What a machine learning engineer really does
You take machine learning models out of notebooks and make them work reliably for real users.
FieldTech and design
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Considerable preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for machine learning engineers, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Clean and prepare data and features so training and production see the same thing.
- Train, test and compare models with proper metrics before anything ships.
- Write production code that serves model predictions fast and safely.
- Write tests and checks for data, code and model behavior.
- Watch live model performance and fix problems when quality or speed drops.
- Work with product managers and engineers on what is feasible within time and cost.
- Write short design notes and status updates about model changes.
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- Model work is only half of it. Fixing and improving existing production software is a core part of the job. Task 4, Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance: importance 69, Core (O*NET Tasks, 15-1252.00)
- Testing and validating models never stops, because data keeps changing. Task 3, Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest: importance 81, Core (O*NET Tasks, 15-2051.00)
- You work inside a team, even when it feels like solo coding. Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team: 71% extremely important (O*NET Work Context, 15-1252.00)
- Competition is strong in this space, both for jobs and for results. Level of Competition: 65% highly competitive (O*NET Work Context, 15-2051.00)
- Deadlines arrive weekly for most people in these fields. Time Pressure: 52% once a week or more but not every day (O*NET Work Context, 15-2051.00); 40% once a week or more (15-1252.00)
How people get into it
Both O*NET proxies sit in Job Zone 4. For Data Scientists, 48% of surveyed workers say a bachelor's degree is required and 44% a master's degree; for Software Developers, 85% say a bachelor's degree. ML engineers usually come from computer science, statistics or math, often with a master's, or move over from software engineering after building ML skills.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Threadline, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: The trial uses a browser notebook and code editor with small prepared data and a simulated serving environment. It cannot show long training runs on GPUs, real deploy pipelines and cloud infrastructure, on call duty, or the scale of production traffic. Work with large language models is also not covered.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
Other careers you can try
Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 15-2051.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.