I have close to 19 years of industry experience. I am a software architect and specialize in master data management applications. I started my journey as a Java programmer, eventually progressing to the roles of Tech Lead, Designer, and Architect. I specialize in master’s data management (MDM).
As part of the master data management competency, we impart technical advisory services to our clients and help them start or take them further on their MDM journeys. In one such engagement, I got introduced to a completely different way of handling the unification of data from the traditional approaches that I was familiar with. Instead of writing complex rules for entity resolution, the client wanted us to build models that could be trained on inputs from the experts and predict clusters within the entity records.
This experience combined with increased inquiries from customers around AI /ML-based solutions made me realize that I was not equipped with the technical know-how in this new area. I understood that this is unlike any other technology challenge that I had faced previously. This required strong foundational knowledge of concepts such as statistics and programming only after which could I start understanding the mechanism of AI and ML.
I started searching through the internet on the platforms that impart such training to working professionals like myself. My requirement was clear, I needed a medium that would allow me to learn at my own pace but was rigorous enough to not let me slip through. I raised an inquiry on your website and soon got a call from one of your executives. I liked the way the AIML course was structured especially the hybrid approach which involved week-long learning followed by weekend mentored learning sessions. The quizzes and projects bring the required rigor to the program.
I believe these sessions are essential for a complete understanding of the subject. I make sure I do not miss any of these. These complement the self-paced learning videos. I am very happy with the quality and frequency of mentoring sessions.
The thing that is an absolute delight is that the learning material is quite distinct from the self-paced videos and complements our learning throughout.
Our batch has been quite fortunate to have Mr. Shohel Noor as our mentor. Apart from being knowledgeable on the subject, his approach to quoting examples and helping us understand the concepts through excel based calculations is truly unique.
I usually wait for his sessions before I take the quiz for the particular topic as only afterward do I get absolute clarity on the subject.
Equipped with this new skill set, I am now more confident in approaching the ML-based requirements that our customers have. I am in a better position to understand the inner workings of some of the established ML platforms.
My advice to the new learners would be that to gain complete confidence in this area it is best to go for formal learning rather than self-learning from multiple platforms. It is very important to know the basics such as statistics and programming and these would prove to be stepping stones in your journey forward. Lastly, it is imperative to keep practicing the concepts and apply them in the day to day situations.
