Beginners guide to start with machine learning.

What you need:

1. A programming language
2. A place to write and run code
3. A way to deal with data
4. A way to visualize results
5. A cool algorithm
6. An introductory course
7. A project to solve

Here are my recommendations.

Most people recommend Python to start.

I do too.

You can do machine learning with many different languages, but today, Python is the best option.

My advice: Get comfortable writing code before looking into machine learning.

You don't have to be a great developer to start.

But if you are, it helps.

Everything you know about building software is helpful to build machine learning systems.

Good developers have the odds in their favor.

"How much Python do I need to know before starting?"

If you ask, you aren't ready yet.

Ideal scenario: You should be comfortable building software. Most people get here within a year.

Let's move on to the 2nd item from the list: A place to write and run your code.

Get familiar with Google Colab.

• It's free.
• Requires no setup to start.
• It's available from anywhere.

Alternative: Kaggle.

Machine learning education is broken.

If you are preparing for a research position, you are good. If you are looking to get out there and start solving problems, not even close.

Here are some thoughts so you can get ahead.

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Most classes, courses, and books cover the same road.

They start with a dataset. They finish with a working model. The focus is always on everything that happens in between.

Dataset → Model.

This is great, but not enough.

Real-life situations rarely start with a dataset, and they never end after you finish building your model.

Applying machine learning successfully is hard.

Here are a few examples that you should keep in mind.

First challenge: Properly framing up the problem.

If you don't understand the problem, you can't determine what data you need. If you don't understand the data, you can't build a good model.

I've never seen a company that had their data ready to go.

In fact, most of them don't even have data at all and need you to determine what exactly they should start collecting.

You usually have to go Problem → Potential Solution → Data.