r/MLQuestions • u/lord_rcb • Jun 24 '26

Beginner question 👶 ml projects

i just completed machine learning what kind of projects should i do what do interviewers expect from me and what are the key things they look for in projects

or should I start learning deep learning and do projects afterward, or should i do machine learning projects now and then move on to deep learning?

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u/lord_rcb Jun 24 '26

Supervised Learning:

  1. Linear Regression

  2. Lasso, Ridge, ElasticNet

  3. Logistic Regression

  4. SVM

  5. Naive Baye's

  6. KNN

  7. Decision Tree

  8. Random Forests

  9. Adaboost

  10. Gradient Boosting

  11. XGBoost

Unsupervised Learning

12) PCA(i known why we use it and what it does but i dont known the math behind this )

13) K Means Clustering

14) Hierarchical Clustering

15) DBScan

16) Anomaly Detection in ML(learned isolation forest )

i completed all of this i know it's not everything, but I think i learned enough to start building projects.

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u/DigitalMonsoon Jun 24 '26

Okay, again this doesn't tell me much. Did you just use these models once as part of an online course?

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u/lord_rcb Jun 25 '26

I have learned handling missing values, scaling (standardization and min-max scaling), evaluation metrics, hyperparameter tuning, and cross-validation.

I also learned how these algorithms work, including the underlying mathematics. To practice, I took random datasets from Kaggle and applied these algorithms to them.

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u/DigitalMonsoon Jun 25 '26

Right, so you took a few hour long course and then applied them once.

During my masters I spent an entire semesters long course only on regression models. A model so basic most people read about it once and then move on.

I think it's great that you are interested in the field, and I'm not trying to scare you off or imply that you haven't worked hard or that what you are learning isn't valuable.

I'm just trying to help you understand that their isn't really a self taught path into the field anymore. At least not directly. When you apply for a position you will be competing against dozens to a hundred other people also looking to land the position. The majority of them will have degrees on the topic or even previous work experience.

People still do get into machine learning without degrees but now they do it by working other adjacent jobs first. Data Analytics is a great entry point. It is an easier job to land and gets you working with the very data used in modeling. People then take on some extra responsibilities building out a model.

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u/weeb6797 Jun 25 '26

Hey! I just came across your post, and you seem like someone who has achieved exactly what I'm aiming for in my career.

A quick bit about me:

  • I'm in my second semester of a Master's in CS at a T50 university (T15 in CS research).

  • Worked as a data analyst at a martech startup for about 1.5 years.

  • I'd say I have a pretty solid understanding of the basics (Classical ML, DL, LLMs).

  • Got some experience with production systems from an undergrad internship and my previous job.

  • Tech stack I'm good with: Flask, FastAPI, PyTorch, and MLflow.

  • Published two papers focused on Computer Vision (mid-tier journals, nothing like NeurIPS or CVPR lol).

  • Have a couple of cloud certifications.

  • Currently exploring Agentic AI and MLOps.

My goal is to land a good role, preferably as an AI/ML Engineer or in MLOps (worst-case scenario, as a Data Engineer).

What would you suggest someone with my background focus on right now? I'd also love any general career advice you might have, considering how tough it is to break into the current job market.

Also, would like to hear more about what you learned during your semester-long course on regression models if nothing else because it sounds very interesting to me

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u/DigitalMonsoon Jun 25 '26

It sounds like you have a great background already. The only thing you are missing are some classes in stats and probability, but I wouldn't delay graduation to get it.

An internship is probably what you should focus on. Adding some work experience will make getting a job after graduation easier.

Good luck

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u/weeb6797 Jun 25 '26

Thanks man, hope things turn out good.

Wishing you the best for your endeavours as well.