Given the current job trends & prospects; and the demand in the market; machine learning is definitely worth studying. However, the decision also depends largely on the interest, skillsets and career aspirations of the particular individual. Learning & mastering the art of machine learning requires gaining of multiple skillsets and understanding of multiple tools & technologies.
Hence, while the fruit of patience & perseverance is extremely high, individuals would require high levels of motivation & resilience to muster this; and become a successful machine learning engineer.
Right now, like today… there are over 200K open jobs for machine learning engineers world-wide.
Not only that, these roles are NOT being filled because of technical debt. That means people applying to these roles don’t have the basic technical acumen to do the job… and believe me, after interviewing hundreds over the past several years… they don’t.
This idea that jobs are being snatch up by recent grads is laughable. They aren’t, regardless of what level of education they have.
The University of Texas completed a study recently and concluded that by 2025 there will be over 500K open jobs for machine learning engineers and only a small fraction will be filled.
This isn’t an entry level role. Companies aren’t handing out 300K salaries for entry level.
So, with these numbers in mind, I’d say it’s probably underhyped.