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Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#51

Post by TheDom »

evnc wrote: post #45

Trying to make the same transition right now. I’ve got almost 10 years experience with python and data engineering and I’ve been reading tutorials and playing with projects on the side. I think I’ve got a grasp of the fundamentals and the ability to learn fast on the job, but every MLE job listing I see wants “4+ years of experience training and deploying models in a production environment” or something (even non-Sen…

Just the standard advice: It's usually much easier to switch into a new role (MLE, manager,...) at your existing company than landing those roles directly at a new company. So if your current employer does not employ any MLEs, consider joining another company that does– but apply for a role you're currently well qualified for, and then try to make the switch internally. Consider being up-front about that in the hiring process to get signal on how supportive a company is.

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#52

Post by LorenzoBloedow »

sirfz wrote: post #46
LorenzoBloedow wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm looking into learning more about ML and how I can create my own models. I enjoy math, but when I read research papers the formulas sound like gibberish. I also like the idea of Kaggle competitions, do you think I need to have research-level math understanding of ML models to do well on Kaggle?

Yes, I believe you do need to have a good math understanding to understand why a model is behaving the way it is and develop intuition into where the problem might be but that comes with experience. If you're looking into ML research then absolutely you need to learn the math but if you intend to support ML as a programmer then there's plenty of space for you to do so

Thanks for the response! I'm torn between AI research and just implementing models with my own data, I do enjoy math but I can't seem to understand advanced math, that might change after I get an engineering degree though, or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But for the time being, I'm just wondering if people who win Kaggle competitions implement their own algorithm, or do they just read a lot and try techniques that are already out there?

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#53

Post by sirfz »

LorenzoBloedow wrote: post #52
sirfz wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I believe you do need to have a good math understanding to understand why a model is behaving the way it is and develop intuition into where the problem might be but that comes with experience. If you're looking into ML research then absolutely you need to learn the math but if you intend to support ML as a programmer then there's plenty of space for you to do so

Thanks for the response! I'm torn between AI research and just implementing models with my own data, I do enjoy math but I can't seem to understand advanced math, that might change after I get an engineering degree though, or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But for the time being, I'm just wondering if people who win Kaggle competitions implement their own algorithm, or do they just read a lot and try techniques that are already out t…

Good luck in your studies and plans!

I can't answer you about Kaggle competitions as I never was involved in any but I imagine the novelty would be in the way people encode the datasets and maybe the cost functions they implement but the models themselves are probably based on already established archs

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#54

Post by ngc248 »

vasili111 wrote: post #24
ngc248 wrote: post #4

I transitioned into an ML Engineer. There are different types of roles in an ML project. 1. Data scientists - These are the people who analyze the data and prepare the models. They basically deliver a jupyter notebook to us 2. ML Engineer - We take the notebooks from the Data scientists and productionize it. 3. MLOPs - These are people take care of the required infra, basically the equivalent of devops. Personally, f…

How well do you know math? Do you really know math?

yes, well enough to get by. Not enough for research or coming up with new ML algos etc

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#55

Post by ngc248 »

vasili111 wrote: post #48
trybackprop wrote: post #34

I actually wrote a blog post about this for experienced software engineers like you who are thinking of transitioning to ML, so I wanted to share it here: https://www.trybackprop.com/blog/2024_06_09_you_dont_need_a_... I write about various engineers who now work at Meta, Google, Amazon, and OpenAI who made the switch. You can see what strategies and tactics they used to do it. 1) It's "wise" if you find during your…

How much math is truly necessary to work as MLE in a company where you do not need to write papers but need to deliver working ML systems?

Just basic stats, basic calculus etc to working with data and use ML algos/ML techniques etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#56

Post by vasili111 »

ngc248 wrote: post #54
vasili111 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How well do you know math? Do you really know math?

yes, well enough to get by. Not enough for research or coming up with new ML algos etc

Which math to learn to be on your level?

Re: Ask HN: How to pivot to a Machine Learning engineer?

#57

Post by vouaobrasil »

MrMcDowall wrote: post #50
vouaobrasil wrote: post #10

Don't. Most of these roles are not ethical.

Lol like ordinary programmers have a such a great ethical reputation... Cambridge Analytica, Ad Platforms, and on and on.

My view stands with those as well.
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