If you want to get a job as a machine learning engineer, don’t start by diving into the hottest libraries like PyTorch,TensorFlow, Langchain, etc.

Yes, you might hear a lot about them or some other trending technology of the year...but guess what!

Technologies evolve rapidly, especially in the age of AI, but core concepts are always seen as more valuable than expertise in any particular tool. Stop trying to perform a brain surgery without knowing anything about human anatomy.

Instead, here are basic skills that will get you further than mastering any framework:

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 - My first exposure to probability and statistics was in college, and it felt abstract at the time, but these concepts are the backbone of ML.

You can start here:- Khan Academy Statistics and Probability

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐠𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 - Concepts like matrices, vectors, eigenvalues, and derivatives are fundamental to understanding how ml algorithms work. These are used in everything from simple regression to deep learning.

You can start here: 3Blue1Brown’s

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Should you learn Python, Rust, R, Julia, JavaScript, etc.? The best advice is to pick the language that is most frequently used for the type of work you want to do. I started with Python due to its simplicity and extensive library support, and it remains my go-to language for machine learning tasks.

You can start here:- Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

𝐀𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Understand the fundamental algorithms before jumping to deep learning. This includes linear regression, decision trees, SVMs, and clustering algorithms.

You can start here:- Andrew Ng’s ML Course

𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Knowing how to take a model from development to production is invaluable. This includes understanding APIs, model optimization, and monitoring. Tools like Docker and Flask are often used in this process.

You can start here:- Full Stack Deep Learning

𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚:
Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) and big data tools (Spark) is increasingly important as datasets grow larger. These skills help you manage and process large-scale data efficiently.

You can start here:- Google Cloud Machine Learning

I love frameworks and libraries, and they can make anyone's job easier.

But the more solid your foundation, the easier it will be to pick up any new technologies and actually validate whether they solve your problems.

Credit: Meri Bozulanova
Follow me on: Shahadat Sagor