How I Got a Job at DeepMind as a Research Engineer (without a Machine Learning Degree!)
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2024
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In this video, I share my story on how my journey to DeepMind looked like.
I cover some details of my background story, how my ML curriculum looked like, how to get a referral for a top-tier company such as DeepMind, and finally how my final preps looked like.
⌚️ Timetable:
00:00 Intro - I landed a job at DeepMind
01:11 My story
07:16 ML curriculum
14:57 Landing an interview at DeepMind
17:34 Final preps
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#deepmind #engineering #job
It's always refreshing to hear how many times one may need to fail to eventually get where they deserve to.
We may think the path to our destination is a straight line, but it's just knocking to whatever number of doors, until we find the one that we can open.
Also, it was (somehow) surprising you failed the DeepMind interview for being later rerouted to (still?) DeepMind.
Thanks for sharing your story.
I think we all can learn much from our experience.
Thank you Alfredo! Glad to have you here.
Yeah it was funny, I failed the last interview, and since it was more about the team alignment than tech skills they just rerouted me to another interested team. Can't share the details but I think it was more noise than signal that got me rejected in the 1st place. 😅
I think that shows something wrong with the way the society is organized, though. His 'failures' mean, that many times companies failed to recognize his talent.
You won't believe how inspiring you are for me. Thanks a lot for making this video. Some takeaways:
1. You going the extra mile implementing papers from their original authors.
2. You open-sourced the implementations.
3. Contribute to existing Open source projects.
4. Re learn the fundamental of : ML, Statistics, CS, Math.
5. For interview: Learn technical interview, learn the interviewers works.
The result is that you have a thorough understanding of how the techniques (graphML, GAN) works. For me, the first step would be to watch ALL your videos. Thanks!
Thanks a lot! I am very very happy to hear this. Good luck! 🙏
I think the studies are also somewhat important as a base (as he says, hardest faculty in Serbia and electrical engineering/computer science studies). ML Scientists/Engineers mostly have a mathematics or computer science background. Getting a position as a Researcher in the field of ML without a PhD is quite hard, even if it's an engineering role. That's a big accomplishment and shows that he knows a lot about that.
I have watched the video, but I did not get this point: "implementing papers from their original authors". What is meant by that? Turning the theory described in a paper into code (if the original authors did not provide any)?
Anyways, congrats! 🎉 Beste Grüße aus Deutschland 😄
Inspiring! Thank you for sharing your journey!
Rejection can be devastating (as I know firsthand). Thank you for sharing both the ups and the downs!
thanks for sharing your story it really motivates me when i needed the motivation to start my AI/ML learning & career path !!
I remember reading your blog on medium when I was reading about research scientists at Deepmind, a few weeks ago, and your hard work is inspirational, to say the least. All the best!
Wow Aleksa, this video found me at a really good time, thank you for taking the time to talk about your journey. Currently in my second year of college doing Business and Computer Science, and wow I really relate to your journey. Have been really interested in ML for a while now but it's such a big and scary field for a kid like me. Was almost going to give up but came across this video. Was really encouraging to hear that the process to your dream job is rarely ever linear and that good things usually take time. Thank you Aleksa for re-igniting my curiosity in ML and showing the rest of us that this journey might be tough but definitely possible :-)
Thanks for sharing your story. I am amazed by your passion for learning and technology, your preparation, and doing it properly by not skipping steps.
Hello Aleski, while I have absolutely nothing to do with your field, I found myself captivated by the methodology of your increasing your knowledge in 2 to 3 Macro units. Which involved several micro cycles of inputs and outputs. If you have more blogs or videos on that process I'd love to read them. Thanks for telling your story. Trevor from 🇨🇦
Randomly stumbled upon your video and started watching...not expecting you are also from Serbia. :) I'm also currently doing research in AI but for astrophysics. Cool video. Good luck with your work!
Hey Aleksa! I am heading to my final year in college (Computer Science) and I have decided I'm going to do everything I can to work for an AI research company like Deep Mind someday. Your story has given me the confidence I needed. I hope I can come back here in the future and share my very own story. Cheers from Brazil 🇧🇷
I am cheering for you man! Tudo de bom pra você mano. 🙏
@@TheAIEpiphany que legal!
Very inspiring story! I also started studying Electrical Engineering, now work as an AI Engineer. Your other videos are quite helpful as well. Thanks for sharing all these great things!
