How to branch off into a tech career
Hi, I’m 23 and work for an industrial company as a Product Manager, YOE: 2. I’ve been heavily interested in ML and have a few certifications under my belt. Just a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering as a core degree. I was wondering on what avenues to use when trying to get hired by a predominately software company. I’m not an excellent coder but do understand python and the main machine learning concepts and can apply them. Any advice on how to switch careers? Do I need to get better at software dev or get a MS specializing in machine learning? Much appreciated.
That depends on what you want to do. Research scientist? Applied scientist? Data scientist? Software engineer?
The scientist route would take a PhD so I’m trying to stay away from that option. Anything to do with implementation. So a machine learning engineer would suffice.
Then you will need at least the fundamental knowledge of computer science. Leetcode, system design, patterns. Cannot escape those.
Most of the product managers in my AWS org have been an SDE for a couple of years, so that’s definitely one possible path
Yes, I’ve been looking at switching to Amazon. What are the requirements for a SDE position, anything out of the ordinary? Note: I can only use python to some extent. TC?
For an SDE position you’ll be expected to deliver code at a volume and quality level that many of the strongest programmers in the industry find challenging. If you can do that, you’ll be well compensated.
Apply for PM roles at companies you are interested in. Good chance there will be opportunities to collaborate with engineering. May even be able to get in on some dev work.
Could go product manager with UX architecture route. If system design interests you, this could be a good fit. UX isn't just UI design, there's a massive foundational layer that heavily overlaps with product manager tasks. Lmk if you want more info
Leetcode. And try applying to Albertsons first.
Last.
I‘m literally dying right now 😂