ML experience at small start up? Or SDE at Amzn
I'm a data engineer at a start-up with 1yoe. My managers agreed to move me to the ML team even though I don't have experience because they saw I can produce good work as an engineer. The team itself is really talented with a bunch of PhD's working on DARPA contests. Nice people too. I applied to Amazon before I got confirmation to be an ML engineer and got an offer yesterday for SDEI. TC: ~150k which is similar to what I'm making at current company when scaled for Seattle cost of living. I'm really interested in learning and implementing ML projects so I'm reluctant to leave. Others say that there's a lot of benefits to working at a big company and that I can pursue ML there. Thoughts? If there's anyone who can speak to Amazon's ML training program or transitioning roles within Amazon, I'd really appreciate it.
Internal team. Working with data scientists to create models for HR. I'm currently in Georgia techs masters program (non thesis) for computer science that I hope will boost my specs..
I would take the opportunity to join amazon. Looks good to have fang on resume and it’s nice being in a true tech hub
Since the ml team in your startup is strong (PhD, DARPA), I'd if a) I can get to work on core algorithms. b) do they publish? Can you give talks at conferences? C) are they nice people to learn from? D) are their skills underutilized? Or are they excited about the job? Factor in all this and gauge how much ML you'll actually do. Starting out in ML somewhere, populating your GitHub with ml work and then applying to Amazon for an ml role might be a harder path but more surety than going to Amazon and hoping you find your niche in such an ocean of a company.
This is interesting. You don't think moving internally at Amazon to an ML role will be easier/faster??
This is my first work exp so I lack context
Roles in Amazon don't necessarily match the work you'll do. I know some SDEs who happen to work on teams and do some ML. I know we also have MLE as a internal position but some of them don't do ML. At most they will just implement and productionalize the solutions that scientists do. I also know teams where Applied scientists are MLEs. They work on research and ad well engineering components. Do you know what team you're going to in Amazon? Transitioning from SDE to AS isn't easy. It's even harder if you don't have a masters. Either way you need to find a manager that you can convince you are good enough. Regardless to transition you need to write and publish papers for the transition. You say you have no experience in ML, it's gonna be hard to transition