Your always very technical and inspiring in all your video. We glad about your new appointments and it only emphasizes how valuable the knowledge and tips you share on your channel.
Thank you Paul! Those words mean a lot.
Very inspiring. I shared your medium post with my older son and want him to learn from you.
Wow this is really motivating, thank you for sharing your story. I have very similar career interests so this has been very helpful to listen to!
Thanks! Always happy to see that people find it inspiring.
A really good, inspiring recollection and presentation of your journey, Aleksa! Just started following the channel, looking forward to more of your content 🙂
Thank you man! Welcome 🙏
thank you sir for this video, it was very nice and inspiring for me personally, hope i get to work at deep mind some day too
this just motivated me. thanks for sharing this.
Wow, only just discovered this guy. Love the candid honesty and valuable information, subscribed! Looking forward to learning more.
Thank you! More coming soon. I just relocated to London so that's why my upload scheduled is a bit disrupted atm. 😄🙏
@@TheAIEpiphany, good luck with the relocation! Excited to see your latest videos. Part of the notification squad. 😎
Aleksa, thanks for this amazing and inspiring story.
I'm much older than you(I think), but I wish I've seen this years ago when I was struggling to plan what to do to get accepted to grad school or a company.
I'm doing masters in AI now, possibly specialize in RL.
I'm amazed at your dedication/discipline/hard work to achieve what you set for.
I guess one needs that much consistent work to participate in the best company in the field.
I'm feeling really proud of you Aleksa. You have the passion and you do put in the hard work. You deserve it. Cheers.
Thank you! I wish you all the best as well!
@@TheAIEpiphany Congratulations man, I love this channel. I second Simon, well deserved.
Thanks Aleska for the great videos, I came to your channel because of the VQ-VAE paper explanation... it's not very easy to find authentic and knowledgeable content. Although how impressive the end goal you reached is (getting into DeepMind), what's most impressive to me is the long journey you have traveled to get there (all the micro/macro cycles, projects, read papers aside from performing in the full time job, while keeping balance in other aspects of life: how did you do it? Haha).
I'm currently working as a ML Engineer / Researcher in a startup, and I'm witnessing how frustrating is to convert research into comercial products sometimes, specially when results don't come perfectly... Big inspiration, please keep the good content! Cheers from Colombia!
Wow, that took a lot of effort! It was nice to learn about it.
This was extremely helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your path. Could you please do a follow-up video talking about the various interview questions that you have gotten that you failed on? Thanks!
Very useful content Aleksa. Sharing your interview experience with DeepMind more elaborately would be great. Just each-round and the typical type of questions asked. This will give a very concrete model for all of us preparing for this type of roles.
Thank you! I'll keep that in mind.
Thanks for putting this together. Really helpful and inspiring.
Glad you like it!
Great video, thanks. I really liked the insight on how you structure your learning with macro and micro cycles especially the input/output idea. It would be great to have more insights on how you structure your day/week/month to reach your goals. I personally have a hard time to balance it with a full time job and I understand everybody is different so it might be hard to apply your schedule but having more info could be at least inspiring :)
Thank you! It's a bit more complex on longer scale, lots of randomness as I am figuring stuff out along the way. 😅 I'll try and make some video on this topic of time management and planning.
So inspiring! It just motivates me a lot! Thankyou for this video:)
🙏🚀 Super glad you like it
Really inspirational! I also appreciate that you are so transparent with the rejections you got before landing this dream job. The process of applying for jobs are certainly not something I enjoy, and are dreading once I’m leaving academia. although it is those periods when applying for positions that I have learned the most both technical knowledge and social knowledge.
Thanks for all your great content!
Thank you! 🙏 It is annoying, nobody likes it, but you learn what is needed and you push through. Good luck!
Hey Aleksa,
Thank you for sharing your journey. It is very inspiring.
I am also a machine learning engineer and you are one of my favorite people in this field.
Hi Abhijeet! 🙏 Thank you! Keep going!
Congratulations! I am new in ML,and was worried about whether I chose the right direction .
Your youtube video gave me a lot of view about preparing ML.take care!
Thank you Yei, good luck to your as well and take care.
You are a huge inspiration. Good luck at Deep Mind! 😁
Thanks Erik!
Thanks for sharing your journey transparently, it gives a lot of hope.
🙏 Cheering for you
Great video and your story is one of a truly exceptional individual. Congrats man. 😀
Thanks Nick!
