I am a PhD student in the ML domain and planning to finish up by June-July. I am really struggling to get a job in my field. I have appeared in 2 FAANG onsites, couldn't cut in either of those two. Tried with some other startups and small-medium companies, no luck. Thought my ML preparation is quite good, my coding preparation is ok. So, sometimes I am getting rejected for slow coding, but sometimes I am struggling to find the reason for my rejection. For example, I was really confident with my recent Amazon applied scientist interview, where I felt all my ML answers and most of my behavioral answers were really good (judging based on interviewer feedback and physical cues). I had an ok coding round, where I could code up one medium problem, but seems like the interviewer wanted to finish 2 and maybe that's the reason why I am rejected. I do not have any savings, I am literally broke. I am honestly so depressed and demotivated that I can't even concentrate on the rest of my PhD work. Also, there is this constant fear or the covid19, worry about my parents back home and hiring freeze in most companies. If your company is still not on a hiring freeze and hiring for ml engineers or software engineers with an ML focus, is it possible to refer me? I will give my best shot, at this point that's all I can hope for. Thanks.
Also think about applying to new grad SWE generalist roles since you don’t have much time. You can always apply to MLE roles after 1-2 years.
DM me
Hi, is Cruise currently hiring for new grad roles?
DM me for a startup in SF hiring MLE
Maybe don’t try for ML or SW engineer roles if your engineering is what’s getting you passed over for roles. Try for more general data science roles and work your way into an engineer role.
General data science are more focused towards stats, AB testing kind of things and don't have a lot of Machine Learning. So, that's why I do not prefer this data science roles. But, at this point I can't be picky. The main concern however is the lack of new opportunities now a days. I could have taken more prep for coding, but there is hiring freeze almost everywhere. I am confident about my ML knowledge, but seems like it's not enough.
That isn’t always true, there’s plenty of cos where someone with a data scientist title is building and deploying models. MLE is an engineering role and strong engineering skills are generally very important to land those roles. It’s not unusual that you wouldn’t have strong enough engineering skills, very few people coming straight from academia do. Apply more broadly, and be okay with working your way up. There’s always postdocs, you’ll be ok.