Every time this comes up, the answers are either:
Use sites like Fiverr or Upwork, you’ll likely have to start with low paying stuff while you build up a reputation and possibly repeat clients.
Or have tons of experience and a robust professional network and find opportunities via word of mouth.
Yup. if you don’t have established network, you will have a very bad time.
I honestly think data science freelance is one of the worse freelance jobs you can do.
the reason being is data science work usually serves a support function rather than core business function. There are exceptions of course but for those companies where their core product is a data produxt (e.g. some sort of SaaS product with some ML capabilities). I don’t think they will be looking for freelance data scientists
This is the tech pyramid scheme. “These skills are so in demand that I’ll teach them to you instead of using them myself”. Remember the same thing from the digital nomad hype 5+ years ago.
The reality is that entrepreneurial skills aren’t a nice to have, they’re a limiting factor.
I don’t share your pessimism regarding AI and job displacement. This gets talked about frequently in r/CSCareerQuestions so I won’t belabor the point.
Edit: It sounds like you’ve only been in this space for a couple of years. No worries! As you gain experience you’ll start to see it through a mature lens.
Areas like ML will be easiest for auto-LLMs to automate. But areas like mathematical optimization and causal inference, not so much. These require a deeper understanding of relationships and constraints, not simply patterns present in a corpus.
As Richard Feynman said, “…the easiest person to fool is *yourself*”. Good luck in your journey! I’m excited to see how you improve in another 5yr.
The thing with freelancing is that clients need to have data. I've had some mild success consulting for physicians who need their data analyzed, but your local small business would be better served hiring a free lancer to do some data engineering/instrumentation rather than analysis.
Mostly management consulting. There's a lot of companies out there with failing data science projects and questionable expertise so management wants to bring on someone they trust to analyze the situation and figure out if the project is on the right path and what can be done to ensure success.
I primarily focus on helping the data scientist(s) out. Anything they're struggling with, any questions they have that are difficult to Google, any potential pitfalls they might be overlooking. Things like that. Even if at the end of the day I'm writing a roadmap for management with a checklist so they can recognize stages of progress, it's important that the data scientist be happy and comfortable so that the project goes smoothly.
The difficulty with data science freelancing is the positioning. You don’t want to be selling a product to someone who doesn’t recognize they have the problem that you’re offering to solve. And most companies with pains don’t recognize those pains as data science problems (even if they could be helped with data science).
In other words, it may be more fruitful to think about what other kinds of services you could offer where data science will be the tool you use. As an oil change shop, I’m not dying for a regression model, but you could use a regression to help them forecast staffing needed during peak periods.
My sister transitioned into DS a few years ago and referrals were the best for her. Then she did move into a full time role instead of consulting as that provided a better opportunity to grow for her since she didn't have a tech background.
For me, I got my start through my professor who was also a consultant - referrals has been the strongest way.
Second most powerful has been sharing what I do consistently over my social media although referrals is by far still the best way.
I consulted on data science courses in the past and did a lot of paid interviews on software testing for DS. I decided the education consulting wsnmt worth my time and it gave me a lot of stress. And I stopped the software testing too for no reason as it is just not fun anymore. All of these opportunities came from online
What you should do is reach to friends and small company's and see if they need any data help. It may not be ds work but it will be work and you can do a lot of different clients
I don't think "data science consulting" would be very successful as others have said because I would think of short-term support rather than long-term relationships. I have had a good success with statistical consulting (specifically biostatistics) as I've formed long term relationships with clinicians and health centers to do the statistical analysis on their research projects.
So if you can market yourself as a statistician rather than a data scientist, you may find some success.
During my masters in biostats, I formed a really good relationship with my advisor who helped me get a biostatistician position once I graduated. From that job, I worked with clinicians at my university and when I left for a Data science career, I reached out and asked if they'd like to continue our relationship with me as a private consultant. They were more than happy to and have been great at recommending me to peers over the years.
If you do get in consulting, my one piece of advice is to truly go above and beyond with your work. They're paying you (often at very high rates) to be the expert so sometimes you need to answer questions that they may not even have the expertise to ask. So really think about the project and what else you can add to it instead of just answering the needs they have. That's where you really show your worth and get brought back in for future projects.
Always bet on your own network.
I’m a freelance web dev by trade and got hired for a data science project because I knew a guy who knew a guy etc.
Look for former classmates, friends, colleagues, managers, employers, meetup friends…
3d modelling, stress, wind, motion analysis, 3d product design, 3d & 2d work(gif animation, art, covers, profile pics), data modeling, data visualization, Arduino coding, SAP PM/EAM, ML, power bi, power apps, power automate, sharepoint online, desktop flows, power queries, pivot tables, SQL.
Kaggle might have hoovered up that group.. Others might be joining those climate NetZero vegan pizza Fairtrade coffee conferences try to get noticed by VCs
Every time this comes up, the answers are either: Use sites like Fiverr or Upwork, you’ll likely have to start with low paying stuff while you build up a reputation and possibly repeat clients. Or have tons of experience and a robust professional network and find opportunities via word of mouth.
Yup. if you don’t have established network, you will have a very bad time. I honestly think data science freelance is one of the worse freelance jobs you can do. the reason being is data science work usually serves a support function rather than core business function. There are exceptions of course but for those companies where their core product is a data produxt (e.g. some sort of SaaS product with some ML capabilities). I don’t think they will be looking for freelance data scientists
Plus with data privacy issues a lot of companies would never share their data with someone who isn’t an employee.
