My life story (so far)

Adil Shamim

I'm an AI/ML Engineer from Dhaka, Bangladesh — passionate about turning raw data into systems that actually work. Here is a short account of how I got here.

My journey into machine learning started during my Computer Science studies at BNIST, where courses in linear algebra, probability, and data structures sparked a deep curiosity about how machines learn from data. What began as academic curiosity quickly became a full-blown obsession.

Over the past 2+ years, I've been building production ML systems — from end-to-end pipelines with ZenML and MLflow, to Dockerized inference services with FastAPI. One of my proudest moments was creating a hybrid recommendation system that boosted a client's sales by 10%.

Along the way, I earned an Master rank on Kaggle after completing 22 competitions, published datasets, and built open-source tools. I also founded Toolly, a community-driven platform that makes discovering and sharing AI tools effortless.

When I'm not training models, I enjoy writing technical blogs, earning certifications from Stanford, Harvard, IBM, and Microsoft, and exploring the frontier of Generative AI — LLMs, RAG pipelines, and LangChain/LangGraph agents.

I believe the best ML work happens at the intersection of strong engineering and genuine curiosity. I'm always looking to connect with people who share that belief.

2+ Years of Experience
22 Kaggle Competitions
6+ Production Projects
5 Certifications

Books That Shaped My Thinking

Reading is how I sharpen my mental models. Here are books that changed how I think about building, learning, and living.

Key Lessons

  • Leverage is everything. Code and media are the new leverage — they work while you sleep. This is why I invest in building systems and writing, not just doing one-off tasks.
  • Specific knowledge can't be taught. It's found by pursuing your genuine curiosity. My obsession with Bengali speech AI and low-resource NLP is my specific knowledge.
  • Play long-term games with long-term people. Compound interest applies to relationships, knowledge, and skills — not just money.
  • Learn to sell, learn to build. If you can do both, you're unstoppable. Engineering is building; writing and sharing your work is selling.
  • Happiness is a skill. It's not something you chase — it's something you practice by removing desires, not adding achievements.
My Takeaway

This book reframed how I think about my career. I stopped optimizing for salary and started optimizing for leverage, learning, and long-term compounding. It's why I build open-source tools, write publicly, and chase problems that genuinely excite me.