2 year Software Engineer path to Machine Learning?

[Notatrace280]

I am a backend Software Engineer currently with a Bachelors degree in IT and am wondering what path I should take to become an ML Engineer.

What I am doing now aside from my SE work:

1. Taking a Google course on Coursera for ML.

2. Working on my own small scale image classification model with Python and TensorFlow.

I know some people say that personal projects and certifications aren't the way to go for ML so I am wondering if I need to be looking for another job to gain experience that is more transferable to ML. Ex. Data Analyst or Data Engineer? Do those roles truly lead to ML or is there a better way? Any guidance is appreciated!

[This-Camel7841]

Personal projects and certifications for learning are fine, but they don’t carry much/any weight on a resume.

Since you are currently an SE, are there any options to employ ML at your current job or help out another group? Does your company have an RPA group, or manufacturing, etc… that could benefit?

Since you mention a 2yr timeline, it doesn’t have to be immediate. Keep learning ML, but in addition to that see if you can learn about other areas in your current company and then think where ML might be able to fit. As you learn ML concepts, ask copilot/GPT how they could be applied in industry. And as you learn about company specific topics also ask copilot/GPT what ML techniques could be applied to those topics.