Become a Machine Learning Engineer from a Data Scientist: A 2024 Guide

Last updated by Rishabh Dev Choudhary on Aug 26, 2024 at 08:28 PM | Reading time: 9 minutes

Become a Machine Learning Engineer From a Data Scientist: Are you planning to switch from data scientist to machine learning engineer profile? Technology is a dynamic domain that continually transforms and grows. Over the past ten years, data science and machine learning have made tremendous progress.

The disciplines of data science and machine learning are related to using data to improve the development of new products, services, network infrastructure, and other activities. Learning about the particulars of data scientist vs. machine learning engineer and the needs of the different available and upcoming professions in the data industry will be invaluable to you in creating a rewarding professional life.

In this article, we will explain what is a data scientist and a machine learning engineer. We also explain the differences between them in terms of their responsibilities, their skills, salary, and more.

Who is a Data Scientist?

Before getting into the what and how of a data scientist, we must know what data science is.

The study of data and how to get meaning from it is known as data science. This discipline employs several techniques, algorithms, frameworks, and tools for extracting insights from organized and unorganized data. There are several subsections and specialties within the data science industry, namely machine learning, which is a specialization developed through the merging of data science and engineering.

The importance of data science has increased as more businesses produce massive amounts of data and discover that this data may be used as a foundation to gain an understanding of customer behavioral patterns, discover problem areas so they can be fixed, determine customers' purchasing goals, etc.

Data scientists are data-driven individuals who incorporate specialized tools to organize and analyze significant amounts of data. Data scientists are often referred to as makers. They are the ones responsible for identifying and comprehending certain business issues, feature engineering, constructing, choosing upon, and fine-tuning models, and then delivering insights to share with stakeholders.

They have expertise in a broad spectrum of domains, including voice, natural language processing (NLP), image and video processing, medical, and material simulation.

Who is a Machine Learning Engineer?

Machine learning is a discipline of artificial intelligence that implements algorithms to retrieve data and forecast future trends. Models are built into the software, allowing engineers to perform statistical evaluations to comprehend trends in data.

Machine learning includes generating algorithms using statistical approaches for predicting new output values using previous data as input. The algorithm furthermore updates results as new information sets become accessible.

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A machine learning engineer creates, enhances, and implements algorithms that can be trained to solve problems using data. Machine learning engineers implement vast amounts of data to create models that forecast future developments or results. They generally collaborate in teams to develop and apply these models for various business circumstances alongside other data scientists and software developers.

Machine learning engineers focus predominantly on their computer programming skill sets since they are intended to train computers so that they function effectively with the skills they are equipped with to carry out particular tasks without obstacles or support.

Data Scientist and Machine Engineer: Responsibilities

We must comprehend the fundamental duties and responsibilities that data scientists and machine learning engineers typically carry out in their businesses to better understand their switch from data scientist to engineer.

To put it simply, a data scientist studies data and draws conclusions from it. A machine learning engineer, on the other hand, focuses on designing applications and carrying out machine learning solutions.

Responsibilities of a Data Scientist

Data scientists commonly need to be more innovative in everyday duties because they aim to use data to convey ideas. They are often the ones who interact directly with stakeholders; therefore, they must know how to present their findings and devise effective solutions to significant company challenges.

A data scientist conducts a research-based job in which he creates, uses, and studies extensive statistical models and methods to address the most challenging issues that the company is experiencing. They develop macroeconomic and statistical algorithms for various tasks, including forecasting, sampling, clustering, classification, pattern analysis, and simulations.

Data scientists also make decisions to learn about various tools and techniques with the goal of developing novel data-driven decisions for company operations at the quickest rate possible. Since they need to assist with numerous scheduled and ongoing data analytics projects, data scientists encourage the development of a core set of technical and conceptual skills across the data and analytics domain.

Responsibilities of a Machine Learning Engineer

Data scientists and machine learning engineers both deal with a lot of data, which is a common aspect of both professions. As a result, machine learning engineers and data scientists must be very proficient in managing data.

Machine learning engineers specialize in creating autonomous software for automated predictive models. Machine learning engineers help ensure the models implemented by data scientists can handle large amounts of current data to produce better outcomes.

