If your passion is the AI&#x2F;ML techniques itself, you should look for a postdoc (or apply to PhD programs, if your grad school was for a MS).<p>The reason I suggest a side project is not so you can develop a better machine learning technique, but rather so you can demonstrate:<p>1.) your ability to use raw data and ML&#x2F;AI techniques to tell a useful or interesting story.<p>2.) your ability to plan and implement a functional, cohesive tool as part of a team, ideally in a leadership role.<p>You&#x27;re unemployed, so aside from aggressively networking with people who have the sort of job you want to have, building a side project is the best possible use of your time.<p>As for the things you value being impossible to find at modern tech jobs, if you are valuable enough, almost all organizations will do things like put up partitions for you, let you work flexible hours, and so forth.  You don&#x27;t see CEOs sitting in a bullpen or being chided because they weren&#x27;t at work at 8:30 on the dot.  You probably just need to spend some more time developing yourself and &quot;paying your dues&quot; as it were.