Several ways to get noticed in the application process:
* Go to Kaggle and participate in some of their competitions. * Build an ML program from the ground up to help build your portfolio (something like a dog door that only opens to your dog).
* Implement a paper from arxiv - try to understand what the paper is about, then download the data set and implement the model they are talking about and see if you get similar results. Then, write a blog post about what you did....
I picked engineering. Because doing research in industry is not as stimulating as it is in an academic setting. You do not have complete freedom - often times your project is set and you are just exploring new pathways your director asked you to....
The role of the engineer has more freedom to experiment different protocols/methods and apply their work more readily against the problem at hand.
In short:
Research in industry: find different ways to potentially solve problems - & often times your work gets tossed away if something else comes up. => not as gratifying. (also less pay)
Engineering: solve the problem. => instant gratification.