"Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age." - Earnest Hemingway
Machine learning has become a favorite term of snake oil salesman in every heavy industry facet. While a decision maker shouldn't necessarily be an expert in this emerging field, they must be familiar enough with it to separate fact from fiction and lost revenue. The quote in the post heading is an admonition I interpret to mean that hesitation when jumping into the deep end of data analytics is just a reaction to potential risk and reward. Machine learning is where we begin to doggy paddle.
Full transparency, in college, I was not the best coder; in fact, I was barely functional. I scraped by an elective, introduction to C++ course with a low C. This course left a sour aftertaste because coding was packaged as more algorithmic and less project-focused or creative. Post-college, I found that this was not the case for most applications. A great resource for beginning to understand the power and fundamentals of machine learning is Udemy.
An intermediate understanding of statistics is preferred, but not necessary. The course is based in the Python coding language, and all the code and datasets are made available to tinker and modify. What is necessary is a willingness to put aside preconceived notion about how difficult a topic might be to learn and apply.
Different methods of regression with explanations, sample code, rationale and pro tips are all discussed in as much detail as the user can handle. What I appreciate is a focus on both the math and the coding to give a fuller picture of capabilities. Applied to my work in mining and reliability, I used this machine learning tool with help from the ML course to create a digital, multi-variate model of a double rotator ball mill, an impressive, huge, and extremely expensive piece of machinery. When test data was fed into the model, it was 89% effective at predicting optimum or sub-optimum output vs. inputs.
While this project stopped when I left the company, I learned the much more valuable skill of separating fact from corporate propaganda. I have had the opportunity to give advice on to superiors on whether a potential software platform is offering legitimate potential improvements or just quoting industry buzzwords. While I will never be the "only" in the worlds of IoT and Machine Learning, I have a new skillset to apply, and it started with 10 dollar course offered online and taken on-demand.
Well said Tim, Machine Learning is the newest Buzz word and many see it as an "easy button". The truth is, many industries are no where near ready to begin applying this level of technology in their business. So many industries have no data or bad data and to get to the point where you can execute on a true machine learning platform takes a lot of diligence and maturity around Data integrity.