Career Change and Guidance required

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#1

Hi All,

Good to e-connect with you and to see such an exciting and engaging community.
I am thinking of a career change towards Data Science from Management Consulting / Investment Banking.

I am kind of stuck with a career in Management Consulting and some tech knowledge…but unable to make a successful transition.

I am currently 36, have a kid and not sure if I can successfully manage a transition to DS. Let me share my education background and experience…I have done B.Tech (Computer science) back in 2005 and did MS Finance from a good B-school in Europe.

Post B.Tech (2005), I didn’t work much in Tech as it somehow didn’t interest me and was following the herd mentality of getting an MBA (2010) and a better salary. I had a good start to my Management Consulting career and worked with Big-4 and other top consulting firms for 5-6 years and reach mid-level management position. However…from inside…I really didn’t enjoy the job as it was mostly cut-copy-paste from industry reports…management jargon and lot of BS.

This was 2016 and this is where things get tricky :slight_smile:
I left my job…learned full-stack development and created an online price comparison E-commerce platform. However…it wasn’t doing that well commercially and had to shut it post investing nearly 2.5 years.

Post that, I applied for tech-related roles but mostly got “Profile not suitable” reply from recruiters…as 6 years of investment banking experience over-shadowed 2.5 years of own startup experience.

I rejoined my ex-employer as I have to pay my bills…and fully knew that Management consulting is not something that I enjoy doing. Tried to fit in the job again…but eventually the tech thirst drove me to learn DS and ML.

Currently…I am very much motivated to learn as I did before…but the main question is “Will I be able to make a successful transition to DS? and How can I make one?”

I am aiming to use my previous Consulting knowledge and looking to transition into a Data + Strategy kind of role to help business understand DS better and get more value from data.

These days…I am navigating between learning DS and doing my Management consulting job. Not sure…for how long it will last :slight_smile:

It will be really great if you have similar kind of stories to share and learn from.

Thanks,
A

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#2

Hello,

I cannot say that I can completely relate to your situation, however, I understand you and what you might be going through and I’d like to let you know that sometimes your family, sometimes your friends and sometimes as some stranger here, no matter who we are, we are rooting for you. It’s your right to demand a job that you enjoy working at. Hang in there!

For my story, I am only 20 years old. I don’t have as much experience in life and other matters as you do. So you are at least one step ahead of one of your fellow aspiring data scientists! :innocent: I’ve been a student of linguistics for two years now, I’ve decided to drop out this year. I felt pretty lost, struggled with some mental health issues for a while, even shed some kidney stones and grown my wisdom teeth at the same time. A few months ago, I was in a really bad state, health-wise, mentally and physically. I sincerely hope that you, and other people on their ways to find their places in this world, don’t get to struggle like I did.

I’ve been an English teacher for a while when I decided to drop out of Linguistics and find my way from there. I didn’t have a plan, though. I’m glad that you have already set a goal before taking a drastic action like quitting job, etc… Which makes you 2 steps ahead! That’s a great way to go!

When I first got into Data Science, I started looking for any resources that could be helpful. The problem is there’s a lot of them, which slowed me down. For a while, I only searched for new resources until I received my DataQuest mail. (This sounded like the Hogwarts mail, so cool!) After that, I kept studying here 1-2 hours each day, it took me around a month to make this into a habit. Before sleep, I started going through some data science subreddits, I think this subreddit over here could be what you’re looking for.

What I’d recommend you do is that taking 1-2 hours every day that you have the chance to study while keeping your job. For interview preparations, you can use Leetcode and there are many Youtube channels that do mock interviews with FAANG interviewers etc… And since you come from a financial/investment background, you must have some maths background as well, which makes you 3 steps ahead of me!

Don’t let go, I know this might not be easy but you can make this last! I will be rooting for you. Hang in there!

Best,
Dilara

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#3

Dear Dilara,

Thanks a lot for sharing your story and motivation. Also, really appreciate the links of websites you have shared.

Wish you good luck and success!

Regards,
A

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#4

Ankurdhamija, your 6 years of management consulting are a SUPERPOWER in data science. You can absolutely do the transition - working in that industry for years, having technical degrees gave you all the basis and the proof you need that you can be quantitative. But what - with respect - most DS juniors lack is the connection to the business, the way to present analysis (I write about that a bit in https://www.educated-guess.com/posts/missing-piece-in-analytics-socializing-insights – that’s exactly the type of gap that exists in the industry between data scientists who know analysis and those who understand the consumers of analysis are the MBA type executives). You just need to find the right place where a more business-centric operational analytics is valued. I don’t know where you’re based but I would look at tech companies like Deliveroo/Lyft/Oyo/… with a high level of operations to them.

All the best in your transition and search!

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#5

Dear Nimster,

Thanks a lot for your inputs and suggestions. I completely agree with you that Business + Tech is the position I should be aiming for.

I aim to use the Consulting Experience + Tech skills to help demonstrate how I can add value in solving actual business problems via AI/ML.

Have a good day!

Regards,
A