212: I Quit My Six-Figure Data Science Job. Was It Worth It?

I started my career as a chemical lab technician, and I absolutely hated my job.

I learned about data science and got immediately hooked.

I was like, "Wow, this is the coolest thing ever.

I wanna become a data scientist." And I worked really hard to learn all the stuff I need to learn to become a data scientist.

And I ultimately landed a six-figure job at ExxonMobil, which utilized my chemistry background.

To be a data scientist, I moved from Utah to Texas to work at their headquarters there, and it was a great job.

It was awesome.

I got paid over six figures.

I got a really cushy desk job.

I literally never worked over forty hours a week.

Um, I liked my coworkers.

I liked the campus that we were on.

Everything was really great, and I had my dream data scientist life.

And that's how everything was until it wasn't, and everything went wrong, and I was absolutely miserable.

Although everything on the outside looked amazing, and it was, I really wasn't fulfilled at my job for a couple different reasons.

But basically, I thought I was a really good contributor.

I thought I had really good ideas.

I thought I was bringing a lot to the table and, uh, not a lot of that was getting reflected at the company, and I grew really tired and sick of it.

For example, earlier, I had built an app that they, not me, had deemed worth over a billion dollars.

And yes, that's B with a billion dollars.

And I don't feel like I was getting the ownership or the credit that I did on this entire project.

I had also started to post a lot on LinkedIn and become kind of a thought leader in terms of data analytics plus oil and gas, and I-- my posts started getting recognized by people at Exxon.

So for example, a VP of Exxon saw one of my posts, reached out to me, and was like, "Hey, I wanna talk to you about data analytics at ExxonMobil." And I said, "Great.

My manager and I would love to do that with you," because keep in mind, I'm an individual contributor.

I'm not a manager.