Towards Data Science is a community-powered publication that showcases work in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Every day newcomers, seasoned researchers and industry practitioners publish tutorials, research notes and real-world case studies that help the field move forward.

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A machine learning engineer shares why they quit a $130k Big Tech job despite good pay and perks. The four key reasons were: slow pace and bureaucracy at large companies, feeling like a small cog with little purpose, reliance on internal tooling that limits transferable skill development, and a narrow scope for meaningful impact on mature products. The author, 26, chose to join a startup as the sixth hire, prioritizing growth, ownership, and entrepreneurial risk over comfort and stability.

I Quit My $130,000 ML Engineer Job After Learning 4 Lessons

Such people think they are privileged enough to choose where to work with such job market, and while AI engineers are in top demand, you can’t be this picky. As long as you have a manager who doesn’t make your life hell and the pay is good and fair, DO NOT quit unless you find a better job.

I’m going to quit my Job for those same reasons but I don’t think I would for $130K 😅

It’s interesting that he felt he had no purpose because he wasn’t providing value for the company he worked for, and didn’t know how to do that. Now he’s going to go out as an entrepreneur and miraculously build value for customers in the wild.

Things That Never Happened for $500, Alex

Why do I see so many of these types of posts all over social media? I have been working lame jobs with horrible pay. Customer service, warehouses, factories and delivery jobs. If I had a job like this, you better believe I am holding onto it for dear life.