Continuing Professional Development - Courses on AI
January 3, 2025 3:49 AM Subscribe
My boss has asked me to explore AI-related continuing professional development opportunities this year, and my work may be able to fund courses depending on cost.
I'm particularly interested in the use of AI in a corporate and operational setting, and integration with common project management, and corporate tools to reduce administrative overhead.
It doesn't have to be generative AI. My personal interest is learning more about AI's ability to analyze data, and looking at how to use that. This would dovetail into my desire to promote the gathering of data on how my team works, and using that to show what we do well.
Please skip any anti-AI comments, my boss is clear that he wants me to explore this, and rejecting it isn't going to work.
It doesn't have to be generative AI. My personal interest is learning more about AI's ability to analyze data, and looking at how to use that. This would dovetail into my desire to promote the gathering of data on how my team works, and using that to show what we do well.
Please skip any anti-AI comments, my boss is clear that he wants me to explore this, and rejecting it isn't going to work.
If data analysis is your focus, "machine learning" will be a more helpful keyword than "AI", which is mostly going to bring up a lot of the current LLM-hype stuff that will not be useful for your stated purpose. Georgia Tech has a robust set of data analytics courses on their EdX site, including several good data analytics with machine learning courses.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:00 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 8:00 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
It might be worth looking at your local public library's database subscriptions to see if they have LinkedIn Learning (formerly lynda.com, I think), which has a range of AI courses. Might help give you a sense of what's out there, and I found the AI course I started there to be high quality.
So many people are jumping on the AI bandwagon to offer content that it might be worth looking carefully at reputable content providers first.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:49 AM on January 3
So many people are jumping on the AI bandwagon to offer content that it might be worth looking carefully at reputable content providers first.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:49 AM on January 3
It’d be a good idea to sit down on your own and with your boss to have a clearer picture about what your goals are. (And for responses here, more detail about your professional background and CS experience)
It’s very different if you want enough knowledge to find a good off-the-shelf or semi-custom solution, if you will be crafting a proposal for a custom in-house solution, if you will be hands on with creating the solution, or even if you’re just trying to find out if ML is right for your use case.
An online course warehouse subscription like LinkedInLearning or Coursera isn’t a terrible idea because you can often course-hop between different lecture series to hear the same concepts explained in new ways, which helps me grasp things better than just a linear video from one person.
I strongly recommend looking for IRL resources in your local area, whether a professional meetup or a university/CC class. If you have a clear idea of your desired outcome (see point 1), you’ll get the best insights from 1-1 conversations.
posted by itesser at 8:04 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
It’s very different if you want enough knowledge to find a good off-the-shelf or semi-custom solution, if you will be crafting a proposal for a custom in-house solution, if you will be hands on with creating the solution, or even if you’re just trying to find out if ML is right for your use case.
An online course warehouse subscription like LinkedInLearning or Coursera isn’t a terrible idea because you can often course-hop between different lecture series to hear the same concepts explained in new ways, which helps me grasp things better than just a linear video from one person.
I strongly recommend looking for IRL resources in your local area, whether a professional meetup or a university/CC class. If you have a clear idea of your desired outcome (see point 1), you’ll get the best insights from 1-1 conversations.
posted by itesser at 8:04 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
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posted by capricorn at 6:26 AM on January 3