Most data professionals are good at their jobs.
You know the tools, they know the models, they know SQL better than almost anyone on the team.
But at some point, usually around the senior level, the rules change. Being the best engineer on the team stops being enough. What starts mattering is different:
Explaining your work to a VP
Pushing back on a vague request without sounding difficult
Making your results visible before review season comes around
The usual advice is to get better at the tech and wait for someone to make you a lead, and both halves of that are bullshit.
What’s free and what you pay for
Each free piece is complete, with the whole argument and and example from my own job as a leader and coach, and you can use it without ever paying me.
What you pay for is the version you’d otherwise build yourself, but I’ve already built and used with many data professionals.
The annual plan adds:
My digital twin (more on it below).
The Premium Content Library, 100+ tools in Notion, the business-case template among them.
The First 90 Days Field Kit, for new data leaders.
My course The Design Your Promotion and Get Paid at the Right Number.
Live Show & Tell sessions once a month, where I may work through your case in front of the group, and the recording afterwards.
Every paid piece, each with a script, template, example or decision record ready to use.
The twin
The twin is an AI assistant that answers the way I would. It runs as an MCP server, and you only get it on the annual plan.
Ask it what you’d ask me the night before a meeting, like how to say “not now“ to a fourth urgent request, or what goes in a pre-read.
One real example:
It uses more em dashes than I ever would, and the piece it links at the end is one of mine. Subscribe for the year and ask it your own question.
Who this isn’t for
It’s the wrong subscription if you want the next dbt or Spark tutorial, since I don’t write those, or if you already have loads of experience in managing people and want a management newsletter
If you’re in your first couple of years in data, nothing here is written for you yet.
Common questions
I’m not a manager yet. Is this still for me?
Most members aren’t. They’re experienced professionals and leads who want more ownership, visibility, scope, and the compensation that comes with them. The skills here apply at every level above junior.
Why Data Gibberish over other resources?
Most content for data professionals stops at the technical layer. Here I focus on what comes after that:
How to make your work visible
How to influence decisions
How to grow without moving into pure management
There isn’t much else that covers this specifically for data people.
Is it worth it?
A year of using my digital twin costs less than one coaching package with me, and everything else on the list comes with it.
Can my company pay for it?
It counts as a learning resource, and I already wrote the email to ask your manager to pay is already written. If 3 or more of you want it, the team price is much lower per seat.
Can I cancel?
Whenever you like. Switch renewal off in your Substack account and you keep access to the end of the period you paid for. There’s no refund.
What I can show you
I’ve run the data due diligence on four M&A deals and delivered the data platform behind a $73M Series C. The move from data engineer to head of data engineering is one I’ve made myself, fast, with a 40% salary increase.
But none of this matters. Here’s what my readers say
