Beginners with no programming or mathematical background can learn machine learning. The mathematical, statistical and programming skills can be learn with dedicated learning.
To learn machine learning, you need to:
- Focus on short term achievable learning
- Overcome mental barriers
- Choose a programming language
- Find a course or a program
- Follow a learning schedule that you can keep for at least a year.
- Work on Your Own Projects
1. Focus on short term achievable learning
You don’t need to be a data scientist at Google overnight. Within a year you can definitely have a good understanding of the essentials of machine learning.
2. Overcome mental barriers
People love to promote that machine learning is an incredibly complex world meant only for the geniuses of the world. Truth is, you can leverage some machine learning very early in your learning process.
3. Choose a programming language
Python, R, Java, C… The list of programming languages that you can use for Machine Learning is very large. Python is convenient with a large community and lot of packages available. R is arguably better for mathematical modules and applications. C is better for performance, but has an incredible steep learning curve.
4. Find a course or a program in Machine Learning
Some prefer regular academic programs in Universities. I prefer online courses, preferably within a platform that has complete programs that will cover the programming and statistical requirement to improve your machine learning skills over time. DataCamp, Coursera, Udemy, EdX, or even YouTube can help you..
To get started in machine learning is to find a course that will allow you to get started from the very beginning.
Resources to Learn Machine Learning
Free Machine learning courses
- Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas
- Machinelearningmastery by Jason Brownlee
- A Complete Machine Learning Package by Jean de Nyandwi
- Machine Learning Course by Andres Segura-Tinoco
- Free Github Repositories to learn data science
Paid Machine Learning Courses
- Data Scientist with Python track in DataCamp
5. Follow a learning schedule that you can keep for at least a year
Learning machine learning takes time. Find a moment every day, every week to learn in a structured way. Keep note of your learnings.
6. Work on Your Own Projects
Working on your own projects early on will help you to keep motivated and will provide early return on investment. Even if it is not the best machine learning at first, it is still progress you can be proud of.
SEO Strategist at Tripadvisor, ex- Seek (Melbourne, Australia). Specialized in technical SEO. Writer in Python, Information Retrieval, SEO and machine learning. Guest author at SearchEngineJournal, SearchEngineLand and OnCrawl.