
Ask HN: Do I need a degree for a job as an ML engineer? - mjjjokes
Up until recently, I dropped everything and have been working on an ML project and studying ML, in hopes that I would be noticed (or at the very least, I&#x27;d have it to put on my resume). Recently, I learned it is near impossible to get a job as an ML engineer without a degree. Is this true?
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rococode
Unless you are exceptional enough to become somewhat well-known in the field,
yes. It's not about ability and whether you can learn the material - you just
won't even be invited for an interview if they have a whole line of PhDs (and
MS's) waiting. The only hope would be to have people try to recruit you, which
would mean that you're well-known, maybe through publishing high-profile open
source libraries, dominating numerous Kaggle competitions, etc.

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scared2
It depends on your experience. To be honest I don't think majority of ml
engineers out there had a degree in ml engineering.

It is true that without degree for some sort of certificate it will not be
easy to get your first job. But I guarantee that after your first job your
life as ml engineer will be much easier.

You will need to show expertise about machine learning, big data tools like
spark, databases, Linux and shell programming.

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giantg2
You need at least a related degree, such as computer science, at my company. A
corsera course and a masters in information science would be helpful. Even
then, they will likely take someone with a master's or PhD in AI/ML over an
internal transfer. I had this happen to me.

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john_alan
It’s you vs the other guys. If they all have degrees... then yes. It’s tougher
without one.

Unless you’re gifted.

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runawaybottle
I just don’t see how you can avoid it unless you’re an elite learner.

Even just one course in a CS degree on ML or NLP has a ton of advanced
concepts.

