To the Makeover Monday Community: Goodbye and Thank you!

Before

After

It was nothing fancy (I didn't even know how to take a decent screenshot) and it was the start of something that has been a huge part of my life since. Fast forward to today (3 Dec 2019) and over 40% of my blog posts have been makeovers. 

My first “official” Makeover Monday was on 28 April 2014. 292 weeks have passed and I’ve completed 344 Makeover Mondays. I'm not boasts, rather I hope this shows you how with some focused time each week, your skills can improve very quickly.

My debut was a makeover about beer prices in Major League Baseball.

Before

After

Again, not great, but everyone starts somewhere. 

So why am I writing about this? Well, my time leading Makeover Monday has come to its natural end.

Leading Makeover Monday as a Community project for the last four years (2016 with Andy Cotgreave, 2017-2019 with Eva Murray) has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me. The fact that 1700 people turned up for a MM Live at TC19 simply astounds me. There have been thousands and thousands of vizzes created. Hundreds of people have used MM to get a new job. I was able to write a book with Eva; writing a book had been a goal of mine for a very long time.

I have lots of other things going on in my life that I want to give more attention to. For example,

1. Spending time with my kids is my highest priority and even if it’s just a few more hours per week, that’s still a few more hours per week than I currently get with them. 
2. I’m training for Challenge Roth, my first full distance triathlon. This will obviously take up A LOT of time. 
3. I want more time to continue to create new content for The Data School. We have lots in store and I’m excited about the possibilities.

I’m going to miss you all, but I won’t be far away. I’m fairly certain I’ll participate every week. Feel free to tag me in your work.

Taking my place is the only person (other than me) that has completed EVERY Makeover Monday since 2016... Charlie Hutcheson. Give him a follow on Twitter and check out his incredible portfolio on Tableau Public (382 vizzes and counting). 

I believe this is the right time to give Charlie the exposure he deserves and let him shine. He’s a very close friend of mine and even lets me bully him into doing races with me that he clearly had no interest in doing! 

Charlie has been helping Eva with the Weekly Viz Reviews this year as often as he could. Charlie’s style, communication, and patience will continue to help Makeover Monday evolve.

I will miss you all and I’ll miss Makeover Monday. I have one lesson to leave you with,


Learning more will never let you down.

Gratefully yours,

Andy