TL;DR Should I take an SDE FAANG offer in Europe over focusing on ML(with a new degree) or trendy languages (e.g. Rust) through startups(similar TC) or contracting(zero freelance experience)?<p>With recent layoffs and hiring freezes I'm struggling with where to proceed with my career path.
I'd say I get good at whatever I do very quickly, but I get bored when the problems I solve aren't difficult. Because a lot of jobs in SWE are just another Spring boot web app and I really liked my mini side projects in AI, I decided to specialize and become an ML Engineer (I have ~4 years of experience in software dev)
I entered my ML degree (MSc) thinking it would easily improve my prospects for a high-paying role, but I'm graduating soon and the job market is much dryer than anticipated.
I was hoping to have a chance at early retirement because MLE jobs were offering stellar compensation(lots of active listings >150k), but now it seems I can, maybe, get a 20% salary increase vs my comp in 2020/2021.<p>Now it seems I have 3 options:<p>1) I still have a full time return offer as L4 SDE from AWS, but I'm just not sure whether that is a desirable option anymore. FAANG Compensation in Europe, or at least my offer, is not much better, if at all, than local competitors, or any remote-worldwide position. This role binds me to strictly software engineering, without much room for ML, and I'd have to relocate to a specific office, plus the contract is pretty restrictive on what I can do on the side. On the other hand, FAANG is said to be one of the best places to learn, and adds a great item to my CV (or does it?) - and hopefully once the freezes are over I could pivot into a more interesting position.<p>2) I'm awaiting an offer from a startup where I could learn new trendy languages that I enjoy, and the position is fully remote. The mission seems rather purposeful, though only a chance for future ML stuff and not a lot of top-of-their-field people to learn from that I know of - I'd be more on my own. Compensation here is similar to AWS. I'm also still actively applying but haven't found much else yet.<p>3) I've been looking into and creating profiles on several contracting platforms, e.g. A-team, that would most probably pay better than the other two options and have a higher chance at finding something ML-related, but I haven't yet landed any projects, and I have zero freelancing experience. I could focus on building out a few side projects for my github and/or create a website that improves my looks. I'm also interested in this because I do want to start my own business once I have a secure financial standing; it seems that not taking advantage of at least some of the low-hanging fruits in AI is like not buying a lottery ticket with a 1 in 10 chance of winning.<p>With the ultimate goal of making a decent chunk of money for retirement into more fun, purposeful, doing-my-own-thing or charitable work and/or traveling the world, what would you do here?