Is it easier to go MLE to SWE or SWE to MLE?

Amazon
URdr86

Go to company page Amazon

URdr86
Apr 13 22 Comments

As title states, is it easy to transfer from MLE to SWE or vice versa?

asking because i have a potential MLE intern offer at Apple but my main goal was to work as a SWE.

Which is usually more prestigious? And which tends to give out higher compensation?

Also would changing from MLE to SWE be easy if i get a return offer?

Thanks!

#machinelearningengineer
#softwareengineer

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TOP 22 Comments
  • Meta / Eng
    metabit

    Go to company page Meta Eng

    metabit
    Recent grad here.
    At Meta I joined an ML team. It’s half SWE half Research Scientists but everyone does the same thing. Previously was pure SWE. I’m still junior so could be very wrong but I think it’s def easier to do MLE>SWE than SWE>MLE later on. Even within Meta, the technical caliber of my peers in this team is incredibly higher than SWE groups I was in. That said, it made me realize I really don’t enjoy MLE. I do quite enjoy $$$ though so I’m quite conflicted.

    Also, I’m not sure how much this means but on SWE teams there were CS people and people who did bootcamps even. On this team, half of the people are MIT/CMU math/cs PhDs and were quants at top firms before.
    Apr 13 7
    • Financial Services Company
      hgyxky

      Financial Services Company

      hgyxky
      Would be great, i ran out of Dms. If you have it do you mind sending one
      Apr 13
    • Meta / Eng
      metabit

      Go to company page Meta Eng

      metabit
      do you have discord?
      Apr 13
  • Apple / Mgmt
    bvc7xqsd4

    Go to company page Apple Mgmt

    bvc7xqsd4
    Do what you love forget the rest
    Apr 13 4
    • New / Eng
      EngineerXX

      New Eng

      EngineerXX
      @URdr86
      Awesome answer :D
      I was "buying" this pitch about doing what you love & not thinking about money but... didn't end well.

      My yearly TC was 12k $ in eastern Europe 8 years ago, now it is 35k $ net and ... I should have always followed "love money".

      All work is shit.
      A wise man once told me: " if work was fun, then the money would flow in the opposite direction". It never is if you have a boss, so always follow high TC.
      Apr 13
    • Apple / Mgmt
      bvc7xqsd4

      Go to company page Apple Mgmt

      bvc7xqsd4
      Engineerxx for you it should be love money until you find enough income to live with dignity but for the OP they’re talking prestige and caring about that so I presume good money is already available in both their options
      Apr 13
  • Amazon
    AAMU46

    Go to company page Amazon

    AAMU46
    Totally my own two cents but it seems like a lot of MLEs have masters degrees/phds compared to typical SWEs which makes me think MLEs are more prestigious
    Apr 13 2
    • Amazon
      URdr86

      Go to company page Amazon

      URdr86
      OP
      Fair point. I asked above to someone else too but in terms of resume value when applying to new grad roles, would there be any advantages/disadvantages of having MLE over SWE when applying to SWE roles?
      Apr 13
    • Meta / Eng
      metabit

      Go to company page Meta Eng

      metabit
      This is true. I’m BSCS from top school but my team is entirely MIT Math/CS PhDs (and this is product, not research/FAIR)
      Apr 13
  • Google
    wUyR14

    Go to company page Google

    wUyR14
    MLE=SWE working on ML pipelines
    Apr 13 0
  • Financial Services Company
    hgyxky

    Financial Services Company

    hgyxky
    If you are an intern why don’t you take it and see it yourself. Early in career do exploration, later in career do exploitation
    Apr 13 2
    • Amazon
      URdr86

      Go to company page Amazon

      URdr86
      OP
      Well, i didnt mention in this post, but i have already accepted a SWE intern at Atlassian over the summer so i was trying to gauge if it would be a smart choice to reneg. Thoughts?
      Apr 13
    • Financial Services Company
      hgyxky

      Financial Services Company

      hgyxky
      If you have strong math background i would suggest trying mle.

      Companies collect tons of data, building models is easy, now it is time to monetize ml.

      Next 10 years would be great. Ml esp DL become mainstream 2016, there is still lots of room
      Apr 13