Graduating with a CS degree (strong GPA, ML experience, business minor). Accepted to both programs at Politecnico di Torino.
The dilemma:
- DS & Engineering: deeper technical profile, more specific credential, but entry-level market in Europe is brutal right now and search will take longer
- Management Engineering: broader entry, more accessible hiring pipelines, higher starting salary in Italy, but feeds into industrial/manufacturing ops rather than consulting.
Extra context: I need to land a job in Italy specifically within a few months of graduating to renew my stay permit, then plan to move to Germany/Netherlands once I have EU work history.
My current lean is DS & Engineering targeting Analytics Engineer / AI Consultant roles rather than pure data scientist. But I keep second-guessing the entry difficulty.
Anyone gone through a similar decision or hired for these roles in Europe? What would you do?