How can I become a Deep Learning Engineer?

Machine learning and deep learning have captivated me, as they have so many others in recent years.

Unlike so many others, I’ve quit my prior work to try to transform a pastime into a career, and I’ve set myself a three-month deadline to learn everything I can about DL and test the waters for a future career.

If you Google “deep learning study route,” you’ll come up with a huge list of suggested methodologies, classes, math books, projects, and so on for becoming a “machine learning expert.” However, what I truly require is a schedule.

You must start somewhere, and I’m starting with a Software Engineering degree, a jack-of-all-trades in a variety of languages, hands-on experience building a Raspberry Pi Hadoop Cluster, completion of Udacity’s Data Analyst Nanodegree, and recent work as a Technical Product Owner at a professional services start-up.

I don’t think you need my experience to follow my schedule; in fact, I’m going to go out on a bough and say you only need a year of coding experience — if Fast.ai MOOC can do it, I can too.
There is no master’s degree. There isn’t a Ph.D. insight. You’ll be on your own way to a new job in only three months and 13 steps.

Now get down to business!
• Part 1 of a two-part series on deep practical learning for programmers
• Create your own deep learning system.
• Enter a competition on Kaggle.
• Begin a blog.
• Attend meetings in your area.
• Part 2 of deep practical learning for coders
• Begin your own unique project.
• Continue to blog.
• Complete your individual project.
• Make changes to your résumé.
• Make an online portfolio.
• Look for amazing businesses.
• Begin your new job.

The world needs good machine learning engineers!

Double down on math or computer science (or preferably both) while you’re in college. These subjects form the foundation for anything going on in artificial intelligence. It’s also important to build lots of projects during this time, both on your own and — you’re hopefully not just turning in computer science homework to check a box, but are actually interested in this stuff and want to play with it outside of a classroom.

I give you that advice as a means to guide you toward making lots of mistakes in a safe, educational environment. You’ll also get more accustomed to iterating on something, and good machine learning engineers iterate constantly.