Perhaps my timing was good or maybe it was the divine powers above that had led me to this data analytics to AI (Artificial Intelligence) journey. I have learnt a lot in this short 2 years ride but there is still so much more to absorb. The more I plug in the missing information gaps in my understanding of this subject, the more I become fascinated with what had been achieved so far and what can be accomplished in the near future.
After my last working day in my old banking job in Jun 2017, I decided to continue my learning journey in earnest. This initiative started in bits and pieces from 2012 with the discovery of Udemy and Coursera web portals which allowed me to study whatever interests me at that time. Social media topics were big at that time and being an active user, I went into topics like hashtag and affiliate marketing and even started my own blog. When I put my mind into something, I will usually stick to it stubbornly for quite a while (case in point: playing Pokemon Go).
By 2017, the stars had lined up for me to embark on the next phase of my learning journey. The government initiated Skillsfuture push was fully underway. It aimed to help older PMETs like myself, to learn new skills that were relevant to the current world, to reinvent ourselves in order to adapt to the realities of our disappearing jobs.
After completing a few fun courses like Wine and Starting a Business, I had to ask myself: “What’s next?”. How can I utilize my past work experience to pivot into another industry where I could possibly have an edge over younger and more tech-savvy competitors? How can I monetize my 25+ years of banking experience?
In my previous sales role in the American bank, we were developing CRM (Client Relationship Management) systems that were getting bigger and better by the year. We were constantly discovering new powerful tools to help increase revenue via the data mining of client information we had. As the system software is enhanced and improved, we could add in yesterday’s end of day information to the database and move towards real-time updates.
This planted the seed of data analytics in me as a next step. By using my past work experience, perhaps I can pivot into the world of data analytics to provide a business edge, by driving the optimal review process of a company’s database.
I searched around for appropriate Skillsfuture courses which suited my objectives. I also wanted to challenge myself, to see if I could perform outside my comfort zone. Finally, I found a course that checks all my boxes and as a bonus, it will lead to a Specialist Diploma in Business Analytics. https://www.tp.edu.sg/courses/part-time-courses/industry/ict-and-media/specialist-diploma-in-business-analytics
It was a 12 months long program that conducted evening classes 5 times a month. Because of my age, I also had a huge 90% subsidy for the course fees. I decided to jump head first into this without fear. It started in Sep 2017. As expected, I was one of the oldest students in a class of 26 that consist of younger and more tech inclined people.
The first 6 months were a struggle for me as I tried to grapple with alien IT concepts and new data mining software. Going back to school again was challenging, yet exciting. I felt young again and even looked forward to the assessments and project work, I kid you not!
Very soon the course ended in Sep 2018. By then, I had a taste of what systems are out there to data mine effectively. It also got my feet wet via projects that required presentation skills to bring across the findings in a persuasive way. This course brought me up to date on the huge possibilities of Big Data and the tools that are easily available to create models and spot trends. The human now has all these tools to play around with, to gather insights which the naked eye would not be able to detect.
Around this time, the Alpha Go phenomenon happened. https://www.alphagomovie.com/ Within months, the developers used newer machine learning techniques to develop a better version called Alpha Go Zero which basically utilized reinforced learning to learn and challenge itself. It eventually managed to completely defeat its predecessor (by 100 to 0 games). https://deepmind.com/blog/alphago-zero-learning-scratch/ Within a year, it set off the new global nuclear race by China, which set a national directive and road map on how to become the world supremo in AI. With lots of data available and little privacy issues, China believes that Big Data is the new OPEC oil product to AI.
By this time, my interest in AI and machine learning had deepened a lot. I hunger to know more and also to plug the gaps in my knowledge of this subject. I took an introduction to Fintech MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) to familiarize myself with the foundations of this industry, before signing up for another one on AI in Finance. They led me to various articles which opened my eyes to what I had been doing during my projects in the night classes which helped to make sense of what I had done, to see how they relate to machine learning and AI.
I feel that AI is now not as complicated as it sounds. They are generally extremely narrowly focused but they can do that specific task exceptionally well. The building tools are easily available. The difficult part is to clean the big data and provide the human touch to direct the analysis in order to produce quality models to help predict the future.
My Alibaba study trip to Hangzhou late last year also helped cemented my views that China was way ahead of the AI game. The AI Superpower book by Lee Kai-Fu also emphasized this point. The general consensus is that 30% of current jobs may be taken over by AI in the next 10 to 15 years. This is not something to be taken lightly. Looking around us, the signs are already here. What if driverless cars become the norm? A whole industry of human drivers will be displaced… My old job as a salesperson can be easily replaced by a robot-advisor that can provide a summary of the best expertise of the top 1,000 professionals through reinforced learning.
My group of friends are also now looking at a chatbot investment opportunity that utilizes AI to refine and improve itself. The opportunities to apply itself into all aspects of the company is mind-blowing. Become an HR (Human Resource) domain expert for all employees? sure. Be an automated online response resource for all external client enquiries? Easy.
It is so fascinating to see how AI can be applied to almost anything. We take certain things like Uber, Airbnb and social media for granted nowadays. But there are multiple AI tools in the background that are customizing solutions on the fly in real time for the clients. Can you imagine that we did not have them only a few years ago? Neither do we want to go back to the days before we had these tools at our fingertips now.
The choice is clear. We will accelerate our AI developments from here. More amazing discoveries will be made and what we think is not possible now will become the norm in the near future. The future is so bright, I’ve gotta wear shades!!!
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