How to afford Machine Learning for Software Engineers

How I'm planning to make ML for SWEs more helpful while remaining affordable

Hi all!

Machine Learning for Software Engineers is growing spectacularly. We’ve got an excellent, growing community and I want to ensure everyone who wants to be a part of it can be.

I’m going to lay out my plan for free and paid subscribers (tempted to call the paid community Society’s Backend—what do you think?) and how they differ. I’m then going to go over the different ways to make it affordable so anyone can join.

I understand subscriptions can be hard to stomach so I want to raise the value I’m delivering each of you while making it as affordable as possible.

Free tier

The free tier for Machine Learning for Software Engineers will remain unchanged. Free subscribers will still get:

• Weekly articles w/resources, updates on current events, and more to help you become a better engineer.

• All other free articles.

• Access to the subscriber chat.

Paid tier (should we call this Society’s Backend?)

The paid community has been very involved in both learning more about ML engineering and advancing their career. I want to be more hands-on with this community. The paid tier will have:

• All paid articles (case studies, system design breakdowns, in-depth how-tos, job market analyses, etc.).

• Access to paid chats: resume reviews, AMAs, and more.

• Priority communication with me.

• And more!

I plan on bringing more to the paid tier over time. I really want to zero in on what helps you become a better machine learning engineer.

How can I afford to go paid?

Most of all, I want Machine Learning for Software Engineers to be affordable. I’ll put extra effort into paid benefits so you can get extra out. Here are four ways to afford Machine Learning for Software Engineers:

• Take advantage of 40% off (forever!) now. Once we hit bestseller status it’s going up to Substack’s $5/mo minimum. Earlier subs get ML for SWEs cheaper.

• Take advantage of a group subscription. If you sign up with others you all get a discount.

• Get your work to pay for it! Check if your work has a personal development budget. Use the template at the bottom of this article to send an email to your manager requesting to use it.

• Contact me! If you want to be a paid member but can’t afford it shoot me a DM and we’ll make it work. You can DM me on Substack, X, or LinkedIn. You can also shoot me an email.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, subscribe below:

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Also, let me know what benefits you find most helpful!

Always be (machine) learning,

Logan

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Email template

Hello [manager],

I’d like to expense a subscription to Machine Learning for Software Engineers. It’s a newsletter for software engineers to learn how to use machine learning and AI to solve problems.

As a subscriber, I’ll get newsletter articles with insight into current AI trends, case studies on interesting companies and machine learning systems, and educational content on how I can use machine learning effectively in my work.

It costs $50/year (or $5/mo) and provides a significant return on investment by helping me be a better engineer.

Let me know if this works!

Thanks,

[You]