Not specifically Data Science but I've had individual success directly writing to people (in companies) who are working in the area. If you are good at some do

Not specifically Data Science but I've had individual success directly writing to people (in companies) who are working in the area. If you are good at some domain and believe you can help someone in that domain, you can create and demonstrate your analyses with specific examples. In addition, building a decent blog with personal touch and experience can create "collateral" and it helps keep you make continuous progress in small steps without necessarily focusing on any specific topic.