ML/AI Job Market Landscape
2025 Market Trends & Requirements
5 min read
Hot Skills in 2025
1. LLM Engineering (🔥 Highest Demand)
- Fine-tuning (LoRA, QLoRA)
- RAG systems
- Prompt engineering
- LLM evaluation
2. MLOps/Production ML
- Model deployment and serving
- ML pipelines (Kubeflow, Airflow)
- Monitoring and observability
- A/B testing
3. Generative AI Applications
- Building AI agents
- Multimodal models
- AI-powered products
4. Traditional ML Still Relevant
- Recommendation systems
- Fraud detection
- Time series forecasting
- Computer vision
Entry-Level Requirements (Reality Check)
Minimum for Most Roles:
- Bachelor's in CS/related field (or equivalent experience)
- Strong Python programming
- 2-3 ML projects in portfolio
- Understanding of ML fundamentals
- Git/GitHub proficiency
Nice to Have:
- Internship or prior ML experience
- Open source contributions
- Kaggle competitions
- Research paper implementations
Master's Advantage:
- 20-30% higher starting salary
- Access to more senior roles faster
- Research-oriented positions
PhD Advantage:
- Required for research scientist roles
- $50K-$100K higher starting comp
- Direct access to L4/L5 levels
Hiring Trends
Remote Work:
- 60% of ML roles now remote-friendly
- But in-office roles pay 10-20% more
- Hybrid becoming standard
Contract-to-Hire:
- Common entry point (3-6 month contracts)
- Prove yourself before full-time offer
- Lower barrier to entry
Bootcamp Grads:
- Can land entry roles with strong portfolio
- Need to compensate for lack of CS degree
- Focus on practical projects, not theory
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