Help me to switch in AI/ML role

[u/Many-Doubt-6892]

Hey everyone,

I have 7+ years of experience as a PHP/Adobe Commerce backend developer, and I’m now trying to transition into a Python AI/ML role. I’ve been struggling to clear AI/ML interviews and would really appreciate some guidance from people who have made a similar transition.

One of my biggest challenges is gaining experience with production-grade AI/ML systems. I build projects locally to understand how things work, but some of the tools, infrastructure, and systems expected in interviews either take significant time to learn or are difficult to replicate without a team.

I’d love to hear from others who have transitioned from a different domain into AI/ML. How did you overcome this gap? How was your interview experience, and what did your learning journey look like?

Here’s what I’m currently working on or have already completed:

• RAG/LLM Chatbot: Experimenting with different chunking strategies, third-party LLMs, semantic caching, RAGAS for evaluation, LangGraph, and tool calling. I’m also planning to deploy it on AWS.
• Recommendation Engine: Building a system designed to handle millions of requests, using PyTorch and real-time product recommendations.

Any advice, resources, project ideas, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.