I'm sure it's not you. It's just the supply and demand problems in the industry that make companies picky. Actually, there are a lot of people doing data scienc

I'm sure it's not you. It's just the supply and demand problems in the industry that make companies picky. Actually, there are a lot of people doing data science for corporations who feel disillusioned because most of the data science jobs are in fact not science, instead, those are just grunt works. If you can go to a prestigious university in Russia (a country with prestigious math education), you can definitely be qualified for those jobs - again, it's just a supply and demand thing. I would suggest you not only try to work hard, but also keep an eye on connections - maybe try to find someone who graduated from the university to get referrals. Or you can also try fallback to work as web developers or any skill that is popular in Russia. I don't believe all of them require CS degrees. Try to grab some skills in those fields etc. If you can provide value for them, I see no reason not to hire you. Also, for the "I have trouble focusing" part I advise you to try to see if you have ADHD. Though unfortunately, I assume similar to the country where I live, Adderall as the best medicine might not be available in Russia. Please forget about IQ and Mensa, those puzzles mean nothing, as those are not only extremely narrow ways to look at intelligence, but also gameable like interview problems.