Data Interviews: Curiosity Beats Credentials!

Matt Brattin, former CFO and 20-year corporate veteran, shares insider perspectives on data analytics hiring from the decision-maker's side. He reveals what truly sets candidates apart, common misconceptions about the interview process, and actionable strategies for standing out in today's competitive job market.

Key Insights

The interview isn't adversarial - Hiring managers want you to succeed. They wouldn't bring you in to waste time; they're genuinely considering offering you the position and want to find the right fit.

One solid answer can change everything - Even if you stumble early, interviews aren't over in the first 20 seconds. Discussions happen after you leave, and a memorable insight can completely shift the conversation in your favor.

Curiosity trumps credentials - The most important trait is genuine curiosity, demonstrated by engaging in real conversation rather than just answering preset questions.

[05:45] The Power Dynamic Shift

Matt emphasizes approaching interviews with confidence: "I don't need this job. Tell me why I should come work here... it totally flips the power dynamic." 

[12:30] Taking Interviewers Off Script

Key tactic: Follow your answers with questions or insights that lead the conversation beyond standard scripts. This forces interviewers to pay attention and remember you.

[18:15] The Curiosity Factor

"Curiosity is the easiest one to point to... somebody who actually wants to talk to me and not just answer questions." Show interest in the business, not just the role.

[25:40] LinkedIn as Interview Prep

Critical insight: "I'm more likely to have your LinkedIn up than your resume in front of me." Hiring managers research candidates and look for conversation starters beyond basic qualifications.

Red Flags/Green Flags

[20:10] What Kills Your Chances

• Victim mentality or "us vs. them" attitude
• One-word answers showing disinterest
• Coming unprepared with zero questions

[28:50] What Makes You Memorable

You need to be "the chocolate guy" or "the horse girl" - something that makes you stand out in post-interview discussions. Without a memorable element, you won't be part of the final conversation.

[35:20] Go Beyond Surface Level

Matt's advice: Enter with a mission to learn something specific about the business - their BI tools, database systems, or revenue model. This demonstrates forethought and genuine business interest.

The golden rule: "Go in with an objective that's beyond the interview... make it your mission to get answers to those questions because it demonstrates that this person had a little bit of forethought."

[38:45] Questions That Actually Matter

Don't ask generic culture questions. Instead, focus on understanding how the company makes money, what they sell, and how they operate. Approach it like your first day orientation, not an interrogation.

[08:30] AI Job Market Truth

While the current market feels tough due to AI fears and corporate efficiency pressures, Matt believes this is cyclical: "We will find more ways to be useful and to need resources... anybody with technical skills, particularly analytical skills, will be in demand."

Action Items for Job Seekers

• Research beyond the job description - Understand the business model and revenue streams
• Prepare conversation starters - Have insights that take the interview off script
• Develop your memorable element - What makes you "the [something] person"?

