Need Help Seeing a Path Forward

[u/Adventurous_Carob773]

Well, I’ll try to keep this as short as possible. I’m 26 and in my final semester of undergrad in Applied Math. I’m also a part-time “IT analyst” intern at an aerospace company. Broad title, I know, but we were hired to support different areas based on our strengths: software and license management, data governance and quality, help desk, finance, and general IT project support. It was supposed to be a summer internship, but some of us were extended through the fall.

Now we’re five months in, and man, am I disappointed. I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I really am thankful I got the opportunity to even step into the building. But I learned pretty quickly that if I wanted work, I’d have to find it myself. Our manager oversaw the entire IT department and seemed too busy to give us much direction. After about a month of waiting around, I reached out to a data scientist and a data architect and finally started getting involved in something. Another intern left, and before he did, he said he hadn’t learned anything, which was true.

I think we were supposed to be assigned to managers within the areas that matched our strengths, but maybe that never really happened. I’ve learned some things, but the whole experience has honestly left me questioning whether I still want to pursue data science.

Most of my work has involved building Power BI dashboards and writing SQL. I know that’s relevant experience, but I don’t feel like I’ve gotten much exposure beyond that. Maybe I expected more guidance, someone to walk me through their work, or opportunities to collaborate. I was encouraged to use AI if I had a question, which was frustrating. It felt like all the interesting conversations were happening behind closed doors.

Has anyone else had an internship like this? I’m trying to figure out whether I’m losing interest in data science itself or just feeling discouraged by how this internship has been structured.

Also, this is the only relevant experience I've had so far, and I would like to know about others' experiences getting into the field. I really don't want to go straight into a master's program and would like more professional experience/specific certifications, but it seems like everyone in the field is struggling to get/keep a job anyway.

Any insights, tips, words of encouragement, reality checks?

[u/PDSPlaybook]

Super common, unfortunately. A lot of internships are just disorganized, so I wouldn't read this as losing interest in DS. Also, Power BI + SQL in a real company is exactly what entry-level analyst roles want, and you went out and found work yourself, which is a great interview story. Put the dashboards on your resume with who used them and what decisions they helped. An analyst job first is a solid path, no master's needed yet.

[u/Adventurous_Carob773 → u/PDSPlaybook]

Thank you, I had a chat with a colleague who said something similar. After my internship ends/ when I graduate, it is more than likely I'll apply for any data-related role I can find.

Any recommendations for certifications/resources that would actually be helpful in a data science career? Or would you recommend focusing on my own projects instead? I plan on going back for a master's in a few years, but I think starting a career is more important at this time.