Sunday, October 5, 2025

Why I Give up My 6 Determine Facet Hustle for a Full-Time Information Science Job


Why I Give up My 6 Determine Facet Hustle for a Full-Time Information Science Job
Picture by Creator | Ideogram

 

Introduction

 
Once I first began my information science profession in 2020, the sphere was booming. All over the place you appeared, corporations have been hiring information professionals. At the moment, I constructed an information science portfolio and managed to land a number of high-paying shoppers.

I might write information science content material, akin to white papers, articles, and technical documentation — which paid between USD $500 and $1,000 for 2 days of labor. I constructed easy machine studying fashions and carried out analyses utilizing instruments like Tableau and Energy BI. As shoppers began recommending my work and leaving optimistic critiques, I landed extra tasks. I labored 5 to six hours every day from my sofa and was utterly distant.

Not too long ago, nonetheless, I’ve modified issues up.

I’ve give up just a few freelance jobs for a full-time information science place — one the place I’m going to the workplace each day and work double the hours. And no, it is not as a result of the job pays extra. The truth is, I made more cash as a contract information scientist than I do now.

So why did I change from a cushty, high-paying freelance job to a full-time place that pays much less?

Learn on and you will find out the three high considerations that led me to taking this motion.

 

1. Constructing Technical Expertise

 
Once I labored for myself, I spotted I would hit a plateau in studying technical expertise. I used to be working extra like a machine, producing repetitive outcomes for a similar freelance shoppers. This meant that I not solely labored much less, however my technical information had reached a standstill.

A actuality test got here after I attended a good tech convention and networked with different information professionals. I spotted I hadn’t saved up with a lot of the know-how they mentioned. These information professionals have been constructing AI brokers and retrieval-augmented technology (RAG) techniques, whereas I used to be refreshing the identical dashboard for the hundredth time and writing white papers on Python for information science.

Do not get me incorrect — an information scientist’s worth is within the outcomes they drive, and in lots of instances, fancy instruments like giant language fashions (LLMs) are akin to utilizing a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Nevertheless, I lacked fundamental information of instruments that have been on the forefront of tech corporations, and that scared me. I’ve witnessed firsthand how complacency and the unwillingness to adapt to new instruments has rendered tech staff out of date.

 

2. Being Paid to Study

 
At my present full-time job, there are coaching programs led by AI consultants that train you to combine LLMs into your information science workflows. Common hackathons with groups like information and software program engineering assist you to achieve talent units that transcend your scope of labor. There are peer-led tutorial periods virtually each week the place different workforce members stroll you thru an issue they solved and present you how one can construct the same venture. This protects a ton of time and teaches you excess of most on-line programs.

A full-time job is the one place the place you be taught on any individual else’s dime, as an alternative of getting to enroll your self in a $1,000 bootcamp.

Once I centered solely on freelance work, two issues occurred:

  1. Firstly, I wasn’t incentivized to be taught new issues until a consumer had an issue that required me to upskill.
  2. If I did need to be taught one thing new, I usually paid for a web-based course.

And if I bought caught or did not perceive one thing, I did not have anybody round who might assist me grasp the idea.

 

3. AI-Proofing My Profession

 
This may be controversial to some, however the greatest cause I bought a full-time information science job is as a result of I consider it is going to assist safe my profession from AI. And whereas this may sound counterintuitive, hear me out.

With my freelance job, this is what I realized:

  • Learn how to use my present expertise to resolve the consumer’s drawback
  • Gathering consumer necessities and utilizing them to resolve a selected technical problem

Nevertheless, with a full-time job at a big tech firm, my scope now entails:

  • Gathering a enterprise requirement and dealing with groups like product, design, and engineering to show it into an information drawback
  • Making key product selections
  • Understanding how the corporate’s information warehouse works and utilizing it to construct information pipelines
  • Constructing relationships with stakeholders and friends

With freelance work, you usually remedy a focused technical drawback for the corporate — akin to constructing a dashboard and refreshing it each quarter, or making a machine studying mannequin for a selected use case. The necessities are clearly specified, and also you simply have to deal with execution together with your technical expertise.

Nevertheless, AI is democratizing technical expertise.

It permits individuals who do not know how one can code to construct purposes. Individuals who do not know SQL can simply write a question and create a complete dashboard. As AI continues to democratize technical expertise, the worth of knowledge science freelancers will possible decline. The pay will lower, and the area will turn out to be extra aggressive.

Conversely, a company function is multifaceted. It requires much more collaboration, area experience, vital considering, and understanding of the enterprise. As you climb the info science company ladder and attain increased positions throughout the firm, you may turn out to be harder to switch (at the same time as AI fashions get higher). Additionally, you’ll be able to transition to roles like enterprise analyst or product supervisor and even negotiate increased salaries. To place it merely, there are numerous methods to maneuver ahead in a company function. You may oversee information options and drive enterprise worth in ways in which do not overlap with AI’s capabilities.

Then again, working a contract job the place the one worth you deliver is your technical talent places you in a weak place.

For that cause, I’ve determined to prioritize long-term profession security over short-term earnings. I selected a lower-paying full-time job over freelance information science roles to construct a set of expertise that may hold me related within the subsequent decade, no matter how AI impacts the technical aspect of the occupation.

 

Abstract

 
To summarize, I give up my snug, high-paying freelance roles to take a way more demanding full-time information science job. And I did it for the next causes:

  • To be taught technical expertise at a quicker tempo
  • To climb the company ladder and prioritize long-term monetary stability over short-term earnings
  • To safe my profession from AI by gaining expertise and studying expertise that can not be changed (akin to enterprise and product information, stakeholder administration, and demanding considering)

YMMV, nonetheless, so I encourage you to do your personal analysis. Drop a remark beneath when you really feel you’ve got precious perception for others.
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Natassha Selvaraj is a self-taught information scientist with a ardour for writing. Natassha writes on every part information science-related, a real grasp of all information matters. You may join along with her on LinkedIn or take a look at her YouTube channel.

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