If hard work truly pays off, then Raji Kudus Adewale is a prime example.
Born in Nigeria, Raji came to Scotland in December 2022 with one suitcase and his brother by his side. He had a degree, was studying for an MSc at Glasgow Caledonian University and had data skills after building tech products on contract back home.
But what he did not have was any understanding of how the UK job market actually worked – or anyone to help him figure it out.
鈥淚 thought the transition would be straightforward. It was not,鈥� he tells 老九品茶Cloud.
Unsuccessful with all the junior data roles he applied for in 2023, it was another, very different job rejection that really hit home.
鈥淭he moment that broke me 鈥� and then rebuilt me 鈥� was getting rejected for a kitchen porter position at the Radisson Red hotel in Glasgow,鈥� he explains.
鈥淚 had studied data science. I had built machine learning models. I had an MSc underway. And I could not get a job washing dishes.鈥�
He continues: 鈥淚 was sitting in the GCU student bar playing pool when the rejection email came in. I burst out laughing. Not because it was funny 鈥� because the alternative was crying, and I had decided early on that I was not going to let circumstances make that choice for me.
鈥淭wenty-four hours later they emailed again. Their first choice had declined. They offered me the role. I took it 鈥� because sometimes you need to take a step back to leap forward. And because I needed to eat.鈥�
Enter DeDataDude
What came next was eight months of washing plates by day, attending MSc lectures in the evenings, and teaching himself everything he could at night on four or five hours of sleep. And working as a steward at Rangers鈥� world-famous Ibrox Stadium.
鈥淓very time I worked a steward shift at Ibrox Stadium, I would walk home past JP Morgan’s building on Argyle Street and look up at their logo. I made it a ritual. I told myself: that is where you are going,鈥� says Raji.
鈥淒uring that grinding period I started building in public under the name DeDataDude 鈥� sharing what I was learning, documenting the journey honestly, not pretending it was easy. That community grew to over 20,000 people across platforms.聽
鈥淭hrough that I landed freelance contracts on Upwork, and the last contract was at $70 an hour. I connected with people who opened doors, and I started to understand how career positioning actually worked 鈥� which is completely different from just having skills.鈥�
He also got involved with a digital inclusion initiative in Glasgow, delivering data and AI literacy workshops to Scottish communities. He says this gave him credibility and a real network.
It鈥檚 who you know
In May 2024 鈥� 14 months after that kitchen porter rejection 鈥� he received an offer from JP Morgan Chase as a senior product associate.聽
鈥淔ull-time, not intern, not entry-level. The same building I had walked past at midnight after steward shifts,鈥� he clarifies.
鈥淪omeone had told me during that period that immigrants always have to start at the bottom, that I would never get a senior role without going through the entry-level pipeline first. I wrote that down and put it on my wall. When the JP Morgan offer came in, I thought about that note a lot.
鈥淭he thing I realised while going through all of this 鈥� and then while helping over a thousand other people through similar journeys 鈥� is that what made the difference was not my technical skills. It was the career intelligence layer.聽
鈥淯nderstanding what the market actually needed at a specific moment, how to position my experience for a specific employer, how to build relationships based on value rather than desperation. That knowledge is freely available if you know the right people. Most people do not know the right people.鈥�
, launched this month, is his answer to that: 鈥淚 built the platform I wished had existed when I was washing plates.鈥�
DeDataHub
The AI-powered career intelligence platform is for data and AI professionals 鈥� combining structured learning tracks with an AI career advisor that actively works on users’ job market positioning alongside their learning.
鈥淭hink of it less like a chatbot and more like having a senior colleague in your corner who never goes offline,鈥� explains Raji.
鈥淲hen a subscriber joins DeDataHub, they are matched to an AI career advisor persona specific to their track 鈥� Alexandra for Data Analytics, Marcus for Data Science, Priya for Data Engineering, David for AI/LLM Engineering.聽
鈥淓ach advisor knows where the user is in their curriculum, scans the job market in real time, and proactively surfaces what the user should be focusing on 鈥� not based on what was in demand when a course was recorded, but based on what is actually being hired for right now.鈥�
So how does it compare with, say, a bootcamp?
Raji answers: 鈥淎 bootcamp gives you technical content and a certificate. It does not give you what comes after 鈥� how to position that certificate, which employers are actually hiring for it right now, how to present your projects and your past experience for a specific role, what to say when you are asked why you are changing careers.
鈥淒eDataHub costs 拢20-32 a month. A UK bootcamp costs between 拢7,000 and 拢18,000. And at the end of it, most people are still on their own when it comes to the career and job market navigation side.
鈥淚 am not against bootcamps. Some are excellent. But the product we built addresses the gap that comes after 鈥� and that gap is why 87% of people who start learning data science never land a data job.鈥�
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Launch
On its first day, DeDataHub saw three confirmed subscribers and it now has five paying subscribers, collected organically, with 拢324.50 in the bank.
鈥淔ive is not a hundred. The target was a hundred by the end of week one. We are not there,鈥� says Raji truthfully.
鈥淏ut the first subscriber who committed 鈥� they took an annual plan. They paid upfront for a full year before most people had even heard of us. That meant more to me than any number would have.聽
鈥淥ne person believed enough to commit for 12 months. Another person believed enough to commit for three months too. That is not a vanity metric. That is trust.
鈥淚 am building this in public, which means sharing the honest version 鈥� not just when the numbers look good. Five subscribers and 拢324.50 after one week with no marketing budget is a starting point. I know what I need to do from here.鈥�
The intention is to prove the model works without investor money. If DeDataHub reaches 拢2,000 monthly recurring revenue organically, that is the trigger to begin pre-seed conversations, says Raji.聽
鈥淲e are also tracking non-dilutive fundings. These matter to me because they do not cost equity and they come with ecosystem credibility that is valuable at this stage,鈥� he adds.
鈥淭he honest answer is: I would rather raise from a position of proof than from a position of need.鈥�
He concludes: 鈥淚 do not have a Silicon Valley investor on speed dial. I have a WhatsApp group of people who believed in this before it existed. That is the version of support I have operated with so far.鈥