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In this episode, We talked with Pastor, a medical doctor who built a career in machine learning while studying medicine. Pastor shares how he balanced both fields, leveraged live courses and public sharing to grow his skills, and found opportunities through freelancing and mentoring.TIMECODES00:00 Pastor’s background and early programming journey06:05 Learning new tools and skills on the job while studying medicine11:44 Balancing medical studies with data science work and motivation13:48 Applying medical knowledge to data science and vice versa18:44 Starting freelance work on Upwork and overcoming language challenges24:03 Joining the machine learning engineering course and benefits of live cohorts27:41 Engaging with the course community and sharing progress publicly35:16 Using LinkedIn and social media for career growth and interview opportunities41:03 Building reputation, structuring learning, and leveraging course projects50:53 Volunteering and mentoring with DeepLearning.AI and Stanford Coding Place57:00 Managing time and staying productive while studying medicine and machine learningConnect with Pastor Twitter - https://x.com/PastorSotoB1Linkedin -   / pastorsoto  Github - https://github.com/sotoblancoWebsite - https://substack.com/@pastorsotoConnect with DataTalks.Club: Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.htmlSubscribe to our Google calendar to have all our events in your calendar - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/...Check other upcoming events - https://lu.ma/dtc-eventsGitHub: https://github.com/DataTalksClubLinkedIn -   / datatalks-club   Twitter -   / datatalksclub   Website - https://datatalks.club/

How do you learn machine learning while studying medicine and turn it into a full-time career? - Pastor Soto

​In this episode, we’re joined by Pastor Soto, a Machine Learning Engineer who learned ML through focused online learning and consistent public work. While still in medical school, Pastor took on side projects that led him into machine learning, and the ML Zoomcamp course served as a turning point in his career.

​By sharing his work online, Pastor opened the door to job interviews, including at Meta and DeepLearning.AI.

​We plan to cover:

• ​How Pastor learned ML while studying medicine
• ​How ML Zoomcamp helped Pastor to get interviews at companies like Meta and DeepLearning AI
• ​Lessons for time-constrained learners: small wins, public updates, and ROI
• ​How to position a non-traditional background (like an MD) in AI interviews

​ About the speaker: ​ Pastor Soto is a Machine Learning Engineer and mentor with a practical bias toward shipping. While studying medicine at the university, he took on side work that pulled him into machine learning. The inflection point was ML Zoomcamp: by publishing exercises and projects publicly, he attracted interviews and job offers.

​Pastor’s work centers on production ML: moving data, wiring APIs, and feeding LLMs so applications run. He mentors with DeepLearning.AI, leads sections for Stanford’s Code in Place, and writes about focused learning and small, finished steps that compound.

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