Comment by cr0sh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cr0sh | Hacker News Reader

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I really would like to, someday, do the residency, but at the same time, I don't know if I can.

Right now, I'm doing the Udacity Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree. I won't rehash that or my other knowledge here...

My issue, though, is my age, coupled with the fact that I don't have a real degree (I've got this old associates degree from a tech trade school that is almost worthless). After I finish the Udacity thing, I have this idea of pursuing an online BA, then an MA - likely in CompSci. But, we are likely looking at anywhere from 4 years or more (likely more) to do both things - and not a small amount of money. After that point, I'll be close to 50 years old.

There's a very good and likely chance that the residency won't be around at that point; or even the possibility that technology around ML may have radically changed the world to the point where it would be difficult (or even meaningless) to try to "catch up"...

Still - I'm not going to let that possibility stop or restrain me; that said, is it viable for me to even think about this kind of thing - doing such a residency? Would I even have a chance of being considered, vs someone younger? Furthermore - how does one do a residency of this nature, while still paying bills (I live in Phoenix, AZ - I own a house, plus have other bills)?

These are just questions I have - not really concerns, as I am no where near the point I need to be to do the residency - and there isn't any guarantee that I will be. I'll just continue to enjoy to journey, rather than worrying about a specific end-goal.

> is it viable for me to even think about this kind of thing - doing such a residency? Would I even have a chance of being considered, vs someone younger? Furthermore - how does one do a residency of this nature, while still paying bills (I live in Phoenix, AZ - I own a house, plus have other bills)?

Good on you for pursuing continued education.

Yes it's viable - never lose hope in yourself for anything. The Brain Residency has no age requirement; in fact, the program looks for diverse academic/career experiences. You'd be surprised how close you are to your dream job if you are passionate, hardworking, and lucky.

I too, was intimidated by the math & magic of ML when I first took Andrew Ng's Intro to Machine Learning Course 4 years ago (my first exposure). I took regular CS courses in college and started focusing on ML 1.5 years ago. Beyond taking courses, I highly recommend building your own projects - it exercises your independent research ability and creativity.

The Brain residency pays a good wage for the SF Bay Area (comparable to new grad salary at average tech firms), so you should be able to pay your bills. I've heard rumors that many other companies highly invested in ML are following in Google Brain's example and starting similar residency programs. Your ML career path need not be at Google, though we're a pretty solid choice ;)

>> "disclosure: I work at Google Brain"

+

>> "I too, was intimidated by the math & magic of ML when I first took Andrew Ng's Intro to Machine Learning Course 4 years ago (my first exposure). I took regular CS courses in college and started focusing on ML 1.5 years ago."

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That's awesome, congrats!

Appears you have written about it too:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13440813

> I too, was intimidated by the math & magic of ML when I first took Andrew Ng's Intro to Machine Learning Course 4 years ago (my first exposure).

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I will take them to heart.

I got my first taste of modern machine learning when I took Andrew Ng's ML Class (sponsored by Stanford), in the fall/winter of 2011; I completed and passed it. At the same time, I was also taking Thrun and Norvig's AI Class; I had to drop out due to personal reasons.

In 2012, after Thrun founded Udacity, they released the CS373 "Build Your Own Self-Driving Vehicle" course (I probably have that title wrong for the time; they changed the name of the course later) - it was meant as a stand-in for the original AI Class (I think there were licensing issues or something that prevented them from presenting it - they later incorporated it as a part of their offerings). I jumped at the chance, and completed that course as well.

When they announced this Nanodegree course, I knew I had to apply. So far, things are going well with the course. I'm in the November (2016) cohort, and currently working on the behavioral cloning project.

I do have in mind several personal projects to pursue, once I can come up for air from this course (most of my free time has been consumed by it). I do need more education, though, which is why I want to pursue the BA and MA. Two of my weak areas are calculus and stats/probabilities - which ML is heavily reliant on (plus, I really want to understand what is going on "under the covers" as well).

Onward and upward!

I believe Chris Olah[1] doesn't have a degree. I suspect he doesn't need one now though...

[1] http://colah.github.io/cv.pdf

Based on reading his CV and his github page, I suspect he never needed one in the first place. He seems like a very intelligent and driven (by curiosity) individual, who will likely go very far. Thank you for posting the link; I think I may be able to learn from him, and his example.

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