I’ve slowly become disillusioned with data science after working in the field since grad school, and it seems like this is a common sentiment that’s not shared by other roles in tech companies, like SWE. In short, it seems like data science roles I’ve had are basically more about providing some psychological comfort in the form of numbers as opposed to doing anything scientific (STEM PhD, so I basically was trained to be as scientific as possible throughout my academic career). Anything complicated or rigorous or isn’t immediately obvious will have a hard time getting “buy-in” so ultimately I’ve realized the best way to do anything is to throw out everything I’ve ever liked or appreciated about statistics and keep things as simple as possible (which makes me wonder why I was ever hired in the first place). While the pay is nice, I’m seriously considering leaving altogether. Is anyone else in this position? If so, where are you looking to leave toward?
