This may be obvious, but I wanted to ask anyways. Currently I’m considering my grad school options, mainly so I can work as an ML Engineer afterwards. A lot of the schools I’m looking at have professional/non thesis options. I was wondering, would a non thesis masters hurt my chances of working in the ML field if I didn’t really want to get a phd afterwards?
I don’t think it makes a difference unless you can publish it somewhere recognizable / gain high academic impact. In this case, thesis programs might grant you more time (taking less course) and mentorship to achieve that goal.