I am working as a software engineer - 1 in a software company and did MS in Computer Science from University of Florida. I want to switch towards AI like targeting Junior AI Engineer roles like begineer ones. So, currently I am doing AI for everyone to know about the basics of AI, and basic terminologies like ML, Data Science, Deep Learning and what is the difference between each of these as learning it from scratch, so can you please suggest, after this- what is the sequence should i follow in order to go ahead, since right now I am a bit overwhelmed about seeing lot of courses, don’t know which to take. So, please suggest me some courses to take so I can have AI skill set to apply for junior AI Engineer roles and also I am confused if wanted to do PHD in the same field, but not sure, since before going on that path have to first understand or learn the foundation, so for that too can you please suggest which are the good courses to go for?
Hey there 
Well I’ll address something first, your origin is software engineer/computer science so the transition would not be so big as I believe in cs you learn some fundamentals like math and programming. If you like the pure course approach, then Machine Learning Specialisation and/or Deep Learning Specialisation are the golden standard, you’ll dive into the pure origin of AI and learn to apply from the ground up. That’s the best thing to do if you wanna take the fundamentals route (which would help if you wanna pursue phd in the field). However, if you want to apply your skills as a junior ai dev, then I would recommend short courses based on the topic (MCP, Agentic AI, Embeddings, RAGs, and many more) the choice on which one would depend on what exactly you want to do, but if you want something more general, then the Agentic AI course by Andrew is amazing start if you wanna pursue the practical route.
I hope that helps and best of luck
Hey,
Thank you so much for your guidance. Now I get some direction here.
Also, one more quick thing to ask, I am good in math, and know the fundamentals of data structures, algorithms and all, but I am not pretty much good in programming, like so so i know, but not a pro, who can write all code by myself, I am still learning that, so if i choose to go for either Machine Learning Specialisation and/or Deep Learning Specialisation or developing skills as a junior ai dev that you mentioned, will either of these needs to best in programming or programming not needed as much?
Well, A lot of programmers now use agents or llms to assist while coding, so being the old school traditional developer is a bonus but not a requirement. So I wouldn’t say you need to be the “best” or something like that, just knowing the basics and fundamentals should be enough for most of what you’ll do. I believe if you want to strengthen your programming there’s a course here called like “Python for AI” or something like that. And your understanding of mathematics and the fundamentals of algorithms is already a very good seed so my ultimate advice would be to go down the track you desire (the course track or the practical track or a bit of both if you can/want), and only dive into programming if you feel like your information is solid but your practical application is weak.
Just on the side, what I said applies for both, but I believe the junior ai dev route is more likely to need programming than the other, but many factors come into play here so take that with a grain of salt.
“AI Python for Beginners”.
If you want to work in AI, you really can’t avoid the need for some Python skills.
Ok, got it, in that case then can spend time in learning programming then, What is the meaning of practical track here like what do you mean by that?
So, what python skills i need, like i know the basic syntax and everything and can read code, but writing code is not a pro I am in now