Last Updated on June 7, 2016 You can rise up and take on your desire to become an a machine learning practitioner and data scientist. You have to work hard, learn the skills and demonstrate that you can deliver results, but you don’t need a fancy degree or a fancy background. In this post I want to demonstrate that this is possible and even common. You will discover that top managers and CEOs are looking at results and not backgrounds […]

Last Updated on June 7, 2016 How do you get started in machine learning, specifically Deep Learning? This question was asked recently in the machine learning sub-reddit. Specifically, the original poster of the question had completed the Coursera Machine Learning course but felt like they did not have enough of a background to get started in Deep Learning. I wrote a lengthy reply that I think may be helpful more generally, for other people in the same situation that are […]

Last Updated on June 7, 2016 In this post I layout my manifesto for how you can get started and make progress in machine learning. In this post you will discover what machine learning is, why it matters, how to do it and how to identify and overcome your self-limiting beliefs. Get Started and Make Progress in Machine LearningPhoto by Sam Howzit, some rights reserved Why Get Started in Machine Learning I believe machine learning is an important and fascinating field. You can […]

Last Updated on September 27, 2016 The Ladder Approach That You Can Use To Become aMachine Learning Consultant Do you want to do machine learning and get paid for it? Be careful what you wish for. In this post I outline a blueprint that you can use to learn enough machine learning to help small businesses and start-ups with their general data needs. It’s not easy, you will have to work hard outside of your comfort zone. You will have […]

Last Updated on May 18, 2020 How Do I Get Started In Machine Learning? I’m a developer. I have read a book or some posts on machine learning. I have watched some of the Coursera machine learning course. I still don’t know how to get started… Does this sound familiar? Frustrated with machine learning books and courses?How do you get started in machine learning?Photo by Peter Alfred Hess, some rights reserved The most common question I’m asked by developers on my newsletter is: […]

Last Updated on July 5, 2019 Where can you get good datasets to practice machine learning? Datasets that are real-world so that they are interesting and relevant, although small enough for you to review in Excel and work through on your desktop. In this post you will discover a database of high-quality, real-world, and well understood machine learning datasets that you can use to practice applied machine learning. This database is called the UCI machine learning repository and you can use […]

Last Updated on August 15, 2020 Get Started And Avoid Getting The Wrong Advice Machine learning is a fascinating and powerful field of study filled with algorithms and data. The thing is, there are so many different types of people interested in machine learning, and each has different needs. It is important to understand what it is you want from machine learning and to tailor your self-study to those needs. If you don’t, you could very easily go down the rabbit […]

Last Updated on July 22, 2020 When you’re an absolute beginner it can be very confusing. Frustratingly so. Even ideas that seem so simple in retrospect are alien when you first encounter them. There’s a whole new language to learn. I recently received this question: So using the iris exercise as an example if I were to pluck a flower from my garden how would I use the algorithm to predict what it is? It’s a great question. In this post I […]

Last Updated on June 7, 2016 I get daily emails asking the question: How do I get started in machine learning? This post provides my quick answer. Here is my long answer. So here is how to get started in machine learning, the quick version. Practice Creating Predictive Models You’re interested in machine learning but you’re not sure of the specific outcome you’re looking for. Maybe you’re interested in learning more about machine learning algorithms. Maybe you’re interested in creating predictions. […]

Last Updated on August 15, 2020 Getting started in machine learning can be frustrating. There’s so much to learn that it feels overwhelming. So much so that many developers interested in machine learning never get started. The idea of creating models on ad hoc datasets and entering a Kaggle competition sounds exciting a far off goal. So how did a Philosophy graduate get started in machine learning? In this post I interview Brian Thomas. Brian got started in machine learning using a top-down approach of actually practicing applied […]