Transcript

Transcription
All's well that ends well. Well, all right. Today, my guest is Matt Bratton. And Matt and I go way, way back, all the way back to before I even retired from the Marine Corps. Matt was on the How to Get an Analytics Job podcast multiple times, in fact. And that's where we first rubbed elbows and, uh, it's been, you know, call it what it is kind of a mentor of mine ever since. Um, I have several t-shirts of that he's designed. Um, yeah, exactly. So, uh, Matt is the, the purveyor of TMB analytics. Uh, he most recently, uh, came out of the corporate grind and is now a fully fully in business for himself. So, Matt, if you could tell the people whatever I've missed on the highlights here. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Well, it's exciting to be here. And it's us. It's exciting. I think that... saying that we we've known each other for a while it's so funny to think that we really have like this is this is going on several years and uh to see how things have developed over time is just it's wonderful and i'm really excited about what you're what you're doing here for the analytics community and you've definitely got the street cred to to pull it off and be a man to stand behind and believe in so i appreciate you having me on here and thinking of me so I don't know that there's a whole lot that I would want to bring up that you didn't just mention. I did 20 years of corporate financial planning and data analytics, always leaning very heavily into the data side of things because that's just what I find most interesting. I rose through the ranks from a junior analyst all the way up to a CFO of a private equity backed software vertical serving the nonprofit space. And I was in that role for the better part of the last three years. And one month ago, I decided to go out and strike out on my own. And so I'm out here. trying to live my best life, catch up on some things, create some things and just have fun and say yes to projects like this, where I get to come and be myself and hopefully help some others out in the process. Absolutely. It feels like, you know, I'm already I'm always over planning the crap out of things. So I'm already thinking, wow, we should do a whole nother episode talking about like transitioning into starting your own business. And oh, yeah, I know you did. did something like that a while back but first things first so we're talking before the show that uh that matt has been in the hiring space was never never the hiring guy not not a hiring manager but was always in was in interviews was in the screening process was in the reading process so we've had some recruiters on here but matt's the first person that's actually been in that room and either making or contributing to the final decision. Matt, if you could run us through, hey, what's your career been like as far as being a person that brings on talent, brings on labor? Yeah. You mentioned recruiters and other folks who get that front row seat. Depending on the organization that I've been a part of, I've had more or less opportunities to sort of play that front row role where I'm actually screening resumes and doing all of that initial review. And as my career has progressed, I do less and less of that. So it all started like probably a good 15 or so years ago that I started getting asked to jump in on interviews and mostly it was sort of a fit circumstance where part of a big team and I was just another voice who could say like, yeah, this is going to be a good fit. Or I don't know, you might want to look into XYZ for other people who are going to have those conversations. And then as I moved onward to building my own teams, then I was a lot more of that pipeline and ultimately being the decision maker. And then outside of my space of more of the finance and analytics, I get called in on other executive interviews, higher level candidates where fit is important, but so is leadership and other qualities that just need a lot more of a soft touch in an interview to kind of really get a vibe for whether or not it's something that we feel good about. And those flags that you raise as you move up move up in the career, they start to hold a little bit more weight. And so, uh, it's, yeah, I've gotten to see a lot and nevermind the many, many, uh, probably a hundred or so interviews that I've been in the one being interviewed. I think that I've been in on both sides of the table enough that yeah, I've got, I've got a few, few reps under my belt. Yeah. When was the last time you, you actually sat for an interview? Believe it or not, like if I want to be like completely honest and transparent, uh, just a couple of weeks ago, this was, it was, it was not planned and it didn't really go anywhere. But, um, sort of just like the timing of my transition going out on my own, there was like these, uh, you know, sometimes life does weird things and sometimes it's to test you. Sometimes it's to open up a window and make sure that you want to go through the door you're walking towards. I had a couple of really interesting opportunities pop up to the point that I decided to go in and like hear people out and talk to folks. And yeah, so there was more than I think three different opportunities that I was humoring over the past, I'll call it two months. And I had a handful of interviews through those processes. And it's fine. I like interviewing. It's just a conversation. That's uh and and maybe i'm i've got enough reps that i don't take it as seriously as a lot of other folks do i go in more like what do you have to offer rather than oh geez please pick me pick me it's like i i don't care and i think in a lot of ways that helps it's disarming and uh it totally flips the power dynamic too because you're you're almost interviewing them it's like i don't I don't need this job. You tell me why I should come work here. Sell me on the job. You called me in. I love that example too for