If you really are a talented machine learning specialist, you don't have too much to compete with in San Francisco. A lot of "ML engineers" and data science peo

If you really are a talented machine learning specialist, you don't have too much to compete with in San Francisco. A lot of "ML engineers" and data science people in SF dont actually have the background or expertise to call themselves career machine learning specialists. They take free courses and started using tensorflow once it blew up. I know because I was one of those people (fwiw im going back to school to actually learn the fundamentals now). Also, I know people in the situation you describe, and its a grind like every other bonus incentivized gig on wall street. People may tell you otherwise, but they're probably sugarcoating. I know a few people who burned out early and started their own companies, and a couple who are continuing the slog for huge bonus payouts. The no free lunch theorem holds true. For me, I'll finish up this degree and see where things are headed. I'm definitely not set on SV or WS yet, but it'll probably be one or the other.