Image by Author Feature engineering is an important step in the machine learning pipeline. It is the process of transforming data in its native format into meaningful features to help the machine learning model learn better from the data. If done right, feature engineering can significantly enhance the performance of machine learning algorithms. Beyond the basics of understanding your data and preprocessing, effective feature engineering involves creating interaction terms, generating indicator variables, and binning features into buckets. These techniques help […]

Image by Author Using machine learning to solve real-world problems is exciting. But most eager beginners jump straight to model building—overlooking the fundamentals—resulting in models that aren’t very helpful. From understanding the data to choosing the best machine learning model for the problem, there are some common mistakes that beginners often tend to make. But before we go over them, you should understand the problem—it is step 0 if you will—you are trying to solve. Ask yourself enough questions to […]

Image by Author | Midjourney & Canva Introduction Choosing the right machine learning model for your data is of major importance in any data science project. The model you select will have a significant impact on the insights you derive from your data, and ultimately determine the usefulness of a project. In this article, we aim to provide practical tips to help new practitioners make informed decisions when choosing machine learning models. 1. Understand Your Data Understanding the type and […]

Image by Author Introduction Here’s a something that new machine learning practitioners figure out almost immediately: not all datasets are created equal. It may now seem obvious to you, but had you considered this before undertaking machine learning projects on a real world dataset? As an example of a single class vastly outnumbering the rest, take for instance some rare disease, which only 1% of the population has. Would a predictive model that only ever predicts “no disease” still be […]

Image by Author As a data professional, you should also know how to build predictive models with machine learning to solve business problems. And if you’re interested in machine learning, you’re probably also looking for the best resources to get going. Well, you can always choose a self-paced online course that best aligns with your learning preferences. But if you prefer learning from some of the best educators and experienced professionals—all for free—then YouTube is a great learning resource. This […]