[psi75]

I think he meant "real work" from the perspective of the overeducated people who tend to end up in (and resent being in) corporate data science roles.

From the boss's perspective, the grungy IT support stuff is closer to real work (although the only thing that's actually respected in management, because it's what they do) than the shiny ML stuff that one star hire is allowed to do because it makes the company look cooler than it actually is.