While choosing between the immediate infinite opportunities of a web development job, a lucrative career path, and an unstoppable future of Machine Learning, you must ensure the path you will be choosing is correct for you.
We’re here to help you decide between these with this article, where we explain the immediate and long term impacts of the fields, the learning experience, the money in the business, demand and supply of talent, work experience and future opportunities granted by a web development job and a Machine Learning job. All this to help you choose a better career path between the two.
To get things clear, let’s define the two fields first. The study of self-improving computer algorithms with the use of the previously or constantly provided data is Machine Learning. And the application of computer programs to create websites is web development. Both are newer industries that offer excellent career opportunities in their respective fields.
While both of these are computer-based fields, they vary vastly as both operate on different sets of rules, changing the opportunities in the process. This article focuses on the career opportunities opened by these fields and clarifies the confusion between the two to help you choose the most suitable one.
So, which one is better?
Let’s answer the question directly and then move on to the nuances. The career option always depends on the person who wants to learn these as both fields offer their own unique advantages and disadvantages that ensure their value.
We can, however, make it easy for you to choose between the two by presenting the clear advantages, disadvantages and opportunities facilitated by a Machine Learning job and web development job so that you can choose a more promising career path based on these factors.
Money is a big factor in choosing a better path. But, there are more things to consider when you’re betting your career on an option. Starting from as basic as choosing a stream of studies. To make an informed decision, one must consider all the factors when choosing one career.
We will dive deeper into these factors as we move along. But first, let’s get straight to the lucrative thing in the business, the money.
As both these fields heavily leverage technology, the financial aspect of the two fields is not an issue. Both offer excellent salary opportunities. You will not go wrong with any of the fields at present. But, it should be noted that the average salary in a Machine Learning job is higher than that in a web development company.
This means that a Machine Learning job ensures a better salary structure on average. In fact, a Machine Learning engineer may earn more money than an average IT job employee. According to Payscale, the average software engineer or programmer has a salary of INR 4.25L LPA, while the average for a Machine Learning job is INR 8.60 LPA.
The numbers speak for themselves and make Machine Learning a better career path. That, however, is true when you don’t consider the difficulty involved in learning the domain and other obstacles in pursuing a Machine Learning job as a career path.
Demand and supply
There is a high demand for both fields; however, the supply of skilled labour differentiates the two at present. With almost every business or individual wanting to build an online presence with a website, there has never been a better time to be part of a web development company.
However, you must also consider the fact that the low entry barrier in this field means there is a lot of competition. But, the demand is so high for a web developer that the competition becomes irrelevant to an extent. Apart from that, a skilled worker always finds his way to a successful career.
The huge demand in the top companies for skilled Machine Learning engineers has allowed professionals to excel in their careers exponentially. With almost every big company dealing with data science and big data, there has never been a higher demand than today. And it keeps growing and growing with a large amount of data generated each passing day.
Perhaps the biggest differentiating factor between the two fields is the syllabus and the process of learning. Mostly based on the knowledge of programming languages, web development forms a relatively simpler and easier to learn syllabus than Machine Learning. For the web development job route, you can Learn basic HTML to write text, CSS to design and customise the design, and Javascript to make it user-friendly.
And if you add python, SQL and jQuery libraries to your knowledge set, you elevate your web development skills a notch further. Learning these languages is relatively easier(for most people) when compared to Machine Learning. Theoretically, you can learn to create a website within hours and make a basic website on your own. It’s that simple.
The salary packages in Machine Learning jobs don’t display the complete picture. The route is not for everyone, and there is a high barrier to entry in the field. It would help if you had a deeper understanding of statistics, calculus, linear algebra and probability to consider diving into Machine Learning and artificial intelligence(AI).
There is no chance for incomplete knowledge in the field as you will often be working on newer and newer problems that need strong fundamentals to solve the issues. On top of that, basic programming language knowledge and data modelling skills are required to give you an additional advantage in the field.
These basics not only determine the learning aspect of the equation. But they also define the work experience as explained below.
Work experience
How you use the two technologies is also influenced by the fundamental features and skills required for individual technologies. Bug fixing can be taken as an example in this case.
The ambiguous nature of the Machine Learning job and relatively less control over the program makes “bug fixing” one of the hardest parts of the job. You need to apply all the available knowledge of mathematics, computer science, algorithms and data structure to try detecting a problem and come up with a creative and effective solution every single time. Not only do the problems get harder and harder to detect with time, as the field is relatively newer, but you also need to come up with unique solutions to the problems every time.
A clear contrast to this approach is web development. In a web development job, everything is predefined and runs on specific sets of rules. If you get a problem with the arrangement and formatting of the text, you’ll find solutions in a specific tag in HTML. If you get problems with design, you can check CSS code, and so on. But it’s still difficult to detect and fix bugs in a web development company.
Reaching and implementing the solution is a far simpler process in web development than in Machine Learning. The predefined nature of the programming means that specific problems occur due to specific problems with the program. Fix that, and you’re done.
Web development job also has the advantage of being in the market for a longer time. This means that there is a higher chance that someone has already faced the problem that you might face in the future. Hence, there is a very high chance of you getting the answers to your questions online. This makes the learning experience much more comfortable.
The main argument of the point revolves around the existence of technology in the market. Being a newer field, a Machine Learning job has a disadvantage here. But, it compensates for that with future opportunities. As explained previously, the future is bright for both fields. And it’s up to you to choose the right one for you.
The bottom line
After clarifying these points and choosing a favourable field between the two, you will be able to assess your desired career path better. If you possess the ability to learn hard mathematics, algebra and data analytics, and you don’t mind the abstract nature of your work, Machine Learning is for you.
But if you want a more mainstream field of study with more applications and good enough future opportunities, with tons of job opportunities in the market, web development is a great option for you.