Expectation for Senior Machine Learning Role at Meta or other FAANG companies?
I have a Master's in Computer Science with a focus on Machine Learning. I currently work at Microsoft, where I have built one large-scale model and spent four years developing a platform for model building and inferencing.
Due to a re-org, I was moved to a non-ML project. Overall, I have more than eight years of work experience, with four years focused on ML platforms and four years in backend development. I do not have experience with neural networks or deep learning at all.
I’m interested in applying for Senior Machine Learning Engineer roles at companies like Meta, but I’m not sure if I have enough depth to succeed ML interview round. Do I need extensive experience in machine learning/model development or deep learning to clear interviews for 'Software Engineer, Machine Learning' roles at Meta?
Discussion
(1 comment)- 02 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
There will be some expectation of an ML background, especially at the senior level. However, this doesn't need to come strictly from having that exact job/title at another company.
Instead, could you talk about how you worked on ML-related concepts in your projects at Microsoft? Seems like you have plenty of that from building a large-scale model.
You should also talk about the transferable skills you've acquired. It's unlikely you'll have worked on the exact tech stack that Meta or another FAANG company wants. But you can connect the dots
- e.g. "I haven't worked directly with PyTorch, but I have lots of experience with a specific module in TensorFlow which would be applicable here."
- This is especially important for recruiters who may not be able to make that connection on their own.
The biggest thing that can help you would be a referral from someone senior or in the ML space (ideally both) at Meta. I think the specifics of your background are less important once you get the interview, especially for someone like you who has worked at a MSFT. I'd focus your efforts on getting into the interview loops you want.
