You can build a computer vision algorithm in about a day with a tool like Roboflow, which handles the technical back-end and empowers you to focus more on solving a particular problem with computer vision. It takes a few days to learn about the different types of problems you can solve with computer vision and a few weeks to learn more fundamentals like improving model performance and deployment.
If you want to become a computer vision engineer, expect to spend a few months learning computer vision algorithm fundamentals, assuming you already have some prior knowledge of software engineering and mathematics. Your learning will involve learning about the structure of modern architectures, the evolution of computer vision, and the "how" and "why" behind today's state-of-the-art systems. Practical experience building models, optionally in a structured course or degree, will go a long way to help you building knowledge, too. You can expect to spend about a year building a solid foundation of the skills you'd need to start working on computer vision models for a business.
With software like Roboflow, you can build a computer vision model without any prior computer vision experience. Previously, learning computer vision involved an extensive investment of time and computing resources. Over the last few years, there have been advances in the field to make the technology more approachable. Now, you can use tools like Roboflow to build models hands-on without minimal to no code, which makes the learning process easier.
Learning hands-on computer vision with code is more difficult, however, often involving months of learning. This is an appropriate to take in your learning if you want to understand the "how" behind modern computer vision algorithms and build model architectures, infrastructure, or configurations from scratch.
