Roadmap To Success: How To Become a Machine Learning Specialist

Roadmap To Success: How To Become a Machine Learning Specialist Over the past decade, we have witnessed the transformation of Machine Learning, starting from taking photos with blurry backgrounds to now getting our queries answered by virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri. Such applications and products have people hooked on to them because of implementing machine learning at its crux.

If you are also interested in becoming a machine learning specialist and want to polish your skills or want to know all the qualifications you need for the job, then here’s what you need to know. You may go through our brief version of a more well-elaborated learn path and find out more details of the same towards the end of this article.

What is machine learning?

Machine learning is a branch of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science built on the idea that computers can deal with tasks that, until now, have only been executed by people. It is the field of study that enables systems with the ability to learn without any human interference or definite programming. It’s one of those exhilarating technologies that is promptly being used in many places than one would expect.

Difference between artificial intelligence and machine learning Mostly, people tend to use artificial intelligence and machine learning synonymously without actually knowing what they really mean and how they function. However, both these terms are actually two different impressions.

Artificial Intelligence is essentially a superset of Machine Learning that stimulates a computer system to impersonate human intelligence. It has a wider range of scope and is engaged in creating a smart system that can perform various high complexity tasks.

Machine Learning is a subdivision of AI that stimulates a system to consequently learn from past data without definitive programming. It has a narrower scope compared to AI and primarily focuses on making machines execute only the specific tasks in which they are schooled.

Learning paths If you want to learn or get acquainted with a tailor-made skillset and become a competent Machine Learning Specialist, then there are two different methods of learning, namely offline and online mode of learning. The E-learning mode is preferred by those who want to take up a certification or free crash course to qualify with relevant skills and competencies. On the other hand, Traditional learning is apt for those who want to pursue a master’s or bachelor’s degree in Machine Learning and Data Science.

Well, both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, it’s generally best to take up an online course as it is more beneficial with regard to convenience, cost and time.

Skills required

To qualify as a Machine Learning Specialist, you need to equip yourself with some necessary soft and technical skills that can be learned through various courses.

It is further classified into three categories:

➢ Prerequisite skills This refers to non-technical skills and is required when you begin your ML journey. They are as follows:

○

Communication: Having solid communication skills is vital to progress in this career. It is not uncommon for a machine learning engineer to communicate and explain important technical concepts to people with minimal or no proficiency in this field.

○

Curiosity and exploratory nature: It refers to having clarity on what the concept is and what its demands are. It is essential to have certainty about the subject matter and a strong drive to explore more about this field.

○

Structured thinking: When data is involved, it is critical to abide by a structured, logical progression in order to analyze a problem and arrive at a solution in an organized way.

○

Storytelling skills: You must possess these skills to deliver the data in an easy-to-understand pattern to arrive at coherent material.

○

Math and Statistics: Having a basic knowledge of math and statistical concepts will aid you at many different levels, especially in this field.

How to Learn?

These are topics you can learn through textbooks or even through short videos posted online by multiple platforms. Here, we have curated a list of courses that can help you learn these topics: Statistics for Data Science Provider: Henry Harvin, Price: ₹7,500 or $97, Duration: 8 Hours, Level: Intermediate Statistics Essentials for Analytics, Edureka Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹ 5,099 or $66; Duration: Flexible, Level: Intermediate ○

Data Visualization: It requires you to be well-versed with various data visualization tools such as MS Excel, SQL, Tableau, etc, to draw meaningful insights from large datasets.

How to learn?

These are topics you can learn through textbooks or even through short videos posted online on multiple platforms. However, we have curated a list of courses that can help you learn these topics: SQL Essentials Training & Certification Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹ 6,799 or $87, Duration: Flexible, Level: Beginner Tableau Certification Training, Edureka Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹18,695 or $241, Duration: 36 Hours, Level: Intermediate

➢ Novice skills These are some important technical skills that essentially revolve around information technology. Let’s briefly go through them:

○

Advanced Excel: Being well versed with advanced tools like VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP and having specialized knowledge of PIVOT tables in MS Excel will be extremely beneficial for you to secure a bright future in ML. How to learn?

MS Excel, from beginner to advanced level, can be learned in just a few weeks through the abundant free resources that are available online.

