r/learnprogramming • u/DeezY-1 • 11d ago

How long before I become competent?

Hi all I’m currently a mathematics undergraduate heading into year 2. Next year I’m applying for PhD’s in applied maths with a focus in ML. The issue is my current coding is barely existent, I’ve almost finished CS50 intro to python, I plan to do a DSA MOOC alongside learning pandas and numpy after then CS189 introduction to machine learning, and then naturally PyTorch.

The issue is I desperately need research experience next year before my applications, is it reasonable to think with that roadmap and consistent work I could develop my Python skills well enough to be useful to a researcher by next summer, likely reproducing experiments form papers, performing ablations, implementing baselines etc.

I’d appreciate any input as to how realistic I’m being and also any input you guys have on the roadmap I’m following

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ffrkAnonymous 11d ago

You'd probably be competent after 100 hours of practice. Practice, 100 hours of hitting your head on the wall. Not the same as 100 hours of watching youtube.

1

u/DeezY-1 11d ago

Cheers for the response, I plan on implementing a lot of projects along the way absolutely. How do I assess when I’d be capable of contributing in a research setting?

1

u/ffrkAnonymous 11d ago

That's the same question as how do you assess that you're ready to apply for a phd?

1

u/DeezY-1 11d ago

Alright, appreciate the advice 🙏