June 2017 Updates ~ memoirs and reflections

I've recently started working at Dell. My official title is "Systems Engineering Intern", but I am basically doing benchmarking on server setups with machine learning algorithms. The pace of working at a large company is much slower than it is at MIT, and the work is easier. Therefore, I've been spending a lot of my free time reading about anything remotely cs related, and as a result I've improved my knowledge of the field.

So what have I been reading? I discovered the morning paper, a blog that summarizes cs papers. I also follow hacker news when I'm sick of reading about technical things. Also I forked the coding-interview-university github repo and have been following links of whatever interests me. While doing all this, I look up concepts I don't understand and spiral from there.

One thing I've realized from work is that I'm not as interested in machine learning as I thought I was. It's such a black box and it takes so long to train. I don't feel like I have any control over what's going on. Not to mention in its current state machine learning is not artificial intelligence; it's data science. On the other hand, readings about the stalling development of Intel processors, container ecosystems, and cloud computing have inspired an interest in distributed computing. With hardware speed advancements slowing down, it's likely there will be a lot of progress in this domain in the next five years.

For the last couple of days, I've been working on a Google chrome extension that replaces my Facebook newsfeed with Hacker News. I'm sick and tired of Facebook. I've tried removing the app on my phone multiple times, but I'm so addicted to the site that blocking it is counterproductive. Therefore, I decided to replace it with an equally addicting, but less stupid site: Hacker News. I just published the extension on the chrome store, which you can download here.

Something interesting about workflow is how fast time would fly by when I am stuck while working on the extension. Instead, I realized that if I walk away and go do something else, somehow I would magically know the solution when I come back. It's like my subconscious works in the background to figure things out, and I will try this *spacing time out around thinking* technique more during the school year when I work on hard problems.

In other business, I've began working out because I'm frail and I'm starting to see cellulite on my legs. I began with running a mile a day for around a week, and gradually added more exercises. Yesterday, I spent an hour at the gym and ran one mile, did 80 squats, 200 hip thrusts, and 60 10 second leg raises, not to mention various other stretches that I was too lazy to quantity. Exercising has given me a lot more energy and my legs are getting stronger.

Also, I've been partaking in various events around Austin with a group of friends. Last week, I went to a poetry slam at a bar, which was interesting because I heard issues including rape, racism, and abortion spoken through real people. The experience really legitimized these issues for me. Among other things I've done, which includes kayaking, dinner on a lake, blues on the green, and seeing the Texas capitol, I went camping with my roommate and another friend at the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We spent the day hiking and gazed at stars at night. It was a very surreal experience.

I guess I will end this post with some pictures that I took. Enjoy!