MS EXCEL 2016 Certification Training, Edureka Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹ 7,203 or $93, Duration: Flexible, Level: Advanced Advanced Excel Course, Henry Harvin Provider: Henry Harvin, Price: ₹6750 or $87, Duration: 24 Hours, Level: Intermediate

○

Machine Learning Basics: It goes without saying, to become a good machine learning specialist, one should be well informed on all the common machine learning basics. They are divided into three types starting, from Supervised to Unsupervised and going to Reinforcement learning.

How to Learn?

Having good theoretical knowledge is amazing, but implementing it in a real-time deep learning and neural networks project is another task. You might get different and unexpected results based on various problems and datasets. Here are a few courses to learn these topics: Deep Learning Nanodegree Program Provider: Udacity, Price: ₹ 63,956 or $824, Duration: 4 months, Level: Beginner Deep Reinforcement Learning Nanodegree Program Provider: Udacity, Price: ₹77,676 or $1K, Duration: 4 months, Level: Intermediate

○

AI and Cloud Computing: Possessing the knowledge of AI and cloud computing basics can help in enhancing your expertise and give you a holistic experience in this field.

How to Learn?

To gain in-demand skills in cloud computing to take your career to next level, here are some relevant training programs and certifications for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners: Cloud Computing E-Degree Provider: Eduonix, Price: ₹2650 or $34, Duration: 50 hours, Level: Beginner Cloud Developer Nanodegree Program Provider: Udacity, Price: ₹77,676 or $1K, Duration: 4 Months, Level: Intermediate

○

Programming language: It requires you to be well-read in different programming languages. Such as: ■ R programming - used for statistical computing.

■ Python - popular data science programming language.

➢ Expert skills These skills are required to move from novice to expert level in machine learning. Let’s quickly overview them:

○

Text Mining: It uses natural language processing to translate unstructured text into a structured configuration.

How to Learn?

Data mining plays an important role in Machine Learning and understanding it beforehand will be highly beneficial. Here are some courses we have shortlisted for you to master data mining.

Data Mining Specialization Provider: Coursera, Price: ₹8,653 or $111, Duration: 3 months, Level: Intermediate Data Mining Foundations and Practice Specialization Provider: Coursera, Price: ₹8,653 or $111, Duration: 3 months, Level: Intermediate

○

Artificial Neural Network: It functions across multiple layers starting from when the data is received in the input layer, which then goes through several hidden layers, which helps in translating the raw data into a valuable form for the output layer.

○

C++: It is commonly found in games and large systems and is famous for its transportability.

How to learn?

These are topics you can learn through online videos or various certification courses. Here are some courses that can help you understand these topics: C++ Nanodegree Program, Udacity Provider: Udacity, Price: ₹ 77,676 or $1K, Duration: 4 months, Level: Advanced Certified Programming for Non-Programmers, Henry Harvin Provider: Henry Harvin, Price: ₹7,500 or $97, Duration: 8 hours, Level: Intermediate

○

Machine Learning Tools: The following are some frequently used tools: ■ Google Cloud ML ■ Spark ■ Hadoop ■ MATLAB ■ Azure Machine learning studio ■ Knime ■ Scala

How to Learn?

You can learn these topics through textbooks or even through short videos posted online on multiple platforms. Furthermore, we have shortlisted the best courses for you below and you can enroll for the most suitable option.

Apache Spark and Scala Certification Training Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹19,795 or $255, Duration: 36 hours, Level: Intermediate Big Data Hadoop Certification Training Provider: Edureka, Price: ₹ 16,995 or $219, Duration: 30 hours, Level: Intermediate

Conclusion In recent times, Machine Learning has become more pervasive and is everywhere around us.

Hence, wanting to become a Machine Learning Specialist has a lot of scope and potential in itself. And so, we have put together a thorough learn path to guide you through suggestive skills required, learning courses and potential career options. To future-proof your career and improve your prospects, do check out our Learn path for Machine Learning.

You can also probe into a variety of learn paths catering to different industries. Please view them from our advice page.

To learn more about the skills, Enroll today in the best available and highly curated courses in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

About us Careervira.com is a global edtech market platform. With over 12K+ courses from 65+ global partners across tech and non-tech domains. Careervira.com provides 70+ key decision-making inputs to search and compare from amongst top global courses to zero down on your decision-making by learning partner, skills, course, price, and learn type.