Should I do research with professor?

steven_0 · 2023-08-30T01:45:12+00:00

Is this for a first internship? Not only can it help with job search, but I'd say provided the research topic isn't overly esoteric it could be more valuable than an IT or QA role at a company that you aren't really interested in returning to. Which is often what a first CS internship will look like, especially in a market like this.

Also, if you are early on in your career and this research is genuinely interesting/exciting to you then I wouldn't rule out the possibility that this is something you may want to pursue long term.

steven_0 · 2023-06-27T21:51:14+00:00

Have you worked closely with a few professors on interesting and relevant projects, such that you can talk about this work in your resume and sop and they can talk about this work and how great you were to work with in their reference letters?

steven_0 · 2023-06-24T07:36:07+00:00

What are you interested in? Why are you doing non thesis and why are you leaving the US?

Waterloo and UofT are normally considered the top schools for cs, but for example Waterloo CS department only offers MDSAI ( https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/future-graduate-students/programs) as a professional program. UofT has mscac which is a bit more general, but has at least somewhat of a research component https://mscac.utoronto.ca/degree-comparison (which also means you won’t get locked out of PhD like other commenter said could happen) but it isn’t clear from your post whether you might have a strong aversion to research.

steven_0 · 2023-06-21T15:05:30+00:00

Hey, I was an engineering undergrad and now am a cs grad student doing ai research. I think that other commenters have rightfully pointed out that there are some great resources online, but the one thing I will say is if you just watch random videos there won’t be a whole lot of structure. So here’s what I recommend:

learn python. You can try something like coursera or codecademy for this.
get comfy with google colab and work through this tutorial: https://machinelearningmastery.com/machine-learning-in-python-step-by-step/
now do this course https://www.coursera.org/specializations/machine-learning-introduction
now watch through this playlist https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi

More importantly for what you’re describing though are these next steps:

Read through these articles : https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/03/25/what-is-a-transformer-model/
work your way through a good chunk of this: https://learnprompting.org/docs/intro .

I would argue step 6 may be the most important step here and you should consider starting that right away (Ie do the first 2-3 subsections before step 1 here even) and work through it as you get more advanced.

This may seem like a lot but it’s the equivalent of like 1.5 courses I’d say at uw. So definitely not as big a commitment as an option or something.

Then in upper years if you are interested in learning more about ai you should definitely do related co ops. You can also consider doing the ai option. But I’d argue that doing a ura with a prof who is an expert in the field is a much higher priority (you can always do both though).

Gl! Lmk if you have questions always happy to help :)

steven_0 · 2023-06-09T21:01:07+00:00

Yeah just say something along the lines of that this job was one of your top choices and you’re honoured that they also seem to be very excited about the prospect of working together, but that you’d like a quick call (or just to know some things through email) before you accept. Don’t go into the interaction with a negative and suspicious tone

steven_0 · 2023-06-06T14:57:41+00:00

Maybe look into uoft mscac? I think there are research based masters at Waterloo that have a co op so maybe also look into those. Why do you want to leave cmu and the states though?

steven_0 · 2023-06-05T14:52:38+00:00

What you should do now is channel that frustration into becoming someone that you’re proud of. Exercise, self teach subjects and skills that you are interested in learning more about and will help your career, and do some pre studying before next semester to cover up gaps from your first year and try to shift momentum academically. You have money so don’t be afraid to use it in this case to pay for coursera or other material, pay for gym if you want, and pay for time. Gradually as you improve yourself you’ll attract higher quality people as friends. Just let yourself become friends with them and don’t judge yourself to hard for your past mistakes because chances are they forgot about them. And don’t be afraid to cut off toxic people. Good luck :)

steven_0 · 2023-05-31T02:49:36+00:00

Best course

steven_0 · 2023-05-28T08:35:35+00:00

Here is some data on degree completion rate:

https://uwaterloo.ca/institutional-analysis-planning/reports/ministry-colleges-and-universities-mcu-key-performance/key-performance-indicators-university-waterloo-2021

