Just a reminder for folks out there that you can do meaningful, impactful, and (yes) well-paid work in ML without needing a PhD, let alone the doorstop CVs full of top-tier conference papers that ML grads from the prestigious programs all seem to have these days.

Domain expertise, knowing the non-ML state of the art, knowing what problems to solve, and knowing what counts as a good-enough solution are all *much* more valuable than ICML publications. Don't let people tell you otherwise.