I have published many different resources for individuals to help transition from academia or public sector crime analysis roles to the private sector. This page is a catalog that I will continue to update as I publish additional resources.

Soft Launching Tech Recruiting – A blog post on the types of jobs available in the private sector and their approximate salaries. (These are not just quant roles, but also include project management–type positions.)

Advice for crime analyst to break into data science – Crime analysts (and social science students) should focus on SQL and Python to be competitive for private sector jobs.

What to show in your tech resume – The short version: build a simple portfolio of real projects on GitHub or a personal website (not school assignments).

Crime De-Coder Newsletter – I previously ran a newsletter where I shared job application advice advice (search for specific companies, apply to many positions), as well as random coding advice. The archive of 24 issues is available on the site.

Stop Teaching R. Teach Python – I review a sample of job postings and show that Python dominates R. You should do this test for yourself in the market you are looking to apply to, and see where you should level up your skills. (This typically means self-study and possibly earning a certificate.)

Learning Materials

You may want to consider my books (available in paperback or epub worldwide from my store):

• Data Science for Crime Analysis with Python – if you are starting from zero, this is the book you should get. It is intended for those with no coding background to learn Python basics and build real projects. It also includes an extensive chapter on using SQL in Python, so it is a good resource for learning SQL as well.

• Large Language Models for Mortals: A Practical Guide for Analysts with Python – for more advanced data science roles, the market is shifting toward expecting software engineers to know how to use LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, AWS Bedrock). The book also has a chapter demonstrating agentic coding tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and Google’s Antigravity).

Each linked page includes the first three chapters of the book for preview.

Have a Question?

Reach out! You can email me at apwheele@gmail.com, or connect on LinkedIn, to say hi. I’m happy to spend a few minutes chatting. Most of what I share will overlap with the advice in these posts.