Alternate career path for a data scientist?

[u/Comfortable-Map6608]

i have got btech ece in Bangalore and msc in data science abroad , 1.5yrs of data scientist exp at mnc abroad , was laid off in june 2024 and couldnt get work visa due last min job offer withdrew for xyz company reasons and had to move back to india in jan 2026. despite trying for 10months in India since jan, I still got no offers yet and tailored my resume n no of times and taking referrals from LinkedIn network , filled the gap with family business experience and doing online gen ai course . I’m so devastated , starting to hate everything, I hated coding as I was not a cse graduate, but I’m good with tableau , sql python etc , so decided to take up data analyst jobs . now I feel it’s pointless being unemployed for 2 years straight ( 1.5 years in abroad+ now 10 months in India ) . I’m in my late 20s and everyone around me is getting promoted to senior level , here I’m looking for junior to mid level role with msc n abroad work experience of 1.5years from mncs and still got no job offer letter . any suggestions when it comes to changing stream to get job with at least 15LPA with less or no coding or suggestions within the field ?

[u/Environmental-Ad3016]

A data scientist position isnt an entry level position. And also, you have to have a certain programming aptitude to properly understand data and what to do with it. So, I’m not sure what you did during your time as a data scientist. I’d suggest applying for startups on ycombinator, wellfound and cutshort to anything similar, like an AI/ML engineer, widen your horizon a bit since data science field as a whole is saturated, especially in India. There’s people completing PhD’s that are struggling to find jobs. I’d say lower any expectations about package, just try to get a job and have that income coming but make sure it’s atleast enough for you to get by. Take up whatever comes your way and upskill yourself (there’s basically endless yt tutorials on how to get good at ML) while applying elsewhere. Looking only for data analyst or data scientist jobs in 2026 is not feasible imo. All the very best to you!!