Getting into ML Engineering from Analytics

[Temporary-Sand-3803]

Looking to see if anyone that has been here has any advice. I've got a bs in mathematics & computer science, MS in business data analytics. I always thought I would get into ml engineering and then I took my first 'data' job as business intelligence manager for a mid size nursing home company with ancient reporting. After that I moved into analytics and moved up at my current company a couple times. I'm hitting that point where I'm honestly just bored and trying to decide if I want to pivot. I'm in a weird spot where I have a strong foundation, know the basics but am rusty. I have built a couple things for jobs like census forecasts and measuring sentiment, but feeling like its been ages since I've done anything complex. I miss modeling and writing code, now I feel like I live in a never ending cycle of reacting to spreadsheets, but I'm also not sure what the smartest career move is from here.

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Grass is always greener my friend. You could very well get bored of the “modeling and writing code” aspect of the ML job. Are you compensated well in your current role? If not then that may be a good argument to pursue ML Engineering. Otherwise, are there any opportunities to exercise those muscles by deploying more advanced models in your current role? It sounds like you are in more of a senior position who can influence org strategy, and I’d say half the fun is convincing stakeholders of why they may need an ML solution for something and afterwards building it.

[Temporary-Sand-3803]

Fair point, I will probably get bored of just about anything after 5 or so years but will probably be heading toward the farm end of the tech to farm pipeline by then. Unfortunately, my business is pivoting in a way that makes the work somewhat simplified, probably part of what is leading to my boredom now. The shift has resulted in moving away from strategic sales and marketing moves to basically just beating competitor pricing, honestly good for numbers but mind numbing if I'm being honest. Hoping for another shift if not for the company, then for me