Congratulations and Thank you so much for sharing your journey surely it will help many
That's the hope!
You're so inspiring man! I'm so proud of you! This is crazy story! Congrats!!! 🎉
Thanks man! My first Patreon here everybody. ❤
@@TheAIEpiphany Keep building the amazing audience! This channel is gonna be huge! ❤
@@dzimiks Thank you! To the moon! 🚀😂
Thankyou Aleksa, your a true inspiration for people like me who aspire to join research positions in major tech companies like DeepMInd, Google, etc.
Thank you for your kind words! 🙏 Good luck!
Awesome story, really inspiring.
Awesome video!!! As a 20 years-old student these tips are invaluable to me!
The 3 key lessons I take away:
1. Keep learning and following your own curiosity
2. Do 1. relentlessly since you cannot connect the dots looking forward.
You never know how one particular subject could change your life later on
3. No matter what your background is, you can learn and achieve anything you want if you have patience, passion and persistence
Thank you! You got it. Just make sure that you don't start doing things just because "you may need them in the future". 😄 Do some random search here and there in your life - you never know what you may find.
Number 2 is very true. I did programming as an 18 yr old trying to make an app, a year later it failed. I thought I wasted all that time, and started pursuing a biotech degree. Skip forward 2 years and I'm an undergrad earning 80k/yr + equity by implementing programming in biology. They wouldnt have hired me if it wasnt for me pursuing that app idea years ago.
@@mangarific1 Nice story, thanks for sharing!
@@mangarific1 amazing!
Muito legal que você esteve no Brasil! Esse é o primeiro vídeo que estou vendo do seu canal e gostei bastante. Mais um inscrito de Natal/RN - Brasil :)
Bem-vindo amigo! Sim, e ainda tehno muitos amigos la (morava no Ouro Preto). Gosto muito do cultura brazileira e do povo.
Faz muito tempo que eu não falei essa idioma maravilhosa, mas ainda posso falar. 😅😄
Thanks dude for sharing your experience so good !
You're welcome! 🙏
You are amazing and inspirational , excellent video
Hey Aleksa; first time watcher and loved the vid. New sub for sure. I am also a later bloomer trying to get into AI/ML. I come from a kinesiology and science based background so i get the idea of using discipline and training (nice reference to macro and micro cycles) to study and prepare. I am doing backend work for a startup now but some day would love to be in a position similar to yours. Keep up the good work!
Glad to have you here, thank you and keep going! 🙏
Nice and informative story Aleksa. Thank you
Thanks! 🙏
You will surely succeed in anything you put your mind to. So inspiring!
We'll see about that! 😄 Thank you, I know I'll try my best. Good luck to you as well!
Good to know that you have been here in Brazil 🇧🇷! Love your videos, and I also wanna work in a big tech company doing ML.
Loved the country. Morava no Ouro Preto e ainda tenho muitos amigos lá.
Legal! Eu moro no estado do Pará, estou me formando em engenharia de computação.
You did a great and very elaborate job man. You deserve getting this position
Thank you!
What an awesome story, congratulations! Stay on your grind :]
Thanks Troy!
Inspirational story right here ! Never give up !
Love when people find it inspiring, thank you. Definitely!
I’m a data scientist for a Fortune 500 and I love your videos explaining dense research papers
This video has breathed a new wind into my sails, and I eagerly await to see where it takes me. I hope we meet in the future. Take care of yourself...samo napred ;)
Hvala na lepim recima i samo napred! 😄
Congratulations ! Wish you great future ahead!
Thank you! I wish you all the best as well!
Thank you very much for inspiring me and advices. Hard work!
🙏 Don't forget the "smart" component when working hard! Also planning your breaks and vacations is crucial - you want to avoid getting into burnouts. GL!
@@TheAIEpiphany Thank you
thank you this a huge help... im also a self taught ml student.. RESPECT SIR
You got this man!
Dude, very impressive!
Brate cestitam! Sve najbolje!!
Hvala, hvala! 😄
Thank you very much for sharing our experience with us. I always thought one needs a qualification in machine learning to get into the top tier ML companies.
🙏 You do need to show some exceptional work - that doesn't have to be a degree per se! Be creative.
There are people out there who have done tremendous work (like Chris Olah) without any degree.
Great video, really admire your drive and discipline.
Thank you David!
Big congratulations!
Thank you!!
