My take on AI/ML course with Upgrad and IIIT-B

I have been part of part of Nov 2020 batch of P.G. Diploma in AI/ML from IIIT-Bangalore with upgrad. And Im sharing my honest opinion on this course.

Background:

Let me start with a little background about myself. Im a software developer with 14+ working with skill sets which are getting obsolete and badly wanted to do something new to be relevant in the industry . And the buzz word ML pulled me in.

Why Upgrad:

Really do know. Just called them to enquire about their program , the marketing executive was damn good in convincing people to enroll for the program. As always they offered a 1 day valid discount by blocking a token amount. Without realising much have enrolled in it. There was no entrance exam or interview. Just my degree certificate was good enough to get an admission.

How is the program structured:

This is an approx 1 year program starting from basics of Statistics and Python, then different algorithms of ML, Ends with Deep learning and Reinforcement learning.

And the most important part is we have targets for every single week to achieve and that too for the whole year. we get some 3–4 off weeks in this program. The target could be either one of the below

1. They have simulated a classroom environment by splitting course content into module, with a mix a text and video format. Read, listen and answer questions at the end of the module.
2. we have assignments for all the main topics and that needs to be submitted within the given time. No plagiarism is allowed.
3. We have case studies that are done with 2 members with a strict deadline
4. We had 3 semester exams and that also needs to be cleared.

Now the good part we only need to secure a minimum of 20% in all the above mentioned

Bad part we are allowed to fail only once for the entire program and we don’t need to repeat them. Exception is in exam part,we need to rewrite it once again but need to secure at least 50%. More than once if we fail we are disqualified for the certificate. I was not aware of this before joining the program (Marketing tactics). In fact i had failed in my ML paper on first semester, I had re appeared and scored 50 and made myself relevant in the course.So there was not failures allowed and i was walking on a tight rope. i knew few of my peers have disqualified initially because of this.

The course content:

I would says its a mixed bag. The modules presented by the some of university professors didn’t had much clarity. Upgrad had covered it with weekend live classes by industry professionals. They were much better. The course content was 2–3 years old and had not been updated. We also had small group coaching session were these topics were revised again by industry experts.

Again i would really appreciate the course structure. We had theory first and then small projects on them. Finally exam which are scenario based. If we had done our theory, projects and case studies well, we will be able to clear our exams also. Personally taking exams after so many years was little challenging, but no choice have got adjusted with it.

What i like most:

1. Again the course structure, we need to do something every week. not once a month or fortnight. I was into learning mode almost everyday and this has become a habit now even after the end of course.
2. Have been hectic sometimes, eventually have learned to manage Professional, education and personal time. Thanks to covid era. There was no weekends shopping or outing. Need to Eat, sleep , study and repeat.
3. The opportunity to meet Datascience enthusiast who were on same boat . Was a good experience.
4. We were working on projects with unknowns. This was pain initially but soon got adjusted. I would say more than datascience, i was much more effective at my current role.

What could be improved:

1. The course content could have been updated. There are many outdated, non industry relevant contents. Its good to know them , for job seeker instead they could have planned to hot topics like MLOPS which will make our employment opportunity better.
2. All the topics were given equal importance, that good but could have specialised in any one area. They could have asked us choose 1 elective to go in depth on that topic, say Computer vision, NLP e.t.c. This would have helped in job search
3. It is 2 months from now we had completed the course, and as far as im aware i have not heard anyone being got placement so far. There are few jobs available on their portal but haven’t heard anyone being placed.
4. Meeting targets every week had become hectic after 8 months. This course demands 15–20 hours week , so if you dont have the scope think twice before enrolling.

I was also in the same boat as my peers was not sure what next. This course is good enough for a fresher or 1–2 years experienced. Not really for for 14+ experienced person like me. One of my friend who did it datascience on Great learning had the same thought about it.

Meantime upgrad offered a MS program from LJMU. This is of 6 months duration as the credits of IIIT-B are transferred. The first 2 months involves selection of topic and submitting a research proposal.

Next 3 months on actual research and last 1 month for thesis submission.

I had 2 choice either to learn further with skills needed for the industry or pick a MS program where do again the same thing with a degree. I picked the later and ill be starting with it in a month. Hoping to make a carrier transition through MS degree. Fingers crossed.

Please find my kaggle and linked in profile.

Paddy | Contributor

Padmanaban P - Lead Software Engineer II - Danaher India Development Center | LinkedIn

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