Machine learning engineers must learn more about data by conducting analysis and visualization and identifying inconsistencies in the arrangement of data that might decrease a model's performance when implemented in real-world scenarios.

Machine Learning Engineer vs. Data Scientist: Skill Set

There are certain parallels between the job duties of a data scientist and a machine learning engineer because machine learning and data science are closely related. The primary goal of a data scientist is to draw conclusions using the data and provide the results to executives so that they can utilize them to make essential decisions. This requires some understanding of machine learning algorithms.

The machine learning engineers' goal is to develop software elements that can operate with less management from humans and facilitate extracting meaning from the data that has been provided to them.

When we compare the skill sets required to be a data scientist and machine learning engineer, we can find a lot of similarities. The transition from a data scientist position to a machine learning engineer would not be a challenging task after several years of experience and a good understanding of the domain.

The important thing to remember is to keep exploring the new concepts and techniques which would be helpful for your organization. Being a data scientist or machine learning engineer, you would gain good experience in handling teams and knowing how to communicate with different team members and senior management.

Data Scientist vs. Machine Learning Engineer: Salary

The machine learning engineer salary vs. data scientist salary with an experience of 8+ years is given below:

Job Title	Average Yearly Base Salary (in US$)
Senior Data Scientist	$202,109
Machine Learning Engineer	$175,522

Difference Between Data Scientist and Machine Learning Engineer

We have a general understanding of who data scientists and machine learning engineers are, what they do within an organization, and the skills they require to obtain the desired position. According to Statista.com, the worldwide marketplace for machine learning is going to grow from approximately $40 billion to approximately $2 trillion by 2030. These promising figures indicate that there will be a rise in the availability of job possibilities for both aspiring and seasoned engineers.

Here is a summarized version of data scientist vs. machine learning engineer to help you in the transition of your job.

Data Scientist	Machine Learning Engineer
They are focused on solving business-related problems	They focus on model production and deployment
Data scientists work on the development of custom tools to enhance the complete modeling workflow	The ML engineers develop custom tools to enhance the complete deployment workflow
They work by analyzing the data at different stages of the ML cycle	They work by enhancing and implementing various models for performance, memory, latency, and throughput
They are analytic professionals who manage large amounts of data	The ML engineers explore, design AI systems, and build models to automate the predictive models
Data scientists use data science libraries like Jupyter notebook, Pandas, Scikit-learn, and more	They use tools for model deployment like Google cloud ML, Amazon Sagemaker, and Microsoft Azure

Gear Up for Your Next Machine Learning Interview

No matter how small or large a business is, data is the most important ingredient in the success of any business. With the availability of an ocean of data, businesses need highly trained professionals to help them organize the raw data to get the best results for their organizations. Data scientists and machine learning engineers are important assets to any business to help with the data.

We understand that transitioning from one job to another might be difficult, even with several years of experience. Therefore, Interview Kickstart has always kept the needs of the people at the forefront and created a list of questions that will help engineers get the best job in machine learning with well-known tech giants. Join the Machine Learning Interview Masterclass to become an ML engineer from a data scientist profile.

FAQs: Become a Machine Learning Engineer from a Data Scientist

Q1. Which data science language is easiest?

Python is the easiest and most used language in data science. It has a simple and readable syntax and an open-source language which makes it the best choice for beginners.

Q2. Is ML harder than data science?

Data science is found to be easier than ML. Data science includes statistics, whereas machine learning includes additional computer science skills along with statistics.

Q3. Is AI engineering better than data science?

Learning data science is easier than learning AI, making AI engineering a little difficult but in high demand. AI engineers are also paid more than data scientists.

Q4. What is the highest-paying job in AI?

One of the top-paying AI positions is an AI Product Manager, who is in charge of supervising and directing a team as they create AI-driven solutions. An AI Product Manager is informed about deep learning and machine learning and understands how AI methods might efficiently tackle various challenges.

Q5. Is machine learning engineering a good career?

Machine learning engineer is one of the highest rankings jobs in the technology domain. Machine learning engineers are the most demanded professionals. These professionals play an important role in an organization.

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