After a certain point in our career, most of us wish to upskill and diversify our knowledge. Read further to learn about how Krishna Chaitanya upskilled with Great Learning’s PGP Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Program in his own words.
I am Krishna Chaitanya, a B. TECH graduate from Anna University with 12 years of experience in the field of IT and Network Security. With half a dozen certifications from CISCO systems and Checkpoint Security, most of my career was spent between wires and racks full of routers, switches and firewalls, also known as IT admin/server room.
In the hope for a change, I left my current job at MindTree and joined an educational start-up named AbhyasHRD in 2017. However, the idea of diversifying my skill set was always at the back of my mind. With the data boom came the need to transform and utilize data/information, the skills of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) got the limelight. In my pursuit of learning ML and AI, I started looking out for the best place for learning with very little idea of what this field is all about. But my sister, who is a Great Learning AIML alumni, shared the positive experience related to her training (Bangalore 2019) which made me interested in joining Great Learning.
Initially, I had joined the ML part of the training. With what I have learnt during that period, my learning experience intrigued me to join the AI part just like few other batchmates of mine. I did have little diffidence due to my lack of python programming skills (I was not from a programming background) but looking at my batchmates, who were all a mix of experience, and industry backgrounds, helped my confidence soar in pursuing the course further. The sessions at great learning were truly valuable—especially the initial ones from industry experts sharing their experiences and challenges. The learning sessions were particularly unique, with trainers from diverse backgrounds and vast industry experience; the teaching sessions varied from one trainer to another, possessing different teaching styles.
Not just the trainers who would clear our doubts at any time, the lab sessions were conducted in a professional manner with knowledgeable faculty who would help us irrespective of our expertise in the subject for proceeding further with the code or solving the given problem statement. The labs were equally competent to test the learner’s skill. The Program Manager was the best part during this learning experience, who was just a WhatsApp message away. He would be in regular touch with us, taking feedback from everyone and providing the necessary help that was required in any aspect of training.
The single biggest challenge our entire batch (or everyone else in the world) faced was the pandemic where our classroom sessions turned into online ones, but our batch was given ample time to be mentally prepared for transitioning to online classes. One of the best tools for a learner at GL is Olympus, where not just videos and recording of your training is present but also your performance analysis compared to the entire batch with other supplementary learning resources are available along with timely notification of upcoming classes or assessment deadlines. Projects, quiz, and Hackathons were quite competitive and helped me to put myself in the shoes of a professional data scientist and work on any problem provided, along with making me confident enough to attend interviews related to AI and ML in the future. One notable thing is at the end of the training, learners within had to form teams of 4-6 members and start working on a Capstone Project which gives us exposure to real-time projects, But for our batch, a new initiative was taken called as mini-Capstone where we have to take up a project forming teams much prior to the actual Capstone, this was a blessing in disguise for the entire batch, we were able to form teams that had a perfect balance of experience and expertise in terms of subject matter and our project was even selected for IEEE presentation, and with the help of GL faculty we were able to do well and finish the final Capstone with ease because of the knowledge we gained from mini- Capstone. This entire exercise also helped us get acquainted with many of our batchmates with whom we would stay in regular touch even today.
To summarise my training journey, it was indeed a “great learning experience @ Great Learning”. My advice to future learners is simple, the journey of knowledge is never hard. If you start enjoying it and with able/professional guidance, you will be able to pursue your goals eventually.
