In Data Science but feeling lack of impact. Jump ship to PM?
Working at a Series C startup as a data scientist, however most work is analyst type. I build dashboards in SQL, perform analyses on products etc, do time Series forecasting, experimental design and also inference via ML. I have become quite frustrated w feeling a lack of impact (only in job for ~7 months post MS) as I hand off reports, etc and usually not involved in helping change or improve whatever I was analyzing. Some people comment on how invaluable I am but I feel my role is very transactional and I wish I could be involved in strategy, planning, etc. something to pull on the creative juices. Should I consider a move in to PM so I can feel like I’m making a difference or might it just be my current company/situation and do I instead double down on DS? If I move into PM, will I sacrifice better comp in the future? Currently at 120k, 30k rsu. Many thanks
Instead of doing what they ask you to do, turn the tables on them. If you think you are good at "analyses" then take your findings/actionable insights and shove them down the throat of your relevant stakeholders. They have a fancy word for it "socializing" your findings. Jump a level and go straight to people who actually can take some action based on your findings. Most management level people think data is just dashboards and daily reports and if you are at the position to change that then do something proactively. Maybe one day you'll find yourself leading an analytics team at the same company.
PM is a very different role than what you are describing. I’m not sure the skill sets are transferable - especially at your level which is basically entry level
By the way, sounds like you’re doing more of a Data Analyst or Business Analyst role, rather than a Data Scientist
This is true, which is somewhat unfortunate as I don’t get to improve on the harder skills unless I get through the grunt work first
Where did you go to school? My old company DS were rockstars. What they did definitely made an impact because it changed how business approaches a problem. But they are still working on changing company mindset in how to approach the problem from the beginning. You can use this as an opportunity to build out a team or jump ship to another data driven company
Did you talk to your manager/founder or they are too busy? Sounds like they are treating you as Data/Machine Learning engineer instead of Data Insight manager. Given that it’s a startup, can you ask to provide insight and analysis or work with market research to make your analysis more impactful?
I see. I think DS is the way to go but many companies (Adobe included in some departments) can’t tell a difference between data analyst and data scientists. Even in a good company, you might be partnered with people who can’t leverage data science in the right way and you might end up doing 80% of data engineering/visualization works. Maybe try to learn as much as you can then and if things don’t change, you can start researching and exploring companies that are data driven and heavily invested in ml AI products. Perhaps look at DS opportunity in a product group instead of marketing or other supporting orgs in a bigger company.
Recruit me and together we can make an impact on the dark side
Having worked at a company which valued data, our data scientists were God's. Probably got more respect than I did as a PM. All about being in the right org.
Go deeper, change the dynamic. Give them more than they want. Use data models to answer questions they haven’t even thought to ask. You don’t have to approach the role as order taker...in my experience you can make the job meaningful by showing what you can do.
Are there other DS on your team or you are fighting on your own? Not sure about the management in your company, but I’m always very cautious about small startups. I went through one about two years ago, I told them what they wanted to build at that time was not really practical given the resources and budget they are willing to invest, and guess what, they fired me, after joining for 3wks, with no notice
You need to quit because your company is not data driven. Instead of becoming a talking head in a data illiterate company, a move that'll end your career right there, just move to a company that values data science. If your company let the janitor make impactful decisions, would you transition to janitor or GTFO of that company?
Whoa. Would love to hear other opinions given the extreme move that would be. Won’t hit 1 year for another 4-5 months. Would look bad if I jumped ship having been in a role less than 1 year after grad school?
Wait until the 1 year cliff then GTFO.