How I Chose My AI Learning Path
My methodology of whittling down the infinite number of choices.
Choose your own adventure…
If you were in grade school in the 1980s and 1990s, you’ll remember a series of books by Bantam Books. They were called “Choose Your Own Adventure.”” These books were sold by truckload and sold 250 million copies in that timeframe alone.
The book was written from the viewpoint of an adventurer who was gender-neutral. Once you had read a few pages, you were forced to choose between 2-3 options for proceeding through the book. Once you decided, you would turn to the pages that reflected your path. When you reach the end, you can reread the book to choose another option.
Learning about AI is an adventure. There are many choices available. How do you choose your path?
I decided to focus on how I navigated the many AI training options.
The AI news comes to you
For general AI news, you can get a lot of value from newsletters.
They also include links to courses that they offer.
You don’t have to pay, but you’ll need to fork over a few dollars for the high-quality content. I have a couple of recommendations in my Substack, and I have listed the ones I follow below. Most of these cover the same daily “AI news,” so if you want to know what happens daily in AI, you can probably subscribe to a couple and decide which one you like better.
Marily Nika’s AI Product Newsletter
What are you looking for?
Newsletters weren’t enough and were pretty scattershot for courses, so I established a list of criteria for my course learning.
The course had to be:
From a reputable source (university, or endorsed by the PMI) and offered a certificate
Teachable, Coursera, and Skool were fine, but I wanted something more substantial
A week or shorter
Courses can drag out and then I would never finish them
Tech “lite” and concepts are broken down
AI is pretty technical and you can go into the weeds quickly, so the preference was to avoid highly technical courses that needed a PhD in Math or a CS degree.
Self-driven and available on demand
I didn’t have time to join a scheduled course. I am part of a writing mastermind and rarely attend, but I watch the replays. I needed something available to me at 2 pm or 2 am.
Able to justify it’s cost and value
Some courses are cheap since they don’t offer a lot of value. It’s just regurgitated information that you can use ChatGPT to dig up. University courses are expensive and teach a lot of theory but don't have a lot of real-world practicality.
Project management focused
This was the point that narrowed the search substantially. There aren’t many AI courses out there that are aimed at project managers.
Eat the elephant one bite at a time
The key is to start small and consume content one piece at a time.
The first course I completed was offered by PMI (Project Management Institute), called Generative AI Overview for Project Managers.
I actually wrote about it in an article and summarized the course.
It’s a short course (I think it’s free for anyone), offered by an accredited institution, and you get PDUs for learning.
The course is excellent for beginners but pretty basic for the subject matter. I couldn’t talk to a developer properly based on the knowledge I had gained. As I mentioned in previous articles you don’t need to “speak” engineer, but you want a solid background.
The PMI course also didn’t provide tips for running an AI project as a project manager from the ground up. I think this was a lost opportunity.
Look to the pros that know
I had a free trial for LinkedIn Premium so I could take some of the courses on AI that are offered by various professionals.
I believe you need to be a Premium member to take courses.
The AI courses I took were:
Leveraging Generative AI for Project Management by Ricardo Vargas
How to Use AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity by David Briss
Generative AI for Business Leaders by Tomer Cohen
I thought I hit the jackpot. It was when I took the “Leveraging Generative AI for Project Management” for free on LinkedIn. It was pretty basic and didn’t go into the tech running GenAI, but it was geared to project managers, which was a plus.
The course “How to Boost Your Productivity with AI Tools” was short, it’s free, you got a certificate, and it was user-friendly. But it was a general course without anything specific for project managers.
“Generative AI for Business Leaders” was pretty basic and free, and you received a certificate. Again, this was pretty lacking. It lacked something to lure project managers to this presentation to learn.
If you take courses on LinkedIn, I would look for project managers who have integrated AI into their work. They should show you how to use it. Courses will be short (usually less than an hour) and it won’t be heavy on the tech. If you can find good project management courses, put them in the comments. My promo for LinkedIn Premium has ended.