people because you're keeping irons in the fire. I know you have your plans and we all have our brand life plan. I'm going to do this in five years, this in two years. But life changes your plans. Always. You know, I fully intended to keep working at Omnicom, you know, kind of long term. And then, you know, Alteryx said, hey, we got a job. And I said, you know, I'll come talk. And yeah, in the same way, it was like, I don't need this job. You tell me why. Yeah, you call me. What's going on? Exactly. So that's a very good seat to be in. Those of you that are, you know, out there flying the green banner and, you know, the bills are coming due, I get it. Yeah. You may not feel that way going into an interview, but if you can kind of cultivate that, you know, that attitude, the subtle art of, you know what? Yeah. Yeah. It totally changes the ballgame. Agreed. Yeah. And I think that what you just said is is an important point to call out. It's it's such. I don't want to call it cheap, but it's low-hanging fruit for people to say, like, no, no, it's not fair. Like, you don't know what it's like. But it's like, you know what? Like, put on the pants that day and just decide that, no, I want to show up as this person. And you can do it. Show up as that person, and you're in control. And things are going to work out the way that they need to work out. I think the most important thing is that you're not putting on masks or doing anything like that. It's more about how can you get yourself so relaxed that it's like, I don't need this job. I'm not desperate. Even if yeah, you got bills to pay. It's, it's important that you show up for your own self with the intention of getting the information you need about whether or not this is a good life opportunity for you. Like that's it. Yeah. Yeah. I did a video a while back where I, I, I dorked out probably more than I probably should have for like, you know, effective YouTube impact. Um, but went through the statistical analysis of, okay, how many interviews do you actually have to go on to make it probable that you're going to get a job? All other things being equal. Um, but you, you have to go in with that attitude. Hey, there's no, there's no one unicorn job. Like you're going to have to interview a handful of times, most likely. In order to, to finish first, at least one time. And yeah, you can't, you can't be so hung up on that one job. Like, Hey, if I don't get this one, I'm going to starve. Yeah. Yeah. You got to know it's, it's going to be a multi-step process for each job. Mindset it's everything. Yep. So like, obviously you've, you've seen it from all aspects and you've seen it over a period of decades now. What trends are you seeing recently? Because we hear a lot of people saying, hey, it's a really tough job market and you know and and it's harder than ever to get in on the ground floor what is it that you've seen from your unique perspective yeah i it's hard to know if it's truly a harder job market um i mean i think it is i but i think that these these markets come and go right now I think they're blaming a lot on AI. And I think there's going to be a rebound at some point when a lot of these projects don't come to fruition or we reengage some level of traction and businesses start growing again with that new level set. It's fashionable right now to do like a riff and say it's because we've leveled up our technology. It almost feels like you see the big publicly traded companies calling out that that's what they're doing. And then everybody else is like, well, geez, what are we doing? And so boards are asking the question, what are you doing? Are you as efficient as you could be? Why aren't you using these new tools? And it creates a level of pressure, dare I say, peer pressure among corporations to see like, well, I guess we got to find efficiencies and then they're going to do it and then things are going to happen and then we're going to continue to grow, grow, grow, and there will be more opportunities. I sincerely believe that the AI boom and the way that just humans are, we will find more ways to be useful and to need resources. And so anybody with technical skills, particularly analytical skills, you will be in demand. And if you put yourself in the position of keeping your skills up to date and being well aware of what the market is up to, I think you are very well positioned to go in and have smart conversations with recruiters and hopefully, you know, land a position just with with your ear to the street, I guess. Yeah. What do you I mean, I did something recently just talking about traits and traits of what makes what sets people apart in the analytics field. What traits did you look for in job candidates? Curiosity is the easiest one to point to. And the way that that gets displayed is just it's kind of a shorthand for saying, hey, somebody who actually wants to talk to me and not just answer questions, right? It's a concept that we talk about in the field itself is like you don't want to be the order taker. You want to be the person who's creating value and having smart exchanges and helping drive the business, not just take orders. And that starts at the interview stage where you're not just sitting back waiting for the next question. You're actually engaging with provocative thoughts and feedback of your own. It's something that I like to do in interviews as well, where when there's a question asked, you follow your response with either a question of your own or something that leads the conversation at least a little bit off track from what a normal script would say so that you can show a little bit of humanity that if you take someone off script, they're forced to pay attention. Um, and so you're talking about you as the job seeker taking the interviewer off script. Exactly. Okay. Like it, we're, we're having this conversation right now. And I'm just thinking to myself, like, man, uh, these are really good