Can a process engineer that analyzes data become a data engineer?
Wondering because I work as a process engineer and I use coding to make processes more streamline (reducing cost increasing quality and reducing time). Coding isn’t my main job but I use it a lot at work. Could I become a swe/data engineer/ or machine learning engineer if I start grinding leetcode and work on some side projects ? How does a process engineer get even noticed by recruiters at places like Amazon and so on. I left IBM so I’m not there anymore. I’m at Samsung Austin but Kept the ibm account for anonymity.
Yes, I did exactly that. I started as a process engineer 3 years ago and transitioned into software/data engineering at the same company after about 6 months. Literally an hour ago I got a verbal offer from Google for a data/software engineering TVC role. Entirely self-taught, but it's all about identifying inefficiencies at the company that software can be used to save a lot of time (and therefore $). I noted several such projects that I identified and completed on my resume, as well as a few personal projects that are on my Github. I was in the final interview stage for an L4 SWE position at Google before their hiring freeze, and I got to that point just by applying to one of their open jobs (didn't have a referral beforehand and wasn't contacted by a recruiter). TL;DR: Yes, it's possible.
You will without a doubt be up a hill versus someone with experience. Connections would be best, so get networking. Even within Samsung. Outside of that, having outside projects where you can showcase your abilities goes a long way. Lastly, don't discount your experience. They have swe that work in factory applications. I knew many at Tesla. Your experience of knowing what the equipment is that is feeding inputs and outputs is monumental. There is a lot of depth here that can be expanded upon your experience, nothing is wasted
I think my favorite thing about tech is your previous titles don’t matter much at all. If you can write code that does the thing you’re trying to do, you’re as much an engineer as anyone. This is going to be controversial, but if you are doing data engineering work as your day to day, it’s perfectly sensible to have your job title be something like “Process Engineer/Data Engineer”. Your actual internal title is not helpful to a hiring manager. It’s better to communicate the actual work you’re doing. If you’re not doing DE work, then my primary advice would be to figure out how to incorporate DE work into your day to day.