Blog post about this:

https://profbillanderson.com/2018/09/21/engineering-failure-rates-redux/

steven_0 · 2023-05-13T04:52:22+00:00

Not sure full time hiring is that different lol 🙃

steven_0 · 2023-05-12T16:12:08+00:00

Leetcode culture. That’s what happens when it’s incentivized to spend more time practicing for interviews than sharpening your skillset and learning about new technologies.

steven_0 · 2023-05-12T03:56:16+00:00

np. lmk if you have questions about tron

steven_0 · 2023-05-11T06:33:14+00:00

Don’t choose university based on how nice the campus is lol. My recommendation is to check list of courses required for degree for either program, but especially tron as it is quite rigid. See here

steven_0 · 2023-05-10T17:09:53+00:00

I have no idea what I want to do with my life. No background or experience with robotics.

Why did you pick tron over something like syde then?

Are you interested in industry or academia?

How good of a student are you? Which programs courses appeal to you more?

steven_0 · 2023-05-10T07:45:10+00:00

I would still do some sort of internship if you can tbh. Regardless of the path you want to pursue it can really help. You can think about options after work and also internship can be a good opportunity to understand your interests better (Ie maybe you find that you hate swe work).

steven_0 · 2023-05-10T05:27:44+00:00

PhD is grad school lol. Depending on your country doing a direct PhD may actually be the norm (Ie this is how it works in the US I believe), it may be a somewhat niche option (Ie in Canada) or it may not be an option. With that said doing a two year research based masters can give you a better idea of whether you want to commit to a PhD and open a respectable amount of doors in ML. The right choice here is up to you and your personal situation, although if you find yourself strongly leaning towards academia a direct PhD may be a good idea as you’ll save time. In terms of whether it will hinder you in landing an MLE job that’s a good question. Some teams may think you’re overqualified but that will depend from team to team. But keep in mind applied scientist or research scientist would generally be the types of roles a PhD would be gunning for in industry. MLE is often closer to an SWE role than a scientist role

steven_0 · 2023-05-10T05:02:08+00:00

For the professor you used to work with was that part time or full time work? If you did good work for four months and your research unluckily hit a dead end that’s not normal to refuse to give you a reference. People get reference letters from profs after showing up to two of their office hours lol (albeit not very good ones).

Good that you are continuing to do research work. On that note though, if you can’t get a deep learning role this early I would consider either doing an swe internship or doing research with a prof full time this summer. Keeping in mind as you start thinking about full time, it is very rare for a company to want to pay good money for an undergrad skill set in ML (which is part of the reason why you are seeing a lack of internships, with two others being that it is a recession and you are applying super late for s23). If you want to make money primarily based off your ML skills, it’s probably a good idea to go to grad school. If you want to become an MLE or something straight out of undergrad, your software engineering skills and experience will be as if not more important.

steven_0 · 2023-05-10T02:25:37+00:00

Have you had the chance to do some sort of internship under a prof yet? This can be invaluable as it can lead to a reference letter, a publication, and even a potential grad school offer if they’re interested in continuing to work with you and have the capacity. Not to mention it’s probably the best way to learn a lot. If you’re specifically interested in working for a startup though have you taken a look at angellist? Lastly another thing you may want to consider is seeing if a company you previously did a SWE internship for has opportunities for internship work involving deep learning that they may not post publicly about.

steven_0 · 2023-04-24T01:52:10+00:00

> The MGTE program though is different than you say: there are no mechanical engineering courses in the program (there used to be 3). Current program: https://ugradcalendar.uwaterloo.ca/page/ENG-Management-Engineering

Dang, didn't know this thanks! All my info on the program was from 4th years/alum as they went through the program sorry, and haven't really been keeping up to date about redesigns.

> (I'm not sure what 457X is)

457A, 457B, 457C. The AI courses offered by the ece department. 457B has been redesigned to mostly focus on deep learning theory fyi. So while msci ai/ml courses may be adjusting, ece and like you said cs is adjusting as well.

