Introduction
The post-pandemic era has reinstated the importance of having extra income as the cost of living has skyrocketed beyond measures. Having side hustles in 2023 is great if you believe your knowledge and talents may help you earn more. As a profession, data science is booming. Data scientists are increasingly needed by businesses to assist them in making sense of the ever-increasing amounts of information they possess. You might now be a data scientist happy in your current position or an aspirant who wants to enter the field. Whatever the case, the suggestions I’m about to make will help you transform your data science skills into lucrative side gigs if you play your cards well.
Table of Contents
- How much do data scientists earn on average?
- How can data scientists earn more money?
- Top 10 side hustles for experienced data scientists in 2023
- 4 Best websites to find freelance data science jobs
- Conclusion
How much do Data Scientists Earn on Average?
Young IT workers are especially drawn to careers in data because of the significant correlation between years of experience and higher-paying salaries.
The average salary for Data Scientist is ₹11,23,556 per year in Bangalore. The average additional cash compensation for a Data Scientist in Bangalore is ₹2,00,000, with a range from ₹50,000 – ₹5,00,000. A highly skilled worker with decades of experience or who has held executive positions may anticipate earning anything from INR 24 lakhs and a healthy crore annually.
A data analyst’s income increases manifold when they move from the role that was given to them to a higher one through a transition or promotion. However, location, employer, and skill set play a significant role in determining the above numbers.
Source: Unsplash
The statistics for salaries outside India
The United States- Top on the list of nations that offer competitive pay to data scientists who are willing to work for them is the United States of America. In the United States, data scientists make an average salary of $120,000 annually. For data scientists, the compensation is the highest in any nation.
Australia- The second-highest paying nation for data scientists is Australia. The increase in data scientists coming to the United States from Australia and other nations is proof of this. Depending on experience, the typical compensation for a data scientist ranges from AU$ 75,233 to AU$ 121,578 annually.
Israel, Canada, and Germany also rank high in offering a wide range of data science job prospects.
Source: PayScale
How can Data Scientists Earn more Money?
If you’re a working data scientist or an aspiring one, there are many options for you to work side jobs to market your abilities to a larger clientele. Although the degree of complexity varies, experiences from using data science outside your direct job path can help you become more skilled. Additionally, side jobs are a fantastic opportunity to have an additional source of income. You can use your data science skill set to get extra money by doing freelance work, selling online courses, or starting your own business (and building your resume too). We will be discussing some of the opportunities in detail.
Source: Unsplash
Top 10 Side Hustles for Experienced Data Scientists in 2023
Blogging
Freelance writing is a great side business to start because you may use so many venues. You’re very much set to go if you’re a competent writer. Nothing truly is necessary for freelance writing besides a laptop and an internet connection, so as long as you have these, you may set yourself up. When you work as a freelance writer, you’ll frequently get requests from clients asking you to produce an article on a particular subject for which they will pay you.
One of the most well-liked side businesses anyone may establish is a blog. A blog can be written from anywhere in the world, and starting one doesn’t need a big financial commitment. No matter where you are, you can write and upload blog entries.
You may choose from many specialisations. Your blog will be off to a terrific start if you have a subject that you know about or are enthusiastic about. Including product recommendations, offering sponsors, or placing advertisements on your website are frequent ways to monetize your blog. You are anyhow skilled at using data mining to find more profitable keyword chances. Additionally, you can leverage machine learning techniques to produce better content and more efficiently employ data analytics to identify the top social media marketing tactics.
Source: Unsplash
Youtube
An excellent method of learning is through videos. While there are several sites for video blogging, the best one is still YouTube. Remember that many individuals have stopped watching television, and as a result, they are using the YouTube platform to educate themselves on various subjects. So sharing your data science content on such a platform makes much more sense in this digital era. If you’re enthusiastic about something, you may use this to start a YouTube channel and express that love online. You can make money by increasing your subscriber base, receiving sponsorship payments, and placing advertisements on your videos.
Because you can utilise data mining technologies to extract the correct keywords, data scientists like yourself have the edge over YouTubers. You can utilise AI to improve the videos you produce for your users. Even AI video generators are available on the market, but as a data scientist, you can improvise and make superior ones involving different datasets.
Another excellent strategy to make money is to produce instructional films on the subject you are an expert in. YouTube provides impressive incentives to content producers. You can develop your influencer network and personal brand by making informative films.
