Many beginners (or even advanced individuals) look for ways to get started in a DS and ML company. However, since the field is still quite new some employers are hesitant in on-boarding people due to the risk associated with whether the employee will actually deliver value. Here is some general guidance on how to tackle this issue:
- P@SHA recently did an amazing job of curating a list of companies that work within the DS/AI domain. Follow these companies and stay updated as to what they are doing. You'll then be one of the first people to find out if they are hiring! If you wish to add your company to the list then kindly follow here.
- Showcase your skills on the Pakistan.AI group ! There are many people who look around the group and potentially some might just be looking for people to employ. So market yourself and show us what you can do!
- Keep in touch with employees within DS/AI companies. Usually companies who can't afford to spend too much time on on-boarding people ask their own employees to forward potential candidates for a job posting. Such opportunities are usually not publicly announced. Networking is of the utmost importance!
- Most companies will require that you have hands-on experience (even for an entry level job) so don't wait until you come across some internship opportunity that does not require this. Do a course, get hacking on a data set from kaggle, do a project but most importantly don't wait!
- Companies tend to be more open in hiring candidates that tend to be bright and are capable of picking up topics quickly and this is true across every industry around the world! One way of achieving that is by stimulating yourself intellectually - do difficult and thought provoking online courses! You can read more on that here.