questions. Like, did you, what kind of research did you do to come up with this list of questions, Albert? You're just, you're such a wonderful interviewer. Where, where did you come up with all of these? I'm just that awesome, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. That makes, that makes perfect sense. But that's the thing. It's like you, you kind of inject some something and it could be about the business. Like you asked about this. Does that mean that you guys are doing X, Y, Z here? Oh, interesting. Okay. I've seen that or I haven't seen that, or I'd like to see how you do that. It's just, it's something as simple as that, that kind of forces like, oh, this is additional information beyond what I asked. Let me pay attention so I can take it in. And then you just, you become. you're that person when they leave the interview that there was a lot more than just what they were going in looking for. Yeah. And they're not just comparing like Albert gave this answer to question three and Matt gave this answer and which was the better. Exactly. I get that. Yeah. So, I mean, to stand out in the, in the interviewer's mind, I mean, like what, what were like red flags for you? Like if, if someone did this, that maybe is not commonly known where you were like, I don't know about this person. I mean, there, there are the more commonly known things such as just like giving very short answers or, um, acting as if you don't want to be there or that you're bothered by being like, um, that should not come as a surprise to anybody. And I get, look, um, Believe it or not, I'm introverted and sometimes I'm not in a mental space to like have certain conversations. And so I understand what it means to have stress or anxiety or be nervous. I think that's normal. But that's not necessarily an excuse to just act disinterested and give one to three word answers. Yeah. So I say that, you know, that's that shouldn't be a big secret. So that's not a very good answer to your question, like something that's less known. I'm looking for insight here, Brad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm thinking about insight, like what? In an ironic twist, I mean, you just told me, like, give give an unexpected answer to a question. And here you are just just smacking low hanging fruit all day. I know. I know this is I should be fired. What am I paying you for this? Oh, that's right. Nothing. This may qualify. Some people do make up their mind very quickly, but one solid answer can change it. So I think my point is it's not over. Get that sound bite. Yes. It's like if you if you at least land one freaking solid soundbite that will resonate. Now, you don't necessarily know if it landed or not, but a lot of times there are signs. Right. Yeah. And so I would say that there's there's so much information out there that says like they will they will know in the first 20 seconds if they like you or not. You know what? For some people, that doesn't give you much of a goal if you pump the first answer. No, exactly. But, but like if you're, this is a stupid sports analogy, but like now when you're watching games and like, as the game progresses, it has like that statistical thing, like, Hey, this team's going to win likelihood to win. And then at some point it may cross or go. That's what an interview is like. You may flub that very beginning. Like someone may like run back to opening kickoff to a touchdown and you may be like, well, this isn't going to happen, but you can still fight your way back. And so it's not over till it's over. And even then it's not over because if you're talking to more than one person, the person that you're talking to may just be looking for something very specific. And maybe this is the unknown piece. The initial person is looking for something very specific. They're checking a couple of boxes. And if you don't check a box, you may need to advocate for yourself if you've got a strong feeling about the position. Otherwise, it's just not gonna work out because there's some reason like that. But then as you get further into the process, there's more people involved. And these are discussions behind the scenes. It's usually not just one person sitting at their desk. and you you're there's always a chance and so you have to leave them with the sound bite you have to leave them with like try to try to run that score up and make sure that you're you don't count yourself out just because you flubbed a question i think that's the point well it's not a calculus test too it's like you're not you know hey he got a 79 and i got a 74 so like There's pros and cons. And yeah, I love that point about the discussion after the fact. They're going to talk about you when you walk out of the room. And they're going to keep taking notes based on that discussion. It's not just cut print the minute you walk out. There's going to be a conversation about it. So speaking of the end of the interview, what's your impression? I'm sure you've had this happen where you're like, do you have any questions for us? Nope, I'm good. You answered them all. Yeah, it's people. This is another one of those where you hear all the time, like there's no excuse. Everybody knows you should come with questions. And this isn't just like, hey, you need to ask a question, like you need to take your vitamins. That's not what this is about. I think the question behind the question is like, Are you even interested in this position enough that you've got original thought or things that you want to know beyond my preset list of questions? If you do a good job of being engaged and having a lot of back and forth, yeah, you may actually get a couple of your preceded after the fact questions answered. Congratulations. Ask another one like just keep going like keep the conversation going keep a mentalist write down something that you want to say for the end don't just go yep thanks you you crushed it good job bye like