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Ask HN: Should I major or minor in Machine Learning?

1 points by nextfx ↗ HN
I recently started my Masters degree in university and I have been trying to decide on what to major in. I find that, in my school, the Machine Learning major has a very limited scope of subjects and there are majors with broader subjects that also interest me. However I worry that if I want to apply for an “ML-heavy” position in the future, then majoring would be better.

2 comments

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superdeeda
In my experience, exact subjects taken at higher levels of university don’t matter that much. If you’re going to be applying for industry positions, they’re going to be much more interested in your mastery and knowledge of the foundations of CS and ML rather than knowledge in very specific or obscure parts of ML. As long as you have at least some math, CS or ML subjects at master’s level, I believe you’ll be considered a strong candidate.

Personally, I regret not taking more of the subjects I was more interested in rather than the ones I thought will get me a job.