Do you guys thinking a masters degree is absolutely necessary if I eventually want to transition into a more ML engineer/ data scientist role? particularly because i didn’t take enough of the required courses in my undergrad Most of those ML positions, even at Amazon, require a MS at the minimum with specializations in one field and some novel research experience
Nope I don’t think so
Certainly helps but if you have other relevant experience and can talk intelligently about ML that's probably sufficient.
People love self taught
No. Most ml engineers I know come from other science areas eg bio, chemistry, math, physics etc
What's your present role?
SDE
Get Dataengineering and climb the ladder.