I am an NIT graduate with 7 YOE as a data scientist in India. My TC with current employer(dunnhumby) is 25L (22.5 + 2.5) and I make around 4L per month after taxes through freelancing work, because of extremely good work life balance. However, doing full time job and freelancing is exhausting and I know I can't do it forever. Looking for suggestions on what should be next career move, getting a DS job in Google etc? keep doing this for the time being? Any other suggestions?
OP what do you freelance as to generate such a high monthly income?
I do ML/DL work for individuals I meet on a freelancing platform
Oh, so like at upwork and fiverr kinda thing. What I would recommend if you really can scale it up to 8L is to go full time freelancing
Quit and freelance full time..
My concern is that freelance is not lifetime long option, it may end as soon as the platform bans my account for whatever reason, which I have seen happening to a friend.
Hi OP, would you please elaborate on freelancing work and the portal you use. I am also exploring freelancing in ML but haven't found a break yet. Your insights will be very helpful
Sure. I use codementor.io However, they have a very strict selection process and you would have to build your profile slowly to get this type of income
Thanks! If you need referral at Adobe for DS positions let me know :)
Your fear of the portal randomly banning you is true. Highly unlikely if you are not at fault, but not impossible. Happened with me once. Lost all the ratings, reviews and reputations I built over 2 years. And at that point I simply left freelancing. But with the kind of money you are making it may be worthwhile the risk. If I were you, more than money I would see my peace of mind. If due to freelancing I would be having insecurities daily, probably not worth it for me. But depends on what your short term and long term goals are and what you want to trade off for money.
If you are moving to fang, also consider their strict non-compete policies. Consulting/freelancing is explicitly forbidden in their employment contract. Exceptions are possible, but you would need multiple approvals internally and even then they can claim all IP that you make (even if it was done outside office hours, without office equipment).
I am not sure even the current org allows it, I just started it without telling anyone about it in office. Could it be a problem?
Think about that you want in the long term. If you want to be a consultant at the end, go for it. Outside your current codementor platform, you will need to build a brand for yourself to eventually grow your consulting business If you’re planning on also keeping a full time job through this, it will be almost impossible to keep your freelancing a secret. At best, they will warn/stop you. At worst, they might fire you or even press charges legally for IP theft (since you technically work for them)
Still working at dunnhumby?
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I am also considering doing freelancing full time making it 8L per month or moving abroad (but don't have a clear path on how?)