MS in Mathematics, having trouble finding work outside teaching algebra

First of all, jobhunting s u c k s. It sucks even more when you're trying to get into a field and it sucks further if you're not in a major metro area. It's a massive timesink with terrible ROI, but it needs to be done in order to get a job at all. The truth is that whether you get hired isn't going to just depend on your skills and experience, but also on whether the person reading your résumé thinks your skills and experience line up with what they think they want, and you don't have a lot of control over that. So honestly it's impossible to predict how long it will take before you find something.

That being said, your situation really doesn't sound so horrible to me. You're interested in and studying things that (1) you want to do and (2) employers are looking for. You have a master's degree in a marketable field. As for whether you feel you learned much during your degree, it sounds to me like you're just in a bad place with a killer case of impostor syndrome. Some employers might want to see your transcript, but they're a lot more interested in what you can do for them. So maybe try putting together a portfolio of the kind of work you want to do, which might include models or software that you developed or small projects that you did for free or for cheap for someone. (These are pretty standard suggestions.)

Finally, you can't be everything to everyone. It might feel like you need to cast as wide a net as possible, but it sounds to me like you might be spreading yourself thin and that's contributing to your frustration. Narrow it down some by considering where your best bets are in your geographic area and what you really want to do. For example, if coding is the right path, then back-burner the modeling, or vice versa. Good luck.

Get a job. Don't do more studying - you already indicate that you 1) are not good at it and 2) don't have a good reason to do it (you would effectively be doing it because you're avoiding the job market). It doesn't matter how much you love the topic if you're terrible at it. In fact I would question that you actually love the stuff because if you do, how did you learn so little?

So: figure out what you're good at + don't hate doing, and get a job there. Make use of the job-seeking resources you have at your disposal, e.g. WVU has a career services division, go talk to them and get their help. Stop reading about ODEs and start reading about how to navigate the job search process. Talk to your wife - she's got a job, that means she's done something you haven't.

One more thing - do some critical thinking about what you actually learned during your MS. If someone hires you, what can you contribute? If you go into an interview genuinely thinking you can contribute little, it's not surprising that you're getting rejected everywhere.

I was in a comparable situation a few years back: I was stuck on a CS BSc thesis that wasn't going anywhere fast with an obscure and unmarketable topic. Also, I had no relevant work experience. I managed to improve my situation through a couple of different things.

The best way to get a job is to have a job

Finding a perfect job rightaway is hard. All the nice jobs require prior experience. So clearly, you need to get experience. Start a step lower, find a job that will take you, and then work your way up to something you like for the long term.

I got my foot in the door by working for an IT secondment firm that mainly hired STEM students with "stuck" degrees, like people dropping out of a physics or engineering bachelor in second or third year. They were smart people with problem solving skills but no nice employable diploma. They made amazing helpdesk staff: competent and cheap to employ. For me, it was a good entry to the job market; I got to get used to working in a big company, and I pursued the internal training opportunities.

I then pursued internal trainings in the secondment firm, which both gave me new skills but also brought me to the attention of senior colleagues who then knew what kind of gigs to put me on, which eventually landed me in a nice junior development job.

Evaluate what skills you have

Reset your mind. Try to find out what marketable skills you have. There may be more than you know.

• You've gained soft skills while waiting tables.
• You've spent time in the army, learning both physical skills but also discipline.
• You've actually managed to graduate from higher, which is still higher than the majority of the population does.

This is just a start, my point is that you need to get an idea of what skills you actually have. Here are some ideas on how to find out what you already have:

• Take a whole day to browse job listings for positions you're interested in on LinkedIn and Glassdoor, and note down what skills are asked for. Then, try to find things in your background that qualify you for those skills. Finally, compose a list of the frequently asked skills that you turn out to have. Update your CV, describing in your previous positions how you learned those skills.
• Contact the career counselor at the university you recently graduated at. Most universities are keen to advertise that their graduates are successful at the job market, and provide services to help make that actually happen. Try to schedule an interview focused on exploring where your opportunities lie.
• Reach out to people you were in the army with, and have a chat with them, ask them how they've been able to use their army experience to boost their civilian career. Consider which skills also apply to you.

Treat the search for jobs as a research project

As a science grad it can be easy to think of math as a science and job searching as some sort of magic trick that other people are mysteriously good at. But in fact it's a skill, and other people have put a lot of thought into how to get better at it. So start reading up on how to be better at interviews, writing CVs and all that. Use what you've learned in university for doing research, to research how to get better at job hunting.

Find out what's missing in your skillset

Just like you need to find out what skills you already have, you also need to find out what's missing. Again, go read fifty++ job postings in a field you want to work in, and list the required skills. Count frequencies. Figure out which skills/platforms are generally asked as a package deal. Then look at which clusters you already many of the required skills for, and what's missing.

Get coding

One question that you'll get (in many forms) is "what have you actually done". For example, you mention data science as a direction you're looking at. Look for some competitions in a field you like and try your hand at some competitions. Kaggle for example (data science). You're not going to win; a lot of these teams are very practiced. But there are some real benefits for you in participating:

• When you get asked in a job interview what you've done in the field, you have something to point to. "I did this and this and this Kaggle competition and scored better each time" sounds like experience, because it is.
• You learn skills by doing that you can't get by just reading.
• These competitions have very active forums and you can learn a lot from what the other teams are doing and sharing.
• You might make some connections with other participants that can help you.

I mentioned before that the best way to get a job is to start by having another job. This is the next best thing, and it's got a huge advantage for you: you don't need anyone's approval to get in. You don't have to get hired into a competition.

Don't obsesss about certifications

There are many, many, maaaany certifications in IT. Nobody has all of them. Many people don't even have all the ones that you would think are standard for a particular job, or that get asked on a job posting. For many jobs, meeting 2/3 of the listed requirements can be enough to be considered. Because IT platforms change all the time and almost nobody uses software like the manual tells you to, so every company knows they'll have to train new employees anyway. A certification helps, even one in something fairly unrelated, because it shows you can work hard enough to get it, and it shows you're trainable. But don't worry about having all of the ones in a job listing.