Real-World ML #021: How to become a professional ML engineer
Meet my mentee Chris Munch 🧠
Read time: 3 minutes
We are living in a period of constant innovation and acceleration in Machine Learning. Machine Learning engineers are in great demand… but also competition in the job market is increasing.
As a result, landing an ML engineering job is not getting easier, but actually harder.
There is a catch though…
There is ONE THING most aspiring ML engineers don’t do that will make you stand out from the crowd, and help land your first ML job.
Your differentiator
Aspiring ML applicants try to prove their expertise and knowledge by
collecting online course certificates, and
sharing them on their LinkedIn profiles.
This strategy worked a few years ago when there were very few online courses on ML, and recruiters and employers valued these certificates. That was the data science hype period, where entry barriers for junior ML developers were low.
But things have changed.
Nowadays, you need a more convincing way to show you know ML. And in my experience, the best way to do so is to build and publish a public ML project.
An example
Six months ago, Chris Munch became one of my first mentees. He is a Physicist with a solid professional experience outside ML.
He wanted to change careers and land an ML job. So I helped him kick off his first professional ML project.
He is a smart cookie. He learns fast. And he also put serious commitment and effort to move things forward.
Six months later he managed to build this amazing project, put it on GitHub, deploy it, and start preparing for interviews.
Wanna support Chris? 💙
Give him a star ⭐ on GitHub
Wanna get my help?
Book a 45-minute 1-on-1 session with me, and get a personalized plan and advice to break into professional ML.