Data Science/ML for Network Engineering?

[JWHolm81891]

I have a friend who has both his CCNP and his JNCIP as well as his DevNet Assoc and a number of AWS certs. What I didn't know about him was that he went to Purdue and studied data science and machine learning there. He doesn't ever use it on his resume though because he's afraid it will scare off potential employers for network engineering jobs. 

My question is, would it be beneficial for him to be including his skills with data science and ML for jobs? Would employers find it attractive for net eng positions? Seems like such a waste not to, but I also understand the confusion of how would he incorporate it into the job? 

[Torbjørn]

I have been part of screening applicants for technical roles within networking, but I am _not_ an expert on hiring/application screening practices by any means. Here are my 2 cents:

Any education at the university level should probably be included on his CV. If I saw that on his CV/resume I would think of it as a positive that he has breadth of knowledge, even though it is often not directly related for network engineering. Data science and ML is very much in the wind these days and would be a huge plus for the right role/organisation, and is likely to be something people are looking for when hiring these days.