Transition to Data Scientist/Analyst with quantitative skills

The original poster (OP) has 5 years of experience and 'heavy quantitative and statistics exposure', which are highly valuable skills. While their current government-adjacent role is a step up after unemployment, it's not meeting salary expectations in a HCOL area. Instead of high-risk trading, OP should focus on leveraging their quantitative background into stable, high-demand roles like Data Scientist or Data Analyst. These positions command significantly higher salaries (especially with 5 YOE) and align directly with their stated skills. Updating their resume to highlight data-centric projects and actively networking in the data science community will be key.