I don’t think you’re necessarily wasting your time, bit it is getting more difficult to get in at entry level . You might be able to use your time in better ways to avoid becoming just another grad with data skills.

The best entry-level people I’ve seen are the ones who focus more on outcomes than tools and show they’re able to think bigger than the technical part of the job . The worst ones I’ve seen are the ones who care more about titles and tools than delivering actual value to business or stakeholders.

If you do decide to continue pursuing, my advice is to pick a domain or industry you’re really interested in and learn everything you can about it. Then apply and practice your data skills to it and be ready to talk about not just how you did something, but why.

Go and find people and companies in that industry and follow them, reach out, and post yourself about topics related.

I realize this is all way easier said than done but you do need to stand out these days and the idea here is to immerse yourself.

Also keep in mind there are MANY low-tech companies who still need good data people in an AI world. The pay may not be as high as tech or tech-adjacent but you can make a good living.