I’m a little lost right now. I realize this question is a little pedantic, but I’m just finishing two separate master’s from 2 top 5 universities in CS and Biology. I currently do a lot of deep learning research, and have had industry research fellowships along with other internships in product management. I’m also have 1 theoretical deep learning paper published and a few more on the way in the next few months. I’m also writing a technical book on deep learning to be published with Manning. I’m transitionjng to industry this fall, but haven’t yet started applying for jobs. I’d like to work on tough problems, I have no problem working a lot of hours, but I would like to maximize my income to support my family and save for the future. What career paths can I take? Am I worth the same as a new grad swe, data scientist, or less? I’ve heard quantitative research pays well, but I have only been exposed superficially. thank you for all your help! I know I’m scattered, I’m just uncertain about the future.
If you don't have any industry experience, you are a new grad. At the end, building products pays the best. Stay in engineering if you want a high TC.
If you can get a top quant researcher position, that’s likely to be your best financial outcome: think renaissance, Voleon, etc. In tech, swe pays the most on average, but if you’re considered a top ML researcher, you’d get paid well above the median swe/rs. I wouldn’t compete for data scientist if you have other options. I’m confused about why you have a product management internship. Big tech is the safest route to good money. If you work 60 hours, you’ll likely do very well relative to your peers, which is the most important thing. Why do you have two masters? If you left that out, I’d assume you were a PhD based on your description, so that’s probably going to hurt getting classified as better than new grad, unfortunately
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I finished undergrad early, and just decided to enroll in two master’s programs because I was interested in both fields. I’ve never done a PhD. Do you mean if the research experience is good, but the master’s knocks me back down to new grad? Ah the PM internships are what I was interested in before going into research, so they’re from ~2 years ago. Thank you, I’ll think about the pointers you gave me
If you want money, start with any big tech company and jump ship after two years. Keep doing that a few times until you hit Director or higher roles. Again for high TC, do NOT stay in the same company. For more interesting and somewhat relevant to your field work, pursue ML roles in companies that use data science and ML to solve more meaningful problems like health care delivery, disease detection, genomics, equity distribution, etc. Don’t expect to earn too much here. So depends on where you want to apply your skills.
Machine learning engineer (higher pay and more interesting work than SWE or DS), or research scientist. As a new grad your background should command between 230-350k/year at tech companies as a starting salary.
Dear God
Is it worth doing a masters to get into ML? People have been saying for years that masters arent worth it but most positions in cv, nlp still require it