Ask HN: Possible to pivot into ML research career without a PhD?
Hi HN. I have a career question.
My brother in law just started a masters program in ML, and is thinking of doing a PhD program after that. He wants to ultimately do ML research at an industry lab (like DeepMind or whatever). He’s not interested in academia, and is worried that he’ll burn out being a graduate student for the next 6ish years.
Would it be plausible for him to get a position as an applied scientist and then ultimately pivot into a research position over the course of a few years? Is that a viable path? Or is a PhD a must for this sort of position? I think he’d be happier working into that position as an IC rather than a student. He’s done some good research already, but doesn’t yet have published work.
My brother in law just started a masters program in ML, and is thinking of doing a PhD program after that. He wants to ultimately do ML research at an industry lab (like DeepMind or whatever). He’s not interested in academia, and is worried that he’ll burn out being a graduate student for the next 6ish years.
Would it be plausible for him to get a position as an applied scientist and then ultimately pivot into a research position over the course of a few years? Is that a viable path? Or is a PhD a must for this sort of position? I think he’d be happier working into that position as an IC rather than a student. He’s done some good research already, but doesn’t yet have published work.