You can refer to the channels of Siraj Raval, Dhaval Patel, Shashank Mishra, and StatQuest with Josh Starmer for some inspiration. To learn more about Data Science and related topics, you can also checkout Analytics Vidhya’s YouTube Channel.
You can impart your knowledge as a data scientist on a subject you are an expert in. If you discover a novel method for resolving a particular data problem, you may share it on your YouTube channel and assist others with the same difficulty. Thanks to the growing business application, sentiment analysis tools find their application in designing marketing campaigns, marketing strategies, and in analying brand mentions. All this can open doors for you to work with a brand.
Source: Pixabay
Freelancing
You can make a solid living solely from writing articles if you have a fundamental understanding of Data Science and strong writing abilities. A few websites pay authors for original blogs. You might create your blog or write for those websites (this will not only help you financially, but it will also improve your resume). Your blog can contain posts about a topic of your interest or something that has the attention of the whole world, like ChatGPT & Bard right now. You can submit a monetization application whenever your blog (measured in views or traffic) hits a certain threshold. So, every time someone views your blog, you will get paid if your monetization is activated.
Choose the data science subfield in which you feel most at ease and the industry you are passionate about supporting as your first niche. You will have a lot of freedom in choosing projects, getting paid, and organising your time as a data science freelancer. It’s also a fantastic choice for newcomers who wish to gain more practical experience by working on actual projects.
With the Analytics Vidhya Blogathon, all you need is to gather your thoughts and start writing.
Source: Pixabay
Competitions
You can participate in data science competitions hosted by various platforms. Even on Analytics Vidhya, there are numerous Data Science competitions. By taking part, you not only gain knowledge and develop your skills but also receive monetary rewards. Additionally, having a strong Analytics Vidhya profile can provide you with a lot of exposure to recruiters, which can aid your job search.
For more insight, you can check upcoming contests at https://datahack.analyticsvidhya.com/contest/all/#upcoming.
Source: Pixabay
Internships
Internships can be a useful stepping stone to securing employment. This is particularly true in STEM professions, like data science, where internships can completely transform your career path. This is because some skills can only be developed through hands-on experience with real-time problems. You can develop a strong network, learn from a team of professionals, and obtain useful experience by participating in an internship. Internships also benefit your finances and provide several future opportunities.
Source: Unsplash
Technical Writing
It is a simple approach to earning extra money, whether you are a novice or a professional. To get writing jobs, you can either use freelance platforms or work directly for a company. Copywriting, copyediting, scientific writing, and ghostwriting are all examples of technical writing.
You can consider working as a technical content writer if you are a data scientist with a passion for writing. There is a lot of demand for this role in the data industry, especially now when it is a buzzing industry. You can create high-quality content and articles on various data science topics such as artificial intelligence, neural networks, machine learning, visualization techniques, etc.
To earn more money, you can write for Analytics Vidhya, DataCamp, and KDnuggets. A year-long blogathon is held by Analytics Vidhya, where writers are compensated per blog and occasionally receive more if they are ranked on top.
Source: Pixabay
Consulting and Contractual Work
In today’s world, almost every industry and business sector are searching for an experienced Data Science professional. By offering them consulting services, you can earn some extra money.
While working in the field, you should apply expertise such as machine learning algorithms to unstructured data such as numbers, photos, chats, tweets, audio, video, or texts to create artificial intelligence systems that can carry out tasks that ordinarily call for human intelligence. These technologies will then generate insights that data scientists and other business users may turn into real commercial value.
Contractual Work is quite a convenient type of work where the contract covers everything, the payment, project objectives, and timeline. You have freedom in working hours and clear goals that you must achieve in a given period. The contract work comes in many forms; research work, designing machine learning models, data analysis, writing papers on varied concepts like Big Data, Natural Language Processing(NLP), etc., or integrating new tools in a workflow. You can get contract work by searching job boards or being approached by hiring managers.
Source: Pixabay
Career Counselling and Teaching
Career counseling can be a game changer for people looking for a switch or starting out in this domain. Ideally, it should be provided by an educational institute, but students are still struggling. These students or recent graduates then look for a professional career counseling platform to gain insights into their resumes. Some platforms provide help with technical interviews, career coaching, and networking.
