What inspired me to advance into Machine Learning and how the journey has been.

How It All Started

My interest in technology was greatly influenced by my love for thrillers and action movies. Cody —a robotic character from the AI-based movie Cody the Robosapien—posseses the possible, and even the imaginary characteristics of an Artificial Intelligence(AI) system.

Cody's ability to perform human activities, and also process, store and recall large junks of data was more fascinating. It's appealing because I usually find it hard to recollect past events or details. Due to my desire to own a robot who does my chores and because my brother also shared that interest, it gave me a push to learn robotics. I browsed through the internet, searching for easy ways to build a robot. I knew this interest was growing stronger because Google Chrome would always recommend AI related articles. The answers I found were mind blowing and looked complex. So, I tried to narrow down the answers to a function—ability to predict the future by looking at the past and the present. Boom! My interest in Machine Learning (ML) began to sprout.

The Journey So Far

After finding my calling, I attended virtual bootcamps, conferences and countless webinars. The common point they all relayed was that, "The process of learning does not stop until you can apply a concept to the real world". And this got me thinking. Since I'm currently taking a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, I could as well as utilize the advantages of Machine Learning in that area. I'm yet to understand the applications of ML in that field, but I'm making efforts by reading articles and sometimes, papers.

My enrollment to the University has also brought opportunities my way and I can't overemphasize the advantage of sustaining valuable relationships. Although not having a large network of friends, their success stories have prompted me to come out of my comfort zone and be more.

Four years ago, I never thought I would be shifting to the tech space. But, It gets better. So, I'm going to keep moving forward and the path will become clearer.