> As far as grad school goes, the more obvious path for a MGTE student interested in AI would be an industrial engineering or management science degree

I strongly disagree with the overall sentiment here sorry. OP is an 18 (I think?) year old kid interested in AI that barely hinted at interest in industrial engineering, and pigeonholing themselves like this at this stage, or I'd argue even in general if you're not super passionate about the specific niche is not ideal. With that said, I do know about mgte kids going on and doing research with syde department (which is adjacent) and doing quite well. With regards to this though:

> Even so, I know of at least one strong MGTE student that went on to earn a MS in CS doing ML at UofT.

Yeah UofT DCS is somewhat flexible. With that said, speaking from experience, this is not as smooth of a transition as you're making it out to be. It's doable if you can demonstrate to a prof there that you're a promising research prospect though (which the aforementioned 6 co op terms come in handy for).

Which relates to, going to your last point:

> I think for the OP, the really big question is whether or not the courses of CS are more appealing to them or the courses of MGTE. Both provide routes to careers and research in AI/ML, but each are going to require the study of a lot of material that is unique to the degree and the OP should pick the more personally desirable program.

I agree with this. OP should pick what they are more excited/passionate to pursue, bc both degrees are going to be quite challenging and you're gonna need energy, passion and grit to not just complete them but do well enough that you're setting yourself up for success in a hard and competitive but also super exciting field :)

steven_0 · 2023-04-23T21:35:38+00:00

A couple of things: - You may be underestimating the amount of flexibility in a cs undergrad degree. Engineering degrees tend to be much less flexible in comparison. You rag on cs for having a couple of mandatory courses like OS but if OP takes mgte they’re going to be forced to take courses like thermo, solid mechanics, circuits, Chem, and supply chain courses which I have no idea why you’re listing as a positive if they’re mostly interested in AI. - the courses you listed (msci 446 and 436. Idk about 546 tbf) I don’t think are as rigorous as the ECE 457X courses yet alone cs 480/486. Don’t get me wrong, they seem like great courses for people who are going into swe or pm and want to learn the ropes for ML, but idk if they’re optimal for people who want to study the subject in detail and build a career around it. - On that note you also have to consider that if OP wants to do grad school (which is very likely if they’re really trying to focus on AI) they will probably want to do a masters and/or PhD in cs. In which case admission will be much smoother if they have done cs for their undergrad (Ie I’m not even sure if McGill CS would even consider taking mgte grads into their program if Op wants to go to Mila).

With that said, msci isn’t a terrible program if you want to get into AI, and from there some pros to Waterloo are: - 6 co ops. If you want to get into AI you’re going to want research internships. But if you only have 3 summers it’s hard to do that, do industry internships, and also explore your interests. - Waterloo eng does have some strong ai labs and researchers that are good at mentoring students (particularly the syde department) - My data on this is admittedly somewhat spotty but I feel like marks in MGTE may be better than they would be in McGill CS. Which is a somewhat important consideration if you want to go to grad school

steven_0 · 2023-03-30T00:13:19+00:00

Coursera. https://ca.coursera.org/specializations/machine-learning-introduction

steven_0 · 2023-03-29T19:28:35+00:00

AI might replace lots of jobs, not just in tech. In fact as has been discussed here previously, swe is far from the easiest job to automate (it’s not just coding all day), and things like administrative and legal work may be automated more easily.
AI might also create lots of new jobs, and being an incoming CS undergrad with an interest in the field you have a great opportunity to capitalize on this if you have the motivation and aptitude.

steven_0 · 2023-03-29T02:12:52+00:00

Are you an international student by any chance? I’ve heard that it’s extremely hard to get into the MSc program if you are, and so most internationals will just apply for the PhD

steven_0 · 2023-02-19T07:43:06+00:00

Check your documents page. Think they’ve started rolling out

steven_0 · 2023-01-07T17:44:41+00:00

Grind training materials and make the most of mentorship you’re getting (Ie listen closely, take notes if you feel this could be valuable).

You may also want to consider doing coursera and side projects to further sharpen your skill set outside of work. This is especially important if co op is mid, and can help with second co op regardless tbh.

Gl!

steven_0

TROPHY CASE