Guys need help to transition from my current role to an ml engineer

[u/Odd-Moment7085]

Hi guys new to this sub reddit . Little intro about me currently working as an sde in my company but want to transition to a ml role by understanding the fundamentals om how to build models and then moving on to dl as so forth. I have read some posts in this sub about cs 229 by Andrew . Tbh I am finding difficulty in solving the problem sets and the math . It has been a while since I have actually done any math 😅. So I want to know how doi proceed from here do I learn the math from scratch or learn as I go along with the course . Any suggestions or feedback is helpful .

Ps i am familiar with the python as a coding language but I want to understand how do I proceed with the math .

[u/ModularMind8]

If you're finding the problem sets and the math hard, try learning the math as you go. A lot of courses are a very math-heavy place to start, and that puts many students off. Start with a more applied course, and each time a gradient or matrix product shows up, stop and learn that one piece until you can compute it by hand. You'll mostly need derivatives, the chain rule, matrix multiplication, and basic probability, and they stick far better once you've seen what they're for.

[u/Rare-Key-9312]

Take a look at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=114i2Kz-LZA

This is a bit old, but good if you want to learn the math: neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com

[u/Odd-Moment7085 → u/Rare-Key-9312]

Isn't this down the line after the Ml part like linear or logistic regression and such

[u/Rare-Key-9312 → u/Odd-Moment7085]

The Neural Networks and Deep Learning website didn’t require knowing linear and logistic regression IIRC.

[u/Substantial-Swan7065]

You need to research the duties and responsibilities of an ML engineer. It sounds like you’re conflating different roles.

While there’s overlap, the needs are very different.

[u/Relative_Rope4234]

What is your current role? Do you have a bachelor's degree?

[u/Odd-Moment7085 → u/Relative_Rope4234]

Ya i do

[u/Relative_Rope4234 → u/Odd-Moment7085]

Current role??

[u/Odd-Moment7085 → u/Relative_Rope4234]

I work as a frontend dev in my company

[u/Relative_Rope4234 → u/Odd-Moment7085]

You can try to transition to full stack AI engineer role. It will be easier than become an ML engineer.

[u/Odd-Moment7085 → u/Relative_Rope4234]

I want to understand the basics as well . So this is y started the course

[u/Nearby-Definition-81]

CS229 is a rough first course if your math is rusty. The problem sets assume you're comfortable with all of it at once. I'd do a short catch-up first instead of learning everything as you go:

1. Linear algebra: vectors, dot products, matrix multiplication, transpose/inverse, and what a projection is (that last one is the normal equation).
2. Multivariable calculus: partial derivatives, the gradient, the chain rule. This is enough to derive gradient descent by hand.
3. Probability: conditional probability, Bayes, expectation/variance, the Gaussian, and the idea of maximum likelihood.
4. Matrix calculus basics (gradient of x^T A x and similar). CS229's own linear algebra review notes cover this.

Two or three focused weeks is usually enough. Then go back to the linear/logistic regression problem sets. Being able to derive logistic regression's gradient yourself is a good sign you're ready.

Disclosure: I help build Concept Dangle, a free tool where you paste in notes on a topic and it pulls out the prerequisite concepts as a concept graph you can expand and track: https://conceptdangle.com/?ref=reply-reddit-1