data science freelancing/skill development

yoe: <1 year tc: 58k hey blind took a role as a data analyst after college with promises of exposure to SQL, hadoop, and other data science technologies. so far ive found myself rebuilding decks for 10 hours a day with no utilization of the skills I was hoping to continue to develop and feel like im losing my touch. what are the best resources to continue to develop as a data scientist and what is the best way to freelance/contract as a data scientist? thanks