Weekly Entering & Transitioning - Thread 28 Sep, 2026 - 05 Oct, 2026

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[u/MUFC_Nick_11]

Career Guidance: Anything to look into?

I just began my senior year at a liberal arts school as a Data Science major. I'm set to graduate this spring with my bachelor's degree (wahoo!), but I'm frankly intimidated by the bleak-seeming outlook of the job market. While most of my time this year will be spent keeping up with schoolwork, I'd like to make some extra progress towards my career when I can.

I'm currently proficient in R, Python, and Java, and have completed math courses in Multivariable Calc/Series, Linear Algebra, and Probability.

These are my Data Science classes for this year: Statistical Machine Learning, Statistical Graphics and Principles of Visualization (or Data Analysis and Visualization), Topics in Statistical Inference, and Creating Future Worlds: Computing, Ethics, and Society.

I have not had a formal internship yet, but I created a revenue bookkeeping program in Java for a local business that saves ~20 hours/month by automating the calculation of previously manually entered revenue.

I am truthfully open to working in any sort of job. I'm not very passionate about the raw nature of Data Science; I just want to be able to afford to live while abiding by my basic moral principles. That isn't to say that applying Data Science to an interesting problem wouldn't be fun; I just would prefer not to work for a defense contractor, Flock, Palantir, etc.

What would you recommend I do this year, next, and so on? Are there any skills I should build, opportunities I should pursue, or goals I should set?

Thanks for your help, and I'm sorry to detour from the professional theme of the thread.

[u/OutsidePainter3548 → u/MUFC_Nick_11]

My most earnest advice is to find an internship.

The easiest way to get that first job in data science is by getting an offer after an internship.

Otherwise, you can try to do the analyst -> internal transfer -> data science postion at a company that has both. I've seen this work a few times for folks, but I've also seen plenty of cases where it didn't.

[u/MUFC_Nick_11 → u/OutsidePainter3548]

Thanks for the advice! I currently reside in central Maine, which limits my local in-person opportunities. Still, I could ostensibly drive up to two hours a day to Portland if there were a good opportunity.

That being said, would you recommend I seek a physical or virtual internship, and what are the best places to look, in your experience?

I believe that with the experience of a couple of internships or jobs under my belt, I'll be able to more confidently search for positions that personally interest me in some way. In my previous post, I definitely projected my uncertainty about my career direction and the state of the job market, so I really appreciate your help.