How She Became a Machine Learning Engineer Without a CS Degree
Marina’s AI book recommendations:
👉 AI Engineering: Building Applications with Foundation Models by Chip Huyen
https://amzn.to/4gbYQNP
👉 Designing Machine Learning Systems: An Iterative Process for Production-Ready Applications by Chip Huyen
https://amzn.to/41htTS4
How do you become a machine learning engineer without a computer science degree?
Meet Marina Wyss, an Applied Machine Learning Scientist at Twitch. Her path to machine learning engineering wasn’t traditional. She dropped out of high school at 16, studied political science, ran a jewelry business, and only discovered coding and machine learning by accident. Today, she builds Machine Learning (ML infrastructure, works on GenAI content understanding, fraud detection using ML techniques, forecasting, and machine learning recommendation systems at Twitch.
Marina shares how she transitioned into machine learning and tech later in life, the differences between data science, ML engineering, and AI engineering, which machine learning skills to prioritize if you want to break into AI and machine learning engineering, and more!
Whether you’re just starting out in AI or machine learning or pivoting into AI/ML from another field, Marina’s journey into machine learning proves there isn’t only one way into tech jobs.
#mlengineer #machinelearning #techcareers
⭐️About Marina Wyss
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Marina is an Applied Scientist at Twitch, where she works on diverse projects spanning ML infrastructure, forecasting, and content understanding using GenAI. With a non-traditional education background in the social sciences, she began her machine learning career after spending many years in other unrelated fields. This unique journey has given her valuable insight when coaching and mentoring others who may not have the typical expected background for entering the machine learning job market.
Linkedin Profile: / marina-wyss
⭐️About Jean Lee
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I’m Jean—an ex-WhatsApp early engineer and Meta manager with over 20 years in tech. I was an early engineer at WhatsApp before its $19B acquisition by Meta, then led engineering teams at Meta, where I experienced firsthand how technology evolves and shapes the world.
Now, I’m on a mission to break down how AI is changing our careers, industries, and the future of work. AI will transform how we work, learn, and live, and many are overwhelmed by what this means—especially those without access or context.
⏱️Timestamp:
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0:00 Becoming an ML Engineer
0:25 Career Journey
2:05 What do you do at Twitch
3:04 Typical Day In The Life
4:35 Data Science VS ML
6:08 Will AI replace us?
6:57 Break into tech
8:53 Stay Relevant In Tech
10:13 Book recommendation
10:33 The Biggest Entry Gap
11:44 If I start Learning Today?
📎 Resources:
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✅ FREE AI ML Roadmap Self-Study Plan (16-page PDF Guide)
https://www.exaltitude.io/job-seekers...
✅ The Ultimate Resume Handbook
https://www.exaltitude.io/resume-hand...
✅ FREE Interview Prep Resources
https://www.exaltitude.io/job-seekers...
✅ FREE ATS-Friendly Resume Template
https://www.exaltitude.io/job-seekers...
🚀 Learn to code
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Machine Learning Bootcamp: https://links.zerotomastery.io/MLBoot...
Machine Learning Career Path: https://links.zerotomastery.io/MLcare...
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🖥️ My SETUP
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Comica Vimo S MI Wireless Microphone: https://amzn.to/3T6wXMs
Sony Alpha 6700: https://amzn.to/4iccaSj
18-50mm F2.8 DC DN Sony Lense: https://amzn.to/3XwDti1
The full list: https://www.amazon.com/shop/exaltitud...
📣✨Connect with me
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💻 LinkedIn: / jeanklee
✉️ NEWSLETTER: https://www.exaltitude.io/newsletter
📲 Email for business inquiries: [email protected]
📌 Website: https://www.exaltitude.io/?utm_source...
I give advice for navigating your engineering career journey successfully.
Credits
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🎵Music: Anno Domini Beats - Like That
from YouTube Creator Music
🖼️ All images, graphics, and b-roll videos used in this video were sourced from Canva.
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