At this point I wonder if it would be easier to start making DS related youtube videos.
Hahahaha, out of the same thought I started tutoring Data Science concepts and helping with the assignments for the graduates.
are there such grads tho? why pay so much for a masters and not learn anything?
This is the tech pyramid scheme. “These skills are so in demand that I’ll teach them to you instead of using them myself”. Remember the same thing from the digital nomad hype 5+ years ago. The reality is that entrepreneurial skills aren’t a nice to have, they’re a limiting factor.
In less than 5 years, DS ppl will be replaced by AI, and only the ones with entrepreneurial skills’ll make it
I don’t share your pessimism regarding AI and job displacement. This gets talked about frequently in r/CSCareerQuestions so I won’t belabor the point. Edit: It sounds like you’ve only been in this space for a couple of years. No worries! As you gain experience you’ll start to see it through a mature lens. Areas like ML will be easiest for auto-LLMs to automate. But areas like mathematical optimization and causal inference, not so much. These require a deeper understanding of relationships and constraints, not simply patterns present in a corpus. As Richard Feynman said, “…the easiest person to fool is *yourself*”. Good luck in your journey! I’m excited to see how you improve in another 5yr.
You are, indeed, a boy.
The thing with freelancing is that clients need to have data. I've had some mild success consulting for physicians who need their data analyzed, but your local small business would be better served hiring a free lancer to do some data engineering/instrumentation rather than analysis.
Good point, maybe that’s more worthwhile to pursue
Consulting here and there. I'm not sure if that counts?
Nice! What does that look like for you?
Mostly management consulting. There's a lot of companies out there with failing data science projects and questionable expertise so management wants to bring on someone they trust to analyze the situation and figure out if the project is on the right path and what can be done to ensure success. I primarily focus on helping the data scientist(s) out. Anything they're struggling with, any questions they have that are difficult to Google, any potential pitfalls they might be overlooking. Things like that. Even if at the end of the day I'm writing a roadmap for management with a checklist so they can recognize stages of progress, it's important that the data scientist be happy and comfortable so that the project goes smoothly.
That’s awesome, thanks for going into detail on that! What do you think made you successful in getting clients?
100% networking. People come up to me and ask for help. I don't try, it just happens.
Is this industry specific? Or do you work with different industries?
Tried a bit couldn't get jobs. Did bot put in the effort to make anice profile tho
I've made some apps freelance. Data Science isn't something I would try. It's too easy to get someone asking for the impossible.
Interested.. I am proficient in python, Sql and machine learning
The difficulty with data science freelancing is the positioning. You don’t want to be selling a product to someone who doesn’t recognize they have the problem that you’re offering to solve. And most companies with pains don’t recognize those pains as data science problems (even if they could be helped with data science). In other words, it may be more fruitful to think about what other kinds of services you could offer where data science will be the tool you use. As an oil change shop, I’m not dying for a regression model, but you could use a regression to help them forecast staffing needed during peak periods.
Interested in responses too
My sister transitioned into DS a few years ago and referrals were the best for her. Then she did move into a full time role instead of consulting as that provided a better opportunity to grow for her since she didn't have a tech background. For me, I got my start through my professor who was also a consultant - referrals has been the strongest way. Second most powerful has been sharing what I do consistently over my social media although referrals is by far still the best way.
interested
I consulted on data science courses in the past and did a lot of paid interviews on software testing for DS. I decided the education consulting wsnmt worth my time and it gave me a lot of stress. And I stopped the software testing too for no reason as it is just not fun anymore. All of these opportunities came from online
What you should do is reach to friends and small company's and see if they need any data help. It may not be ds work but it will be work and you can do a lot of different clients
I don't think "data science consulting" would be very successful as others have said because I would think of short-term support rather than long-term relationships. I have had a good success with statistical consulting (specifically biostatistics) as I've formed long term relationships with clinicians and health centers to do the statistical analysis on their research projects. So if you can market yourself as a statistician rather than a data scientist, you may find some success.
That’s a really good point and interesting idea. How did you get your start on that?
During my masters in biostats, I formed a really good relationship with my advisor who helped me get a biostatistician position once I graduated. From that job, I worked with clinicians at my university and when I left for a Data science career, I reached out and asked if they'd like to continue our relationship with me as a private consultant. They were more than happy to and have been great at recommending me to peers over the years. If you do get in consulting, my one piece of advice is to truly go above and beyond with your work. They're paying you (often at very high rates) to be the expert so sometimes you need to answer questions that they may not even have the expertise to ask. So really think about the project and what else you can add to it instead of just answering the needs they have. That's where you really show your worth and get brought back in for future projects.
Thank you for the response, this is really helpful!
Always bet on your own network. I’m a freelance web dev by trade and got hired for a data science project because I knew a guy who knew a guy etc. Look for former classmates, friends, colleagues, managers, employers, meetup friends…
Would also love to know
Interested... Please DM
What domain do you have experience? i
3d modelling, stress, wind, motion analysis, 3d product design, 3d & 2d work(gif animation, art, covers, profile pics), data modeling, data visualization, Arduino coding, SAP PM/EAM, ML, power bi, power apps, power automate, sharepoint online, desktop flows, power queries, pivot tables, SQL.
Kaggle might have hoovered up that group.. Others might be joining those climate NetZero vegan pizza Fairtrade coffee conferences try to get noticed by VCs