 Walk you through building a portfolio that actually gets noticed
📊 Show you how to escape the "no experience" trap for good

This may be a surprise to you, but I have zero data certificates. Not one. And I've landed every data job I've ever had without one. It’s the truth! I

Open article: If I Wanted To Become a Data Analyst in 2026, I'd Follow This Plan by Avery Smith • 5 min read

If I Wanted To Become a Data Analyst in 2026, I'd Follow This Plan

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The Battle

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The Battle

🎯 Mark Freeman II

Avery Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}🎯 Mark Freeman II's LinkedIn Performance

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