Need advise on job hunting after a long career gap
I have been suggested to bug you all for career advice since this community has been extremely helpful to several friends of mine.
I have been struggling to re-enter the workforce after a long gap in my career. I have a highly analytical background having finished bachelors degree in Petroleum Engineering and then working few years for prominent energy companies including British Petroleum. My duties involved heavy data operations such as gathering data from sensors, evaluating well performance and generating reports.
After a few years in the industry I decided to go back to school for a masters degree. I obtained my Master's Degree from USC in Petroleum Engineering and spent a year after graduating to work for the university as a Research Assistant and a resource employee. As a resource employee we looked into how technology and more specifically AI and Machine Learning can be utilized to improve resource exploration and performance in the energy industry.
And then I decided to shift gears to human engineering (cough cough...awkward pause...you know... started expecting) :). We started with one and then followed the other and 8 years flew by in a second. Having promised myself that they will be my primary focus I spent all my time and energy with those little munchkins and this year we finally (whoever judges that "finally" I am watching you :P) sent the youngest one off to the school.
So here I am now trying to re-enter THE FORCE (any Obi-Wans out there?). Well, to be honest I didn't completely spend the last 8 years away from the field. I found a new interest in Data Science, likely generated from my previous data heavy job background, and started to explore the field any chance I got.
I learned Python, SQL, data analysis tools such as Pandas, Numphy, Scikit-Learn, data visualization tools such as Tableau, Matplotlib, Plotly and Seaborn. I also completed a Data Engineering boot camp offered by Per Scholas and currently in-progress with Google Data Analytics course at Coursera.
Looks like most of the positions out there require a substantial or at least few years of experience in data science and I have not been receiving responses from any jobs that I have submitted applications for (I have applied to many).
I have been suggested "to make my resume more impressive" which I don't feel comfortable about. I would really appreciate your guidance, suggestions, directions, help (whatever you have to offer). I sincerely appreciate your time!!!
email: askinghelpfromhn [at] gmail [dot] com
Best, GM