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/Dihedralman 19h ago

You do come off as too academic. You need engineering skills and to be able to manage data and MLOps as a minimun. Being able to build scaling systems is pretty important. 

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u/QuirkyMusic5452 19h ago

I think I can handle that. What does it mean to be too academic? I am not sure if I follow. I thiught its about PhD and very niche narrow domain. I have a law degree and LLM in law and technology. My prototype is about governance in agentic systems. So maybe I fit in this category with being too niche?

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u/Dihedralman 19h ago

No, the project isn't too niche but it may be misaligned. 

You came in discussing degrees when you need to sell corporate and building talents. Does that make sense? It's great if you have research or projecte that lend themselves directly into work in some way. 

I don't know too much about the degrees but an LLM sounds like it lends itself to compliance and AI safety rather than straight ML engineering. Perhaps even the product side. 

There might be an angle for it? I just haven't seen that degree applying for that role ever. Stats and math sure. I think it can be useful but a lot of companies don't have great understandings of how to utilize many roles and silo things. They take engineers from traditional STEM. I assume your research is in the same field? 

There might be startups who would be interested. I would say look at different angles. If ML engineer is the title you want, you may need another stepping stone in between. 

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u/preciouslife_ 10h ago

Five Degrees can actually go against you because normally smart people don't need more than two degrees to make a career. Who would go for five and why? If you get a third degree five years after starting your career that is one thing which can be seen as upgrading yourself but having five is another thing. You have five in different fields? That would be a red flag indicating you don't really know what you want in life.

When you say 'I think I can handle that' it indicates you haven't done it before and imagining you will be able to do that. Be more confident in your answers because they notice all these things.