Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#1

Post by Andy320 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 1:27 AM UTC

I have been working as a data scientist at a large healthcare company for a few months. The pay and benefits are great, but there is nothing to do. Days go on without a project, or an email or a meeting.

In some ways it is great. Since I work from home, everyday is like a holiday. I have small kids at home and I am making good use of this flexibility.

My career is stalling though. I started doing Kaggle competitions and code challenges to stay sharp, but without stimulus, I am losing motivation for that.

What would you do in my situation? Change job? keep quiet and enjoy the ride while it lasts? Reach out and ask where I can be useful?

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#2

Post by hizxy » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:14 AM UTC

Depends on your mental health and your desire to “advance” (whatever that means to you). No shame in riding it out and chilling but, also, it’s ok to move on.

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#3

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:16 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#4

Post by glanard_frugner » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:27 AM UTC

can we trade?

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#5

Post by imperistan » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:44 AM UTC

I would ask where I could be useful. Bore-out is bad, I think it can give you real mental health struggles

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#6

Post by matt123456789 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 6:46 AM UTC

Great pay, benefits, time to spend with your family. Nice gig. Investors can’t shovel money into life sciences companies fast enough right now, all of which are hiring data science and data engineering. So look around if you must, but I would just enjoy the balance while I can, you’ll be ok in the end.

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#7

Post by rizzaxc » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 7:05 AM UTC

you can brainstorm ideas for a project related to your work, then take it up management. if good enough booom you've just promoted yourself and have stuff to do at the same time

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#8

Post by jpau » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 7:07 AM UTC

I'd start with goals. Take some time (you have it available!) to think about what you'd like to achieve at different levels, such as: - In your career - In this field - At this company

Then break them down, and then break them down again. What can you do, in bite-sizes pieces, to move towards them?

But I wouldn't stress too much. Remember back to when you were busy, and how much of that became growth. If you're like most people, it wasn't very much.

Use the time to achieve what _you_ want, but don't forget to enjoy it too :)

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#9

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 7:30 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Seeking advice: Cush job without much learning

#10

Post by jstx1 » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 7:35 AM UTC

The answer hinges on the expectations that the company has from you.

If you and/or your work somehow slipped through the cracks and you know this but you're keeping quiet and staying low while there's actual work to be done - stop and find the most tactful way to start doing some actual work.

On the other hand, if the company is aware of how little work you're doing and they're happy to keep you on[1], in that case you can look for extra projects at work (they don't need to fill all of your time), spend time learning things you're interested in (related to work or not) and spend time with your kids completely guilt-free.

If you're early in your career, at some point it might make sense to leave and go somewhere where you'll learn more from actual work.

[1] Yes, this really happens. Maybe they expect future projects, or still building the team, or there are some org changes coming up, or they care about appearances and want to be able to say that they have a data scientist on a given team.