Help Needed Regarding Machine Learning And Andrew NG Course, Please Help Me!

Course Q&A Machine Learning Specialization Supervised ML: Regression and Classification
1

I have completed the first week of Andrew Ng’s course, but I’m not feeling confident about implementing the concepts. I studied core Java around three years ago, so I’ve paused the course for now. The main issue is that while the course covers a lot of theory, it doesn’t show how to implement the concepts in Python, which is what I’m interested in for machine learning.

Here’s my plan:

  1. First, I’ll learn core Python and practice enough questions to get comfortable with it.
  2. Then, I’ll study important Python modules like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib.
  3. After that, I’ll revisit the labs included in Andrew Ng’s course or find a YouTube course that teaches how to apply the concepts in Python, such as linear regression, cost function, and gradient descent.
  4. Once I’m comfortable with the implementation, I’ll continue with Andrew Ng’s course and practice implementing the concepts in Python.

Andrew Ng’s new course also includes neural networks and decision tree algorithms, which are not in his old course. So, should I proceed with this plan, or am I doing something wrong? Please share your insights.

For context, I am an 11th grader passionate about programming and IT since the 4th grade. Due to a lack of resources, I couldn’t start learning until 8th grade when I began studying Java. I had to pause my learning around April 2023 to focus on my board exams. Now in 11th grade, people are pushing me to prepare for the JEE (an engineering entrance exam for IITs). However, I know it’s extremely competitive, with only around 1100 seats for computer science for general students, and even fewer for general male students. Given that there are around 15 lakh applicants and I’m not a topper (Am Average Student) , I want to focus on developing my skills instead. My parents support me in this decision.

So, is my plan good, or should I make any changes? Your advice would be very helpful, and I would be very thankful.

2

The MLS courses are a basic introduction. Once you have some essential Python skills, that is the best place to begin.

The programming labs start in Course 1 at Week 2.

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I think you have a solid plan. I do encourage to take python courses to understand more the syntax and be able to write good code. But you would never be “ready” python is a journey so there is always stuff to learn. My advise it to take Andrew’s course and try to apply the labs that does teach you how to implement things, although is true that has a lot of theory this is something that will pay-off in the long run, but also covers a fair amount of implementation with real-world datasets.

My advice would be practice python and take the MLS, it doesn’t matter if you need to spent more time to complete a lab or to understand videos. Go to your own pace. The first time I took the old version of this course I wasn’t prepare either but it help me to see what skills do I need before taking it.

Hope this helps

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Thank You For Your Suggestion :slight_smile: