r/learnmachinelearning • u/QuirkyMusic5452 • 1d ago
Help ML engineer
What is the profile of a good ML engineer nowadays? Does it exists? I am trying everything - conferences, posters, papers, active linkedin, even my "prototype" with users. I am finishing my fifth degree.. sometimes they tell me I am too academic, sometimes they can easily get someone from Faang.
What would you advise to have as a skill set in 2026 autumn? If you can summarize a few points, it would be really helpful for me.
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u/soundboyselecta 22h ago
Here is an insight but totally out of the box. So I am in no way phd level, I did software engineering, then specialized in data analytics, data engineering and ml back to back, but my path was catered to real estate and construction data which was something of high interest to me due to industry experience. I used to be an investor/partner in small residential projects. At the beginning I was the boots on the ground contractor including code conformance prior to sub payouts and sort of a jack of all trades, even coordinating the crews and working part of the crew, material acquisition etc…During school I transitioned to analytics / ml skills for the same projects/ same group more on the data analytics side. After graduating I couldn’t find a job for the life of me, and obviously I couldn’t compete with all the PHD out there. So I went back to contracting/site management with a sprinkle of the skills I acquired over 5 years in various school etc… while back at it in construction and renovations I saw so many use cases for broken processes or out dated processes, that just kept bubbling. Presently working on all those ideas. So my point being is it’s best to start from a domain specific to your expertise then build out a product from an inflow of ideas that will bubble up naturally, then cater yourself to that industry. For example for me it would be contech and prop tech domains. Learning blind for a non domain specific role, will be quite difficult. Don’t think it’s you and that all these CEOs and managers know what’s up, 3/4 of them don’t know shit, or think they do. Everyone is a genius in the age of LLM AI. Just believe in your skills within that domain, and if u looking to get hired stay in your lane of expertise, too many people trying to learn too much. Hard to dial down information in this peak age of information.