Ask HN: how to excel in ML (not good in CS/programming and beginner in DS)

Hello everyone, I did my master's in IT and have a few years of experience as a database/system admin. My undergrad was in CS, but tbh I am not very good at programming. During my MS, I took a few DS classes (statistical learning, regression analysis, ML, data mining and knowledge discovery, big data management) and felt passionate about DS and ML. I have also taken the deep learning specialization on Coursera. I have also done some "basic" projects (most of the class projects). However, I still don't feel comfortable in ML, especially the programming part. Also, I have not built anything that I could showcase my skills. What would you recommend I should do now? Do you think I should take some programming/data, science classes?