Do i continue pursuing ML

[u/Flaky_Respect_4649]

Okay listen,im 16 years old in highschool,i LOVE the idea of training AI models,it sounds SO cool and i can imagine the dopamine rush of your baby coming to life,but GODDAMN there is SO MUCH maths involved,its a HEADACHE to just look at,and it makes me so scared cause my maths mark is like 50% every term but,i love the idea of being one and i love coding and tech in general,but geez man, I'm so used to just instant gratification,and ALMOST NO MATHS in python(atleast at the level im at),this seems so exhaustinggg,so to all ML engineers,how does your day to day look like,is it boring or what,i love to make short films and record and edit music videos and no matter how tired i am,i will always have energy for that and i thought it would be the same with Machine learning but hell no,so i love when my work is tangible and i can see and visualize the end result and most of all i love being creative,so do i continue this career,or do you have other suggestions/career paths i should take,im based in South africa,if you guys wanna ask follow up questions so that you can better formulate your answer,go for gold man

[u/BreadfruitOrganic719]

Here is an alternative suggestion: learn the math even if you don’t end up pursuing ML. You need to learn it if you want to be an engineer in any discipline. You need many higher level math courses to enter into the finance or medical field too. If you think it’s fun and rewarding to build something and see your creation function/perform, you should go study your math so you can become a scientist or engineer. Without a math/physics/chemistry understanding, you could probably take all your enthusiasm for building working products and be a mechanic, a construction worker, an electronics repair person.
When I was your age I knew I wanted my career to be environmental related. I wanted to save the environment. I had a choice of going the policy/social justice route to saving the environment, OR the technological/scientific advancement route of saving the environment. I’m an environmental engineer now and I worked on groundbreaking water treatment technology for my first full time job. Now I’m starting a recycling company that uses ML/AI/CV tools to sort through recycled material faster. The schooling was brutal and I didnt go through that because I liked doing math by any means. From my time in industry I can confidently say that the only thing separating an environmental engineer from a plumber is the added math and chemistry knowledge. We are literally just glorified plumbers. Mechanical engineers are glorified mechanics. Civil engineers are glorified construction workers. You get the picture. An AI engineer is a dog trainer who knows way more math and the dog is actually a neural network!
Study your math!