DS to SWE transition, and vice versa!

Question

I'm noticing online posts that say Software Engineers (SWEs) are transitioning to become Data Scientists (DSs). I've wondered why---it seems senior level SWEs pay a lot more than senior level DSs. (I'm accounting for the fact that salary is the most important criteria for choosing a job/career--according to tech surveys). Is this actually a trend or am I just naive--are a lot of folks transitioning from SWEs to DSs?

Second question: Given that senior SWEs pay a lot more than senior DSs (for someone who wants to make this transition)--how easy or challenging is it to transition from being a DS to SWE? Have people here made this transition? If yes, can you share your experience--what kind of new skills did you need to acquire?

linuxftw · Accepted Answer

Not really sure but I think it’s worth mentioning that there’s somewhat of a dichotomy in data science. In some organizations they do ML. They’re definitely paid more, and I see SWEs trying to become DS. Obviously in other orgs it’s almost like an analyst

null · Answer

To add a data point, I'm a senior SWE transitioning into DS. The compensation is the same across the career ladder for our company and the expectations map closer to the work I've been doing over the last two years.

There were no new skills set required – just approval from HR.

DS to SWE transition, and vice versa!

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