that's it's it's very true you you should have a question at the end do you remember any particularly good ones that people asked you Usually the good ones, I don't know that I remember very many of these questions. I probably remember some of the more crappy ones actually, but the- Can you talk about that too? The good questions are ones that just demonstrate that you've been listening or paying attention. Okay. Or- Something that dovetails off of something you heard in the interview. Okay. Yes, exactly. It shows that like, oh you picked up on that thing or you allow me to like jump into the my business mode and the reason for that is it allows me as a hiring person to imagine like you being a co-worker and now it's like we're not just talking about me figuring out who the heck you are I'm now in a seat where I don't even have to imagine like I'm answering a work-related question it's like this is something that we'd probably discuss on day one, but we might as well get it out of the way now. And that gives me a real life read on, okay, he gets, he understands the business or she understands the business or, uh, the pricing model or the, this or the, that like that's, that's super valuable feedback to know like, okay, great. I'm not going to have to handhold this person. And I mean, that's, that's worth its weight in gold. Yeah. So we, um, yeah, it's, I don't know if I'm giving away state secrets here, but please do both. We're both active on LinkedIn. We have an active group chat along with our, our bro Abe Diaz. Oh yeah. And so a constant topic of conversation is the prevailing attitudes of job seekers of, you know, people that are out there on LinkedIn, often people that are complaining about things. Yeah. What is the biggest misconception that you see? maybe it was within people that actually came in for interviews or just the you know conventional wisdom that's being bandied about in the job space like what is it that you see and you're like man this person has no idea it it's not us against them like i wouldn't have called you in to waste our time like i want you to succeed i want you to kick ass and be the one that i hire like it is in no one's interest to bring in a candidate that is not someone that we are seriously considering offering a position to. And so I think people who come in as like victims out the gates, that's just not a good look. And it's just wrong. And I think that if people came in knowing that like, having a little bit more pride in the idea that I got the interview and now the ball is in my court. I get to take a deeper look at this company. I get to meet some of the people who work there, find out if this is a good fit. And then they get to ask the questions they need so that they feel good or otherwise about me. And then through that dialogue, we're going to come to an agreement together. And like, i've rejected job offers before i've pulled myself out of uh whatever you call them uh processes before you could do that too if something doesn't feel right and the intent going in is never that end the the intent going in is someone is going to be chosen to fill this position and so just go in a little bit more head held high than woe is me. And Oh, this is so hard. It's just, it's not a good look and it's not going to leave you feeling good. And I think that's an important thing. So I know this is a touchy subject and I, I hate to say, I feel like I got to bite my tongue a little bit because I don't want people getting all getting the wrong idea and saying like, we have, we have no idea where we're disconnected. Like I, I, Agree to disagree. Yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. Veteran of, of quite a few interviews on both sides as well. And, uh, yeah, a hundred percent agree. Now, speaking of LinkedIn content, do you, in, in your interviews, was it common to go look the person up if you were, uh, if you were interested, you're like, Hey, this, this may be the one. Would you or would someone else in the chain be going to look, be like, hey, what's this person putting out on social media? I would say 100% I do. In fact, I'm more likely to have your LinkedIn up than your resume in front of me because it gives me usually more fodder to grab from and have discussions about. And depending on where in the chain things are happening. Absolutely, the recruiters are looking, they're reviewing, they're making sure that things are good. They're not usually looking for bad stuff. We're looking for stuff that makes, this is a way that I used to characterize it as like, your resume is like your skeleton. And then the interview provides your soul. It's the rest of you. Okay. And it is what sucker for. Yeah. It makes you the human that you are. Yeah. And I think what we're always looking for is more than just like, your box check your resume, I'm looking for the person. And so if I see something about something interesting and maybe a little bit, it's not hardcore professional, but it's something that makes you a little bit interesting, it gives me something to talk about. And hopefully that's, I'm always trying to bring that out of them, especially if I see that they're, you know, trying to just be very reserved and answer questions. It's like, no, you got to give me more rope. I'm not going to try to tie you up with it, but I need more. I need to see who you are because over time it's going to come out and we need to make sure that we were on the same page when it does. Yeah. Well that, I mean, you're looking for, like you said, there's a, there's gotta be something that sets them apart and make them memorable. Yeah. If they don't hit that kind of killer soundbite. Yeah. You're, you're trying to think of, I remember looking for houses and the, the realtor would tell us like, there was this one house we went to where there was like a bunch of bees, like in the front yard. And he was like, okay, so that we can tell these houses apart, let's