career paths

When you test any skill or path, ask:

  1. Do I enjoy using it? (Not just learning it)

  2. Can I get paid with it within 6–12 months?

  3. Does it open doors to things I might want later?

If something gets:

  • ✅✅✅ → Go deeper

  • ✅❌✅ → Keep it light, useful for later

  • ❌❌❌ → Drop it with no guilt

  • Double down on web design business – let it fund your path.

  • Sharpen scripting/cloud weekly – build transferable skills.

  • Sample data/AI 1x/month – test curiosity, no pressure.

  • Don’t fear sunk cost – skills stack and cross-pollinate.

  • You’re not behind, you’re just ahead of deciding.

You don’t need to decide on data engineering, ML, or Excel right now. Instead:

Field

Sample This Way

Time Needed

Data Analysis

Do 1 small project in Excel or Python

1 weekend

SQL

Try 1 SQL tutorial + 5 sample queries

1–2 days

ML/AI

Build a basic image classifier with Teachable Machine or HuggingFace Spaces

1–2 weekends

Data Eng

Load CSV → clean → push to SQLite using Python

1 week

Set aside 1 weekend/month for “field tests.” Try it → reflect → decide if it’s worth more time.

Web Design

  • make portfolio site

  • make 2 ‘client’ sites

Data Analysis

  • SQL

  • Excel

  • do one small project

Data Engineering

  • Make 1 - 2 pipelines

    • ETL

    • Store locally then Store Cloud