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    An anecdote; A student of mine who is graduating with an MS in applied mathematics that has involved R, Python, and data analysis and who has taken other steps to prepare for a career in data science reports that interviewers have told him that they have hundreds of applications for each data science position, most of them from people with graduate degrees in other disciplines. I fear that the moment may have passed when it was easy for anyone with a PhD to get such a job... Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 18:41
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    You are competing with undergrads who may have done four years completely focused on data science plus one year of industry experience. There are even a lot of highschool students with those credentials. Is there no way to combine your existing set of skills with data science? Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 18:44
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    Consider looking at machine learning rather than (or in addition to) data science -- perhaps more overlap with your skillset and more R&D type positions. If you are in the US, consider small defense contractors doing R&D (maybe start by looking for companies in your desired area that won SBIR grants on interesting topics -- the winners are publicly posted). Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 19:00
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    @Brian Borchers: As another anecdote, the person I was talking about writing letters of recommendation for in this comment has an MA in math and knows several languages (including R), and spent over a year trying to transition to a data science position (not just applying for jobs, but putting independent data projects he's done online and has taken several courses in an online data science Masters program he enrolled in). He finally got a job in Chicago a few weeks ago. Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 19:46
  • looks like a "future-proof" job :-) Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 23:18