give them each a nickname. Yeah. This one house was the bee house and it was, there was nothing wrong with the house, but it was, it was the bee house. That's why we remembered like, okay, this one. Um, and then there was like the golf course house and the, um, but yeah, it's, it's almost like that like if you see 10 people especially if you see them like would you generally see everybody in one day or would it be like spaced out it it's usually a good practice to get them uh in as close proximity of or time wise uh make it easier to compare to each other Yes, because memories are short. And I think what you just called out is like it's it's so funny because it'd be like, oh, that's the that's the the chocolate guy or the horse girl or the this or that. It's like there's there's usually like one thing that we all remember. Yeah. So it's like there is usually like and if you don't have that thing, like there was nothing interesting that came out about you. then you're probably not going to be part of that conversation. And I think that's why it's like you got it. You've got to do something in that interview that makes you memorable. And it's I'm not talking about jumping up on the table and doing a backflip. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, bring it, bring yourself so that we have something to grab onto and reference back. Two words. Pink tie. Go for it. Pink tie. Why not? Yeah, he's a pink tie guy. That was right. That was the one. Awesome. Um, so yeah, I would say what, if you could like matrix phone call or like Vulcan mind meld one thing to all where, so we already touched, touched on, Hey, don't be negative, set yourself apart. Um, you know, that the hiring manager is not your adversary. We're on the same side. They want to fill the job. You want to fill the job, same team, same fight. What else would you, I suppose, would you want to teach to everybody? Where's the, because this show is about closing information gaps between hiring authority and job seeker what's one more thing one nugget that you would just give to everybody like all of you know this since a lot of well maybe this is more universal that i'm about to try to make it but like because a lot of this is centered around like data and analytics and that sort of stuff Um, I would want you to go in with an objective that's beyond the interview. It's more like your own personal mission to get a piece of information. You're like, you're on a secret hunt and you're going to cut, like, I'm going to come out knowing what BI tool these people use, or I'm going to come out knowing what, uh, know are they on a postgres database or are they on you know an oracle or something like that you know what what are they doing uh there and make it your mission to get answers to those questions because what that again what it does is it demonstrates that this person had a little bit of forethought and has an interest in our business yeah i i often say that the the first thing that anybody any analyst when you get a job is you need to learn what the business model is how does your company that you are a part of earn money what do you sell and how do you sell it and how do you how do you make a profit and if you go in to the interview wanting to get very clear on that and understand components of the business itself. It's just going to put you leaps and bounds ahead of the typical person who's just in there like, what's it like to work here? That sort of thing. What's the culture? You're going to get that vibe from the person you're talking to. You got your ask me questions from chat GPT. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And so I think it's like, you're not going into interview, you're going into your orientation, your first day of work, and you're already trying to add value. And the only way that you're going to do that is by better understanding something so that you can better contribute to it. And no, I don't mean you should go in and start immediately making suggestions on how to make things better. That's going to make you look like an asshole. You need to go in and be curious. That's thing number one, be curious. and start asking some thoughtful questions that gets them thinking and imagining you working there. So yeah, I would say go in with a mission to learn something about the business. Yes. Yeah. I love it. Did you have, so did you have like a go-to question that every interview you were like, I need to know this about this person. They're not going to see this one coming. I did, but it was different for everyone. Um, And usually, usually it was, again, it was centered around like some random thing that I found. Cause I would like to do a little bit of research and find out the person is like, well, do they have a hobby or do they have a this or they have that? And, I've done enough like random things in life that I can riff on a lot of different things. So I've seen people who it's like, you know, I like photography. And so then I'll ask about cameras and types of settings and lenses. And if it's something about video or, you know, a lot of accomplishments in Excel, like just kind of nerding out on that stuff. I would imagine you could ask some good questions about that. Oh, God. Yeah. For those of you not in the know, Matt here is like alternate on the Excel Olympics team, basically. I do like me some Excel. And so those are usually fun questions. And so, no, it's not a canned question I must know, but it's definitely a I need a question question. That I'm going in with my own mission. I guess that's kind of the other way to put it is like, not only am I going to get answers to all these questions, but I'm going to throw at least one out there that catches them off guard. Yeah. And let me see how you talk about your passion rather than just the stuff that you've prepared. Like, here's my story to tell about. Yeah. Difficult person. Yeah. That's actually a good way to frame