Really inspiring story! What are your current research projects in deep mind and how should one approach research in general as often times there is no deadline. Another suggestion ,would be to invite any and all of your deep mind colleagues to give a talk anytime their paper is released. Understanding the core intention of the author would be very insightful.
Thanks! I just moved to London, my 1st day will be on December 6th. I'll keep you posted stay tuned.
True that, I am also advising people to write an accompanying blog that would explain the paper without the silly 10 pager limit, with visualizations, interactions and stuff.
What an inspiring story. Growing up in Greece and then Albania, I can completely relate to your hardships. Pressure makes diamonds though, and sky is the limit.
Exactly! The sad thing is many of them crash before they become diamonds. We need to work on bringing equality of opportunities to as many people as possible.
Completely agreed. Also most of the curriculum students are being taught is school is completely outdated and its hard for them to catch up in industry later on. At least some of us who made it can help, and bring back as much as we can to the least fortunate ones. Good luck my friend and wish you the best in your career!
@@XShollaj Thanks man! I wish you all the best as well!
Hey Aleksa! I'm a high school student here in South Korea who recently gained huge interest in ML (and your journey through the ML field).
Although I am pretty much impressed by the breakthroughs DeepMind (and all other huge AI companies) have released, I have little information on what kind of work engineers like you actually do in DeepMind.
If possible, it would be great if you could share what you are currently working on in DeepMind, or what other domains (biology, mathematics, etc.) would be helpful in those works.
Wish you all the best!
Woaw congrats !! Hard work always pay !!
Thank you! If it was smart enough yes! 😂
So inspiring! So proud of you...
Thank you Sara! 🙏
Passion and always recovering after tripping :) great story!
Exactly! Tenacity is the discriminating feature oftentimes I'd say.
This video is awesome. Basically work smart, and hard.
I came here just after reading on linkedin that you are leaving DeepMind for your projects/startup/future plans .... so I suppose there is a vacancy for a research intern.
Jokes aside, hearing your story really inspired me and gave me a direction to follow 🚀 Thanks a lot!
Hey man, you're such an inspiration. You are the proof that hardwork + passion are valued by top notch research institutes.
Thank you! 🙏 They value different things the main thing is - it's a form of meritocracy.
First of all heartiest congratulations! Hard work and dedication you have putted over this years you truly deserve and I have similar goal as to become AI research currently I am prefinal year undergraduate in electrical engineering and I was surprised after listening to your story as you went from very similar path and then make transition in AI and how much you have learnt in AI over this years is inspiring for me...Again congratulations and thank you for sharing your story you have no Idea how it meant for me hope in future if I will apply in Deepmind we will work together
Thank you!!! I wish you all the best with your efforts.
2 tips:
1) Never give up(tenacity)!
2) Work smart & hard (if you feel you're falling behind otherwise give yourself some slack in life hahah (depending on how ambitious you are))
And I am sure you'll progressively get whereever you want.
@@TheAIEpiphany Thank you!!! I will remember it
I remember when I met Aleksa in 2017 at an AWS meetup. He was already very passionate about software development and he recommended me some resources on the topic speed coding. He seemed very inspired to accomplish great things in life. It's awesome to see this ambition come to fruition!
Wow! Long time no see. 😄 Thank you!
@@TheAIEpiphanyhey that's interesting. Can you share the resources of speed coding ? I'm currently learning programming from home. Thank you!
Would love to see a follow up video with more about the interview content, different types of interviews you had, want went well and what didn’t etc. :) If you feel comfortable sharing
Thanks for the feedback - if I get enough requests I'll consider doing it sooner rather than later hahah 😄
Dude great work!!
Thank you! 😄
Thank you, so much for sharing your experience, 🙏
🙏
Well deserved Aleksa, most of us generally share our success and refrain from failures, but the way you depicted/portrayed your rejections is really amazing. All the best for you work at Deepmind. Hope to join you there someday.♥️
And yes thanks for the GNN playlist. I was looking for a similar resource to go through.😃
Thank you! Lots of people experience an inferiority complex because we're always served a distorted picture of reality. This is my small contribution to making it real and transparent. Glad you like it!
Thanks a lot...really helpful ideas
Thanks!
Bro, your videos are so damn inspiring to people without strong backgrounds or degrees. I have to say you showed me what I need to do when I can't get a dream job.
Just keep working and keep a long time horizon! Things never happen over night. GL! 😄
Hey Aleksa, congratulations for your position at Deepmind. I am an undergrad cs student who is struggling extremely hard with research and was about to quit for good. Your story gave inspiration to me to get back on track and keep moving forward. I will try my best to be able to work for companies like that of deepmind someday. Thank you so much.
