3rd-year CSE student starting AI/ML: what’s the best roadmap?

Hi everyone, I’m Vishal, a 3rd-year B.Tech CSE student, and I’m just starting to learn AI and ML. I want to build a solid foundation instead of jumping around randomly, so I’d love your advice on a good path.

Here’s where I’m at:

Background: B.Tech CSE (3rd year), comfortable with advanced Python, plus Java, C, and C++
Goal: learn the basics first, then build small projects and share them here for feedback

A few questions:

Since I already know Python, should I start with the math (linear algebra, probability, statistics) or go straight into libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and scikit-learn?
Which courses, books, or YouTube channels helped you most as a beginner?
What’s a good first project to try that would also look good on a resume?

Any tips or resources are appreciated. I’ll share my progress here as I go. Thanks!