it, because I think the point maybe that I'm ultimately getting at is it's not about the question. It's about, can I get this person to light up? Can I get them to be themselves for just a second? Just a second. And light up and tell me about something that's not work. That's a little bit harder to get all fired up about. We can't all just be in love with Excel, right? Maybe it's their dog. Or can we? I think we should, but that's for another day. Yeah. Hypothetical questions. Now that prompts another unplanned question. Are you a believer that they should put personal things on their resume? Or is that something that you expect to see more on the LinkedIn profile, on their content? i like the other skills or interests like type section and sometimes people will be more or less adventurous there that said i'm less likely to find that interesting mission from the resume it's often yeah something i'm going to pick up on linkedin And again, it could be inspired by anything. It could be just that you studied abroad and you went somewhere interesting that I want to talk about, or that you worked at a company that I know something weird happened to, or, you know, just like there's almost limitless angles. How was it at Enron back in the day? Yeah, tell me about your time there. Arthur Anderson, eh? Good times. Yep, that's the stuff. Yeah. I had an accounting professor at a school back when I was studying accounting and he had worked at Arthur Anderson, but he would only ever whisper the name. It was a funny thing. Back in my days at Arthur Anderson. Yep. Smart man. So both content creators here, present company accepted. I'm always looking for recommendations for my people, like who I recommend people like this person has given you the straight scoop about the job market and interviewing and all that sort of stuff. Who is someone that you respect as a creator in that space, in the employment space or just the data analytics space? Who's preaching the gospel out there, according to Matt Bratton? I mean, you, obviously. I think you're definitely doing the Lord's work. Let's just call it what it is. Someone else kind of in this sphere. Dustin's a good one. Yeah. Date ideas. Yep. I don't want to butcher his last name, so I'm just going to say. There you go. That's it. Yeah. Great dude. I've talked to him a small handful of times, but every time it's been pleasant. And I think that he just does a lot for the community. Yeah. And so I would say that's definitely a good follow and someone who's always got a lot of helpful information. Yeah. That's one. Just named a Tableau ambassador I saw. Oh. Well, he posted that today or yesterday, but yeah. Wonderful. I think that's great. He's doing good things. Good. The Milwaukee. Cool. Well, so the floor is yours, Matt. We've, we've reached more or less the end of our time. Matt does have a hard stop top of the hour, sadly, because Matt and I could probably sit here. We've got the recording, but sit here and chat for quite some time. But yeah, Matt, the floor is yours. What do you, do you have something you want to pitch? I know you've, You've always got a hundred irons in the fire. Um, too many current venture. Yeah. Yeah. I think what I'm, what I'm currently trying to do, I'll be very transparent. Cause I came into this saying, you know, I'm here to support you. I'm here to support your, the followers, your community that you're building and making sure that you get, you know, just another perspective. Um, so I'd invite anybody to check me out on LinkedIn if you're not already. You get what you see. Like this is, I try not to ever be somebody different in front of different audiences. Like this is one of my goals in life is to always show up as I am. And so that's important. Now that I am outside of the corporate sphere for the time being, I'm kind of doubling down and trying to figure out what that looks like. So I'm starting a software company called Simplify, which is sales incentive planning simplified. Anybody who's been in charge of sales commission processing on the administrative side knows that it sucks. And I had the great honor of doing that for about 15 years. And I felt as though there had to be a better way. And as a huge fan and advocate of all things Excel, 70% of people or companies who have commissions are doing them in Excel. And there are times and places to recognizing the limitations of Excel. And when you're dealing with someone's paycheck, That's one of the areas I draw the line. And the problem is a lot of the tools in the space are big, they're clunky and they're a pain in the ass to administer and they're super expensive. So simplify is supposed to kind of fill that middle void where it's fed by flat files. It's CRM agnostic. That means it costs less because you're not paying for all the maintenance of these integrations, but it's also not big and clunky. It's got best practice plan design baked in. So that's something I'm passionate about. I'm trying to help people out there. We'll put a link in the show notes, but it's siplify, S-I-P-L-I-F-Y.io. Okay. Yep. So I'd say that. And then anything, TMB Analytics, Excel Daily, just trying to be out there, feed my need to create. Yeah. Matt is omnipresent. He is across a man of all platforms. And we discuss this quite often, the ins and outs of all of the different social medias. So, yeah, you can find him just about anywhere. Funny, funny reels. He's out there smashing mouses with golf clubs. He's, yeah, doing all sorts of crazy things. Jokes about, actually funny jokes about sales commissions, which I did not think was possible. Actually funny. Yes, but until Matt did it. but that's an honor. That's an honor. Yeah. Well, all right. We appreciate you coming on. We appreciate your special insight and best of luck in all of your ongoing endeavors. Yeah. Thanks for having me. It's been a joy until next time. And folks, Semper Fidelis, and I'll talk to you later. There.