Never give up man. Start with baby steps - apply for a company that's a bit out of your league and work your way from there. Good luck, I'm cheering for you!
@@TheAIEpiphany Thanks man ❤
Thank you for sharing your story. I am a Bio Major in my 2nd year and interested in ML applications in Biology. Your story really inspired me to keep pushing towards pursuing a career as a Deep Learning Researcher. 🤗
Glad to hear that. I'm excited about the potential apps of ML in the biology research. I am especially excited about the longevity research.
@@TheAIEpiphany Hmm I did some searching on DL + Aging reversal studies looks quite interesting. I am currently doing a project in my college to use autoencoders for metadynamics. Do you know what sort of research is currently happening in Biology where I can utilize my domain knowledge?
@@kshirsagarabhayshrikrishna8665 Graph Neural Networks are utilized heavily because of all the molecules and relational reasoning that's required. Start with GNNs I'd say or transformers as well.
@@TheAIEpiphany I see I'll definitely check out the research going on in GNN. Thanks
Hello Aleksa, inspiring video. Thank you so much.. I was wondering what computational resources have you used to implement your projects. Thank you again!
Wow, truly inspiring path! The way you managed to gather and share knowledge (and in that way process the information you are learning even better) is the most optimal and almost machine-like 😂 Admirable really.
Are the "macro cycles" your original idea, or you got that from some book/video/other source? Could you share some resources on that, I'm very interested in trying it out myself ?
Well, I'd be reluctant to make any claims on the optimality of my approach hahaha - but it worked!
The terminology stems from the strength training lingo, but the concept itself is universal - you chunk bigger pieces into smaller ones. The input/output part may be "my original invention" but again I might have been subliminaly influenced. 😂
I can really relate to the first part of your story. Respect for your perseverance. I am curious how did you passed the burnout ( if there was any). In my attent to get as much knowledge as possible ( as a self learner) I often get my self tired.
Congratulations, very well deserved! :)
Thank you! 🙏
Very Inspiring , thanks for sharing
You're welcome man, take care!
Awesome video! Subbed ✌️✌️
Wohoo, welcome! 😄
You are inspiring!
Congrats buddy!
Thanks!
Excellent.
Thank you :)
You're welcome!
Comprehensive. Suggestions he gave are absolutely true.
Word. 🙏
Good video. Thanks bro
Thanks! 🙏
Congratulations bro, you deserved it 😊
Thanks man! 🙏
You deserve it and you are an inspiration for me ✨🤍
Thank you! 🙏
I refer back to this video on the reg and share it often. Sage advice from Aleksa.
Congratulations your amazing bro 😎
Thank you! 🙏
Inspirational ❣️
Thank you! ❤
Very inspiring.
Awesome Aleksa! Greetings from Badalação 🇧🇷
Say hi to all of the guys there from me. ❤ Obrigado mano!
You're Awesome. Congrats :)
No you're awesome! (spiderman meme kicks in)
It would be great to hear how do you find novel papers to research and about the process of implementing them. Great video! Thank you
I'd start by finding experts in the field, I'd search through their Google Scholar page and find the most cited papers. Or just find some blogs mentioning the papers from that subfield.
After I had the pile of papers I'd go chronologically and prune or add new papers as I was learning what is important and what is not. If you notice some authors keep popping up on many good papers you look up their Scholar page and find their papers.
Those are some ideas.
@@TheAIEpiphany thank you! 🙏🏼
Bravo, Aleksa !
Thanks!
Really interested in an extended version of this video. So much stuff to learn and prepare for. A while ago, I attended a UA-cam sales pitch for "preparing you for an interview at Google, Facebook, etc". Right away, I realized that this is like going back to serious academic study. While as I like it, I remember taking a class at BU and working full time. I was sleeping 4 hours a night again. Just not ready to to that again. Maybe over vacation, I should be more proactive and learn this stuff.
It definitely takes a lot of commitment. But I never sacrificed my sleep, never ever. That's going to ruin your productivity during the day.
Thanks! I'll make at least one more video on this topic in the following months. Good luck!
@@TheAIEpiphany You are a better man than I am!
hey! wouldn't mind seeing a video on some tips and the lessons you learned on how you implemented projects ! : D
Thanks man I'll keep that in mind!