Omdena Advice Board for Beginners
Find a Mentor
They help other collaborators move forward.
Join a Task Group
Join a task group that you know you can contribute effectively to and be able to efficiently work in.
Look at the Task Channel’s details
This can be found in the topic of the channel. It usually contains a description of what the channel is about.
Set reachable goals
Look at the objective of the task group and decide tasks that you wish to work on with people or alone. Ensure these tasks are within your desired role (e.g. ML Engineer)
Find a Lead ML Engineer within your desired task group
There will be 1 or 2 technology leaders per task group who take the initiative to pick libraries and tools. If you are ever lost, ask for directions.
Take notes during Meetings
Ensure you jot important statements, questions, answers and ideas down during meetings. This is helpful when you are working on tasks.
Read all the documents given to you by Omdena
When you are accepted into an Omdena Project, you will be sent an email which will contain 2 or 3 documents. ENSURE YOU TAKE TIME TO READ THEM. They contain a LOT of useful information which will improve your project experience.
Have a separate folder for Omdena Projects
Save all your code and any other code you like in that folder. You can also fork the repository and explore it.
Do small projects relating to the Omdena Project
Before embarking on the Omdena Project ensure you do one or two projects relating to the technology or methods to be used in the Omdena Project. This will help to sharpen your skills and prepare you for the project.
For example if your Omdena Project involves Natural Language Processing (NLP), ensure you do one or two small projects involving NLP. You can find small scale projects on Kaggle: Your Home for Data Science. Or take a short course on NLP on Kaggle.
Ask for HELP when you are stuck on a task
If you ever get stuck on a task, please do not be afraid to ask for help. I asked for help when I got stuck on a task and everyone was so helpful and encouraging.