v 91 JycaKjcOne thing that our community rarely talks about is that really excellent data scientists are also usually excellent programmers platform engineers . Another reality to consider is that when you ' re at the bottom of the totem pole , you rarely get to influence hiring and staffing decisions in these scenarios , there ' s not much you can do besides sucking it up and becoming the best platform data engineer you can be . Those skills are super valuable , and somebody has to do them to make data science projects go . Some advice if you ' re feeling frustrated follow the money . Learn about your company ' s business model and the vocabulary levers business leader have access to to control the company . It may turn out that your part of the company doesn ' t make money , which would explain the staffing shortage . Or it may turn out that your group has never pushed models into production , and it would take a huge investment by one of the executives to make that happen . If no one in your company is doing the kind of work you want to do , you can quit , or try and change the company . Either way , try and get a deeper understanding of why things are the way they are before doing anything dramatic . If I was interviewing you for a new position , I was unhappy so I quit sounds pretty lame . Analyze the problem , formulate several possible solutions , and try them before giving up . I ' d want to hire that kind of person , not the giveruper . Good luck !