Why I Quit My Data Science Job to Tutor Full Time

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Yes, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

BUT don’t let the good be the enemy of the great.

A life that’s just “fine” is the most dangerous kind: it never hurts enough to change, yet never fulfills enough to satisfy. A life you can settle for and live out comfortably while occasionally wondering what could have been. It’s quicksand.

Personally, one of the most pivotal moments in my life was when I quit my tech job to tutor full time. I identified my North Star and followed it. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

In high school I figured that tutoring was a temporary thing, working at Mathnasium 20h/week. But I kept doing it during college too, because I didn’t want to give it up. And when I was working full time in data science, after work, I’d be at Mathnasium. On the weekends, I’d be at Mathnasium. I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

This was on top of classes and everything. Full class load, full-time tech job, plus 20h/week tutoring. A friend asked me once: “Dude, just drop the Mathnasium job. Why are you doing this to yourself?” Didn’t pay well at all, might as well have been charity work. But I just loved it so much.

I figured that if I had that amount of drive for math tutoring, that I just cannot rip myself away from it despite there being no rational reason to hang on, then I should go full force in that direction because clearly I have serious rocket fuel there that will take me somewhere.

One of the best decisions of my life.

As reader Abhishek Singh paraphrased: “The job’s fine, the pay’s fine, the life’s fine, and THAT’S THE TRAP. Most people stay stuck in ‘fine.’ It’s comfortable enough to numb the urge for something greater, but not fulfilling enough to quiet it.”

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