AI career path · Engineering
How to become a machine learning engineer.
Trains, adapts, and serves models, and measures whether they are good enough to ship.
The work
What a machine learning engineer does.
Typical work, not one employer’s job description. Postings vary, so read five for the role before you plan.
- Prepare training and evaluation data
- Fine-tune and compare models
- Serve models and track cost and latency
Skills to show
What hiring teams look for.
- Python and an ML framework
- Statistics and evaluation
- Data pipelines and deployment
Routes in
Where people usually come from.
- Data scientist
- Software engineer
- Research graduate
Bring the domain knowledge from that work with you. It is often what sets you apart.
A first project
One piece of work that shows you can do the job.
A hiring team trusts what it can open and run. Keep the project small, measure it, and say plainly what does not work yet.
A small model adapted to one task, compared with a general model on the same evaluation set.
Want an engineer reviewing your code each week? The AI Portfolio Project builds this in four weeks.
See the AI Portfolio ProjectFree résumé grade
Does your résumé read like a machine learning engineer?
Upload it with this role chosen. It is scored on five measures, and a coach checks the report before it reaches you by email.
Programs that fit
When you want a coach for the next step.
EXEMPLUM
AI Portfolio Project
Build an AI project in four weeks that a hiring team can open and check.
$1,500
See the programMENTOR
AI Career Coaching
Eight weeks with one coach, from picking the role to weighing the offer.
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See the programQuestions
What does a machine learning engineer do?
Trains, adapts, and serves models, and measures whether they are good enough to ship. Typical work: prepare training and evaluation data; fine-tune and compare models; serve models and track cost and latency.
Which jobs lead into the machine learning engineer role?
People often move in from work as a data scientist, a software engineer, or a research graduate. The skills to show are: python and an ML framework; statistics and evaluation; data pipelines and deployment.
What should I build first?
A small model adapted to one task, compared with a general model on the same evaluation set. Keep it small, measure how well it works, and write up what does not work yet.
How do I know if my résumé is ready for this role?
Upload it to the free Cursus résumé grader with this role chosen. It is scored on five measures, and a coach checks the report before it is emailed to you.
Other AI career paths
Compare the other routes.
- AI engineer · Engineering
- AI product manager · Product
- AI operations specialist · Operations
- AI evaluation and quality specialist · Quality
- AI governance and risk analyst · Risk
- AI-enabled analyst · Analytics
- AI solutions specialist · Customer-facing
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