According to a study, 11th graders in the Philippines face many difficulties and uncertainties when choosing education for their future careers. Most students remain confused about which career path to take and whether or not they should follow their parents’ decisions, especially if they don’t know what they want to become. As a result, many young people choose an education and profession that appears to be far from their passion or initial callings in life.
One of them is Joshua Cruz. After receiving a degree in food technology and working in the field for six years, he tried looking for something more interesting. After trying several industries, he has chosen the data analytics field. It might be on the opposite side of his bachelor’s degree. Still, by enrolling in an online course in Refocus—an online education platform offering various professional courses—Cruz could master the trade.
He received his Bachelor of Science in Food Technology from the University of Santo Tomas. Cruz did pretty well as a student and landed a scholarship from a large food company to cover his tuition fees. So when he wanted to get a job in this industry, it was easy because they already knew Cruz. Once a position opened, he got the job.
Cruz’s work involved analyzing food ingredients. He evaluated whether or not materials were viable for production operations. He was a scientist who spent some time in the laboratory and another using a computer.
Although he was paid pretty decently for this job, Cruz eventually felt unsure of being in this profession his whole life. He realized that working in the laboratory was not for him.
“I was excellent with computers, but whenever I had to do some laboratory activities, I felt like I was in the wrong place. Nevertheless, I worked in this sphere for six years and even started my post-graduate studies,” Cruz shared.
Cruz added that he couldn’t say that his job as a food technologist was unfulfilling or he didn’t like what he was doing. However, he didn’t want to spend his entire life working on a job he didn’t enjoy. After a while, he tried searching for something else.
“And I’ve tried a lot, I must say. And then I finally found something for myself. I understood that I wanted to be a data analyst,” he said.
He learned about this fascinating area during his post-graduate studies in food technology. The idea that one can tell stories from numbers impressed Cruz. Analysis, for him, is like looking for a treasure where one can get unique information hidden somewhere deep.
In January 2022, Cruz started broadening his horizons in the field. He watched YouTube videos, took Coursera courses, and even got a certificate in Google Analytics by himself.
“The amount of information was overwhelming, but I was so excited to learn more about data that I spent hours studying it every day,” he said.
By May, he tried looking for a freelance project but didn’t get a single reply to any of the messages he sent. That was when he saw the Refocus advertisement. The idea that they offer a job guarantee motivated Cruz as he was a bit tired of learning without getting visible results. So by the end of September, he began his systematic studying.
“I have six international clients, which brought me around $2000 in two months. Some projects required data visualization, with another monitoring marketing campaigns in Tableau. But my favorite project would probably be creating an intricate dashboard for YouTube analytics,” he gushed.
After his first successful projects as a data analyst, Cruz signed his resignation documents from his previous job.
I still have to wait ‘til my contract expires, but I am proud to call myself a data analyst. I’m sure data analytics will open many doors for me. I’ve been dreaming of having a digital nomad lifestyle and traveling the world, and I’m now finally able to afford it without being too tight on my budget.
Visit www.refocus.me to know more.