Build Cool Things
How to stand out among 250 resumes that go to a same-ish school and study the same-ish thing
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my current or any previous employer. This blog may also contain links to other websites or resources. I am not responsible for the content on those external sites or any changes that may occur after the publication of my posts.
End Disclaimer
To students (anyone really) applying for a job in AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning):
I understand that your time is limited and that school is hard.
I probably wouldn’t have been admitted to some of the places you go.
But now forget all that.
I don’t care where you go(went) to school, or if you even graduated.
I want to see proof that you can “build cool things”.
Bring me your cool things
Everything else is a distant second.
“Build cool things” is a little nebulous, but (good)employers know it when they see it.
The “how’d they do that?” projects.
The “hmm, I never thought about that thing, that way” code.
The “oh wow, I can’t believe that works” application.
Cool things show a high level of proficiency in a given area- coding, model construction, fine-tuning, whatever.
Cool things either directly or indirectly hint at a path towards something monetizable.
Now, before you start, is it important for you to be considered “a quant”, a “machine learning engineer”, a “data scientist”, “the Head of ‘your 3x5 foot’ space?”
Is the name of the thing important to you?
It isn’t to me.
The nomenclature is noise.
You have the agency to build and make whatever you want.
That’s pretty awesome.
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
I’ve met fancy people who were very proud of their epaulettes and honors.
Sometimes, they forgot to actually make stuff, or the stuff they made bled out when nicked by the real, out-of-sample, world.
Not all, some.
Make stuff.
Please do interesting projects.
I’ve seen your resumes.
They’re impressive.
I can’t tell anyone apart.
The single most effective thing that you can do to jump the line, besides having a trusted friend or colleague deliver your resume to my desk is, to “build cool things.”
Combine something that you are interested in with some hard technical skills.
Who am I to say “Build cool things”, like that’s ever easy.
I’m lucky and grateful to have a job.
I’ve been let go from jobs three times (so far).
I’ve waited for someone I’ve never met to decide whether I was worthy of a interview.
It was never fun.
But I digress…
Differentiate yourself.
Build cool things that provide utility.
You want to trade at a shop that uses ml? Build a trading strategy with ml.
You want to be a machine learner at a (re)insurance company? Build out a machine learning model for (re)insurance.
Please don’t include a movie recommender system (I guess unless you are applying to Netflix)
Please no handwritten character recognition projects.
Hey, can you hear that?
That noise, right behind you.
Its your friends, classmates, and people you’ve never met, building things right now.
They’re applying for the same jobs you are.
You can do it.
Keep building.
Keep grinding.
Don’t slow down
Great advice for everybody! Thanks.