The real deal
Cognilytica has the SEO game locked up when you are looking for a project management course involving AI.
It appears in the search as one of the top 10 choices, so I checked out the course “Cognitive Project Management for AI.” One of the exceptional things I noticed is that they had a free trial for the course that was 3 hours! That boggled my mind.
It reminded me of those car offers when you could take a car home for the weekend from the dealer and drive it around. If you don’t like it, you can return it. The fact that they could carve out three hours meant that plenty of other meaty AI content could be consumed.
I debated buying the course. It cost $2,750 for the basic course, but there was a 10% discount code (see the offer at the end of this newsletter to get 20% off). This probably isn't a big deal for those of you with expense accounts. But for individuals, it’s a little pricey.
However, it’s well worth it - some university courses are over $3,500! The Cognilytica course has 20 lessons and over 22 hours of high-quality content. Each chapter has a quiz, and a final exam awards you a certificate when you pass. You can also access the content for months, so you don’t have to rush.
The CPMAI Methodology for managing AI projects is at the center of the course. It provides a blueprint for a high success rate since 80% of AI projects fail. The course contains case studies from Intel, NASA, and Coca-Cola. They managed successful AI projects using CPMAI.
Those killer clients provide positive proof that the methodology works if you use it correctly.
After taking the course and passing the exam, I felt confident I could start and manage an AI project. I also thought I could talk to developers, data analysts, and data scientists. I didn't feel like a total n00b. The course was understandable, and I didn’t feel lost with all the acronyms and tech terms. However, their exams were not easy!
Overall, this was a great course, and now I’m a certified project manager in AI and ML.
Do you need a certification to run an AI project?
Most people start as project managers with little training. They are good at managing people and getting things done.
Some project managers have university degrees. But, when I was in college, no schools offered them.
The Professional Project Management (PMP) is a significant certification for project managers. There are about 1.2 million project managers who hold that certification worldwide.
Being a PMP sets you apart. It shows that you know the basics of project management as taught by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
What about certification for AI?
Being certified in AI may make you stand out the way being a PMP does.
It can give your stakeholders confidence. It shows you have the skills to run a complex project well. AI is new to most companies. It has been developed for over 50 years. So, having a competent guide is reassuring. Software projects are demanding. But, when new technology is implemented, it’s scary. Everything is new, and the project needs to succeed.
Certification may not be for everyone. But, becoming a project manager certified in AI will open up new opportunities.
Final thoughts
When I find a solution that works and cuts out a lot of work, I want to tell everyone about it. Learning about AI quickly is no different.
You can take many paths, but if you have a guide - you can skirt the wasted time and effort. You can set criteria even if you don't take the CPMAI course. They will help you decide what you need to learn about AI. A lot of content out there is questionable. Many are ready to take your cash. So, buyers beware.
Hopefully, you’ll get certified. I look forward to seeing that badge with your signature.
AI-Driven Tools for PMs
Superhuman - The fastest email ever made.
Brillant - A platform for learning about LLMs (think ChatGPT) and how to use them.
PDF Flex - Ask questions about a PDF's content, and get immediate detailed responses.
AI News PMs Can Use
The CEO of Zoom wants AI clones in meetings
AI in the Workplace: Slack Study Points at Rapid Growth and Mixed Emotions
Cool ChatGPT Prompt for PMs
Prompts to learn how ChatGPT can integrate with project management software
Provide instructions for integrating ChatGPT with Trello.Explain how to connect ChatGPT to Asana to automate task creation.Describe the process of incorporating ChatGPT into Microsoft Project for generating project status reports.Outline the steps to integrate ChatGPT with Jira for agile project management support.
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I recently joined The Write 4/28 Challenge with this crazy Australian I follow online - Tim Denning.
If you have been wanting to consistently post online or learn to get better at writing, this is the course for you, so I thought I’d pass the opportunity along.
It’d be a kick to do this together.