By registering for such platforms (Skilled), you can start a career coaching business and make additional money. Such a platform supports the creation of an effective profile and compensates career coaches highly. The portals for freelancing also list employment for mock interviews, resume reviews, and mentoring.
A proverb goes: The best way to learn something is to teach it. Your concepts must be clear if you want to become a skilled data scientist. You can start a data science academy at your place or even online. You can also teach data science at a university or any other institution that offers educational courses. Start at the novice level and make adjustments as you go. You may start earning a respectable living by teaching while simultaneously starting to give back to the programming community.
Books are an excellent source of information for anyone interested in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. As a result, you can begin writing a book that contains thorough explanations of data science concepts. The prospect of creating passive revenue becomes available once you finish writing and publishing an e-book. You can also develop an online course or learning portal. You can create a full-fledged website for this course, post it on your blog, or do one-on-one lessons.
Source: Unsplash
Create a Data Science Product
A product is something that is developed to address a current issue. The epidemic has accelerated technology penetration across a range of use cases. You can create software or an application as a data scientist that helps a business with its data problems and offers insights. You can do market research to understand the underlying issues to which you can provide innovative solutions by creating a new product. Remember that apart from concepts like machine learning, deep learning, and opinion mining, data scientists also master numerous computer abilities, including programming, and can create original software as a result. You can enhance your product by ensuring provisions for good customer support and customer feedback, which can attract good buyers.
For instance, you could create a chatbot to handle local advertising for a limited area, check if the information it receives is accurate, and then deliver the proper data once you have done extensive research. In this way, you will get compensated for providing advice and recommendations to a business based on your software.
Source: Pixabay
Questions on Quora
On the website Quora, users can post questions and receive publicly available answers. Additionally, it offers a Quora Partner Program feature that invites writers and individuals to pose intriguing questions. Quora contacts active users, phones them and pays users based on how many people respond to their questions. Additionally, the amount you are paid depends on the traffic and Ad impressions for each question. Remember that it only accepts invitations, so you’ll need to plan what questions to ask when you receive yours. The advantage is that data science is a challenging discipline, and data-related topics are numerous and intricate.
Source: Pixabay
4 Best Websites to Find Freelance Data Science Jobs
LinkedIn has grown immensely in the last couple of years. You can find jobs related to any niche on this platform. Some good options for freelance Data Scientists are also available. You just have to be on the lookout for the same.
Upwork
It allows you to choose the project and discuss the hourly rate with the client. Hourly jobs, fixed-price projects, and long-term employment contracts are all options. Since it is the biggest online forum for freelancing, the prospects are virtually limitless.
Fiverr
This is another platform where you can register, create a Gig for free and market your work to a global target audience.
Toptal
The platform presents opportunities for programmers and data scientists. Only the best 3% of professionals are chosen. Additionally, you must be an authority in the field of data science and have more than two years of expertise. If you successfully complete the recruiting procedure, the platform will assist you in both finding a high-paying job and making payments.
AngelList
It differs from traditional sites for freelancing. You can work from home, join a company, or even get a part-time job. Full-time, internship, contract, and cofounder positions are all available on the platform. If you are interested in working for a startup, you can choose to work remotely as well, thanks to the platform’s support for remote culture.
Kolabtree
It serves as a platform for professionals. The majority of independent contractors are either Ph.D. scientists or subject matter specialists. You must sign up for this platform if you believe you are skilled in data science and have more than five years of expertise.
Conclusion
I hope this article served as a helpful starting point for your study of data science. The pandemic has ushered in a new era of remote work, and people are looking for different methods to supplement their income. Your career may benefit from the expertise and information gained through your side businesses.
This article has taught us about platforms for freelancing in fields including data science, technical writing, contract employment, consulting, and counselling. For more clarity, you can also refer to some articles on Data Science topics on the Analytics Vidhya Blog. Because few roles require prior experience, anyone can develop in this industry by picking up the necessary abilities. In light of this, Analytics Vidhya has created various courses that offer the best data scientist training for people from various backgrounds.
Head on to our blog to read more articles: https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/
With a career spanning 5 years, Swati has worked with top institutions to curate content for them.
A software engineer, data science enthusiast, and a stickler for grammar who always jumps at every chance to explore food, life, and mysterious theories. A Potterhead with a passion for Psychology, she is always up for learning new theories on life. She finds herself amused with books, podcasts, and vlogs that add value to life.
