Data Science or Software Engineering
I’ve done my undergrad in CS and have a years experience of being a data analyst at EY. I’ll start my masters program at CMU MISM program this August where I can take courses from the CS department. I’m passionate about the data science domain but from my research on LinkedIn I’ve seen that majority of the DS at FAANG have PhDs. My question is while at CMU should I focus on DS subjects or SWE ( has a higher TC , better job stability(H1B), no phd or 3-4 yoe required to enter the field ) ? I’m good at coding but I like using analytics to solve a business problem
I'd say follow your passion, if it is DS then build some cool projects to show for when is time to interview, if you can do some research as well that'd be awesome and CMU is the best place for it - check if you can take any courses with the machine learning dept. there
I can take courses from ML department. I want to follow my passion but the course is only for 1.5 years and there are a lot of core requirements which prevent me from doing hardcore DS/ML research. So with limited time I’m not sure whether to focus on SWE and later move to DS or take a risk & jump straight into it
Majority of “DS” at FAANG do not have PhDs. DS could refer to positions that are more research oriented and require significant machine learning (usually PhDs) and positions that are more analytic type (think of business/data analysis). For example majority of data scientists at FB in the Analytics team certainly do not have PhDs, while a few in the Infrastructure DS team do. If you’re passionate about analytics, product development, driving business decisions, focus on that instead of coding and CS. If you’re passionate about ML, focus on ML! Develop ML models, optimize algorithms, implement models, etc. In terms of pay, SWE is king. Then true DS positions followed by AE (analytics engineers) - in the Bay Area at least. Regardless, having an MS in CS with whatever focus will serve you well for years to come. PhD even better long term!
The main problem is the pay gap between SWE and DS (Analytics, not research). I read a lot of posts on blind and the difference is quite significant between the two, especially in the long run. I’m doing the MISM course with focus on either SWE or DS. A lot of the graduates are either in FANG as SWE or at DS positions in small companies or Big 4 consulting. There’s a high entry barrier to pure DS roles compared to SWE where from my understanding one should know their data structures/ algorithms and Leetcode.
Given the same level - swe pays more. However, passion matters more because you're more likely to enjoy the work (a goal in itself) and as a result - advance to higher levels. It is also likely that you'll be able to a get into a better entry level position of you with what you are good at to start your career (Its not like you have an offer in your hand to, for example, join google as an entry level ds or swe)
I agree passion plays an important role. I did extensive research on Blind and LinkedIn, what I found out was SWE are treated as first class citizens compared to any other roles at tech companies and the best DS role I can get is in a small company or DS analytics ( SQL, A/B testing etc ) like FB Analytics I’m asking this question now because I want to choose a path that I can work on during my masters. One approach many people have mentioned on blind is to get into SWE and try doing data projects (ML in production) to eventually move into MLE or RS/AS. Is this a valid path?
Just be aware fang tends to hire specialists so being just good at both won't get you very far.
Yes, I‘ve heard that. That’s why I wanted to fix a path of either SWE or DS before I start with my masters. A bit torn on which to choose
I think first you need to get a feel for what the bar is to become a fang swe. Swe is a participant sport and you're really going to need to spend a lot of time coding and working on GitHub projects. The other thing to consider is which is easier to do working part time. My guess is swe is a better long-term bet and ds is easier to do part-time. In other words it's easier to transition one direction than the other.
Off topic, how was your gre/toefl score?
322/109