Career switch at 50lpa

[lazar]

I work as a Senior AI scientist in one of biggest IT firm with 50+lpa INR yearly package which is quite high for an Indian. However, now I am not motivated anymore. It’s mostly implementation that I have to do and very little research as top research in the field is done only in 2-3 firms which believe me are way far ahead of the world and not possible to catchup due to resource constraints.

Anyways, lately I have been thinking to completely switch my career to something more challenging where there will be high learning curve for me - mainly I am thinking about investment banking.

In the past as well I have done similar switch. I did my bachelors in computer science and worked as a python developer for 2 years. But then I was bored so I did devops job for almost a year but was again bored. That’s when I explored data science as it involves reading a lot of research papers and I enjoy it. But now again I am bored as I feel the job part is really easy and actual research is not possible. I have few patents and papers but that doesn’t fascinates me like the top researchers of open ai or google brain are doing.

But I don’t know if I should really leave my high paying job and a very promising career. I am afraid I might again be bored in 2-3 years.

I am 28 year old, have parents, sister and wife as dependents. I can’t share my feeling with family it will just worry them so reddit only seem option to express and get other perspectives.

Edit: I see few comments and DMs seeking guidance for ML carrer
1. Do andrew ng’s old course on coursera/YT on ML for maths intuition and fundamentals
2. Keep yourself updated on latest research papers as it is quickly evolving. Usually there is something huge every 4-5 years(earlier it was transformer is 2018 now it’s LLM, next could be multimodal)
3. For beginners, try kaggles to improve data centric approaches and just to tryout models

Edit 2: People asking how to get to such package
1. I did 2 switches in 5yrs
2. It’s mainly cracking interviews in top tier companies. They give huge base as well as RSUs which increases packages a lot
Data scientist is high paying jobs but lot of my college friends are earning in 30lpa range with other tech roles. Just focus ok cracking interviews and switching I guess every 2 years or so

 

[christmasmeat]

@lazar While challenges are needed to love the job, it should not come at the cost of work life balance; and investment banking is something that has the potential to ruin you. People choose it mostly for money, not anything else.

So what I’d suggest is:
- 90-10 projects
- executive mba (weekend only)
- data science competitions / hackathons
- become SME in your org and teach new joinees
- stock trading (with limited capital); it’s a good and challenging hobby
- algo trading (mix of everything, from python to data science to economics)

I’m suggesting all this hoping that you don’t neglect your health and family. Cz if that’s the case, I’d prioritise it over work related challenges.

In the end, it’s your life and only you know best.

 

[lazar]

@christmasmeat Thanks so much dude. Stock trading is something I was thinking as well. I can use my analytical thinking and money could be reward stimulant. All your points are super valid and made my post worthy!

 

[bolarint]

@lazar Also try to learn about personal knowledge management.

So that you can use obsidian as your note taking all,

Design your lifestyle and frame digitally.

Write ideas, notes,

If possible, try to implement zettelkasten system in it by using the software's bi directional linking feature

Create a lot of .md files, use them for your own knowledge database and experiment with automate your personal knowledge system since you already have very deep experience with AI.

With the continuous feed of content from every corner, creating our own system and system of thoughts would help you to find new ideas and work on it as a producer of something and can track them.

 

[brookelowe454]

@lazar I’ll give you a term, “algo trading”, you can spend hours and hours and days on it without getting bored because it’s fun to fine tune models and trying to compete against market. Atleast as a dev I enjoy it.

 

[thechristenedviking]

@brookelowe454 I'm a stock trader,
I want to learn algorithmic trading, build my algorithms, Which courses should I do?

I know pine script of TradingView but that limits my ideas and executions.

I'm learning Python at present to foray into algo trading to build my own system for using Broker API.

Suggest me: What courses on YTube or Udemy would be helpful?

 

[y%C5%8Duhance_24]

@lazar I second stock trading. Believe me so many ppl in this world would die of boredom if not for the stock market. Invest and don't trade or yolo around... The rewards and overall satisfaction of seeing it grow makes you feel fullfilled. Also only if you know what you are getting into go into offspring mode. Else wait. Right now you are too comfortable in your life and all variables are taken care. If you close your eyes you don't have any suprised hence you have so much time to think. Which is a good place to be in. Where you go from here is all dependent on your actions. The thirties will kill you more as you realise your body is starting to peak and you are slowly dying... Love a little. Don't chase after money.... Go out and eat different food, make life and memories !!!

 

[lazar]

@y%C5%8Duhance_24 Cool.. thnx

 

[christmasmeat]

@lazar Happy to help

 

[victoria4grace]

@christmasmeat This is really a good advice. Someone give him gold

 

[petercouture]

@christmasmeat Thanks for this. Can apply partially in my life as well

 

[christmasmeat]

@petercouture

 

[xuyen]

@lazar Investment banking, in the truest sense, you will not be able to crack. It requires a ton of business skills and business school background and even then requires years. Unlike software, you actually need to produce money for the firm to rise up the ranks.

But if you mean being in some trading team etc for some desk doing rates or commodities, sure. They check for smartness and decent coding and math skills which I am very sure you possess to have come this far.

It's glamorous from the outside but damn challenging. Need to wake up n be in office by 7am on most days as desks brief starts around 7.20am.

 

[lazar]

@xuyen Thnx for insights

 

[arustadb]

@lazar Bro you are at a very good package based on your age. (somewhat jealous too )
Maybe you can explore other stuff without quiting your job? There is literally so much to go through, not really sure how you are so bored already. Maybe try getting a hobby or so and take the work part in a much relaxing way and enjoy the learning process more.

 

[lazar]

@arustadb The field is good. The jobs in the field are sadly not.

 

[dsts]

@lazar How about joining OpenAI? They are mostly the lead in AI research. Might be a good place for you to actually do research and actually create new stuff rather than implementation

 

[arustadb]

@lazar I used to have thing for it in my college days then one day I realised whatever I know is just the libraries(which I do like) and how we can make stuff out of it but not really the actual mathematical stuff from where it is derived from(no interest too). It was the D day for me. Done for life.

 

[living_abundantly]

@arustadb

(somewhat jealous too )

You serious that you're only "SOMEWHAT" jealous, dam bro, I can't even imagine how it would be if someone getting 50+ LPA at age 28.

 

[arustadb]

@living_abundantly That much jealousy is not good for overall mental health. Some is fine as it acts like a motivational thing. Trust youself, we will be there soon.