It will be interesting if you can share how you landed in your first ML job, once you learnt the algorithms. I think getting the first job in ML role, if you don't have formal qualification in the related field is the hard part.
Got my foot in the door doing an after-school program teaching kids to code.
I leveraged that to get a teaching assistant job at a bootcamp for adult professionals.
I networked my arse off at the teaching assistant job until experienced programmers (such as instructors) realized I knew my stuff but was underemployed. I got a couple of side gigs doing BI Analytics that way.
After doing this, I had a tough set of interviews for my first full-time role. Every failed interview taught me about my weaknesses and blindspots, and I learned from them. I opted to get stronger at system design, stats & ML algorithms, though I feel like grinding leetcode could have been another approach at this point.
Because I had a wide set of marketable skills within data-oriented work, an analytics consulting firm took a liking to me. I had versatility for billable projects, and I got a bunch of tech certifications in AWS/etc. This role would be describable as 'Analytics Engineering'.
They overworked me for a little while, then my next role was a Data Scientist role that was on my own terms.
I don't want to make it sound like I could just jump in no problemo. I had to think strategically about how to climb each rung of the ladder. But I am now at a point where I have the experience needed to be a senior. While some companies might turn me down for not having a piece of paper, there are enough who actively want me that I am sitting pretty with my career.
