Full-Time in Fantasy Football

A quick scroll through #FantasyFootball Twitter will typically lead to at least one content creator pleading with the universe to provide them with a full-time career in “The industry”. While I might not be a full-time content creator, I have used my soon-to-be five years of fantasy football experience to land my dream job. I’m not writing this to brag or seak a pat on the back. I hope to provide another perspective on the benefits of working in “The industry”.

My Story

My story begins in January 2017. My identical twin boys were then 6 months old and my wife’s perfectly planned out maternity leave was coming to an end. We decided it was best for me to take a leave of absence from my teaching job at a charter school in West Harlem instead of my wife taking more time from her job. In between feedings and turning our small New York City apartment living room into a ninja baby obstacle course, naptime was a welcome reprieve to finish chores and contemplate jumping into the world of fantasy football writing. I had been playing fantasy football since 2003 and had listened to the Fantasy Footballers podcast during my commute to work for some time. Their story inspired me to take the leap and the ‘At Home Dad’ was born, hence my Twitter name @FFTheAtHomeDad.

I did what I assumed everyone in my situation did and created an objectively crappy WordPress site to start collecting my thoughts. One of my first articles was “Why I Traded a 3rd-Round Pick for Tyler Lockett”.  This was long before he blew up and has since been the focus of my Median Points Per Game crusade. Within a few months, I saw a Twitter post calling for writers. Aaron Schill was the first real connection I made via Twitter as he was the one that brought me to his old website, FFDynasty260, and we still work together now. If you’re new to the space, it’s worth knowing that you might spend some time grinding out articles for free or for $10 per article, depending on where you can get a foot in the door at. Personally, I have grown to now work for various websites in several different capacities from writing and podcasting to data work. 

Data-Driven Analysis

For years I had been a proponent of data-driven instruction in education, a rather simplistic idea that espouses knowing what is causing students’ struggles so you can better address the issues. I returned from my leave at a new school and in a new role that demanded more robust data literacy and data skills. Simultaneously, I was growing my data skills for fantasy football. I had access to so many numbers but didn’t have the ability to quickly find what I was looking for. I frequently told myself “There has to be a better way.” This led to numerous Google searches and YouTube videos about various formulas. After I learned a skill for fantasy football, I was able to translate that skill to my daily work. My daily work would then lead me to a new skill that would boost my abilities in working with football data. 

For three years this symbiotic relationship grew stronger as I expanded my resume of data skills. However, data skills weren’t the only thing that I was developing. I was using my writing and podcasting experiences to improve my communication skills. I became better able to create context connections with my audience whether that was someone reading an article or presenting to a room full of teachers eager to learn where they could better work with their students. 

In the first few months of the Pandemic, I saw an opportunity to once again broaden my reach and began learning more robust data languages like SQL, R, and Python. With these new skills, even still in their infancy, padding my resume, I able and was hired as the Director of Data Systems and Strategy for a charter school network in New York City. 

Dream Jobs

Five years ago, I never would have imagined that this would be my “dream job” or that my life would even go in that direction. I have fantasy football to thank for being the catalyst for this change. Despite not having a full-time fantasy football career, I am extremely grateful for fantasy football providing me with a full-time dream job. The main point that I hope you all might take away is this: Whether you’re in this fantasy football “Industry” as a hobby, in hopes of a full-time position, or somewhere in between, be sure to take a minute and recognize everything that you’ve learned along the way. You might find that the skills and time that you’ve spent in this space could lead to something just as valuable or even better than a full-time position in fantasy football.

Seth’s work can be found with our friends over at FantasyData, right here at Faceoff Sports Network, and on his podcast The Fantasy FAQs.

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