2022 Reflections

This year was a year of chaotic growth. It also marks 1 year since I started my ML journey - looking back it’s incredible seeing what I’ve built in such a short time. I’m pumped to see what I can build in 2023.

Here’s a list of my learnings of 2022:

There is life beyond your bubble

For years, I followed the herd. I stayed on the traditional path: Get good grades. Go to a good school. Get a 9-5 job. I thought this was the best pathway to success in life.

After travelling outside of Toronto, I realized I was wrong. My worldview shifted drastically. I no longer saw life as a linear journey along a predetermined path. And I quickly learned that my classmates weren’t the coolest people in the world.

At Boston, I was at Harvard for a hackathon final. I learned that:

• you could have impact on the world, NOW. I always thoguht there was some prerequisite I had to meet - grades, degrees, years of work experiene, etc. - before I could do something that could change the world. I was wrong. I met some insanely driven people who were doing amazing things outside the classroom. I realized the Internet gave me so much ability to reach people beyond my classroom, my program, my school. I just wasn’t using it.
• I had to take ownersihp of my time. School (engsci) was a big time sink because of an insane workload. It gave me very little time to explore my own curiosities. The people I met during my trip were intentional with their time - they skipped classes remorselessly if it meant they TODO . They inspired me - I transferred to a major that gave me more freedom, took more risks doing things outside the classroom, and learned to prioritize the neglected important things again (physical health, family, and sleep).

At Montreal, I attended my first ever conference. I learned that:

• asking was powerful. The conference tickets were $900. But by pitching myself and asking executives at companies to sponsor my ticket, I was able to get it for free. My former self could never have thought of this - fear of rejection and failure would have stopped me from even trying.
• actions spoke louder than words. Employers, CEOs, Founders, and Investors cared way more about what I’ve built/could do than my credentials (the school I went to, my grades, etc.). I now understood the real valuation of my “prestegious” degree. Presteige is bullshit.
• networking was essential. Job opportunities were abundant face-to-face than through online recruitment pipelines - this made me rethink all the advice I’d received from upper-year mentors. I also quickly realized how important it was to be able to sell yourself - I’m planning on taking on a sales internship sometime in the future.
• there’s success beyond school. I dipped my toes into startup culture: I met renegades my age doing mind-blowing things while not attending college. From founding startups, doing research, building communities, hosting conferences, or meeting celebrities, the lives they lived were full of intensity and upwards momentum. At first I was uncomfortable. The fact that success could come from such a young age felt like cheating. It felt unfair – that I was slaving away at school on the grind while these kids had the audacity to run successful companies. I quickly realized the resentment came not from them, but my own self - I was so inured and conditioned, so hopelessly dependent on this traditional idea of success, that I was coping seeing those succeding differently.

At LA, I attended my first ever tech week. I learned that:

• I should never put someone on a pedestal. Putting people on arbitrary pedestals based off their past achievements led to inauthentic relationships and dynamics as I got to know them. I saw them as my greater, involuntarily putting myself and abilities beneath them, leading to them learning a different image of me (from who I really was). This year I want to be as authentic as possible.
• there’s a lot of problems to be solved that I don’t know about. I visited Hadrian (manufacturing automation company) and their new facotry in LA. I quickly learned just how many problems there are in the American manufacturing/hardtech supply chain, the magnitude of these problems, but also the number of opportunities in this area. I would have never learned about this in school.
• I should think deeper about my beliefs. I lived with some of the most thoughtful fun people. Being surrounded by them led to amazing conversations. I’m super grateful for my hosuemates, particularly Brett and Anshul. Over the week, I really questioned why I believed certain things. I learned to rely on Socratic reasoning. It was on the plane ride back home I decided to reflect, creating a list outlining some of my core beliefs. I’m hoping to finish it this year.
• sunlight is important. My skin cancer-hypochondriac-self hated staying in the sun for long periods of time. But after a week in the sun, I never felt physically better and happier. Other factors likely had influence (good food, socializing with great people, etc), but a large increase in sun exposure was the most noticable.

At Austin, I attended my first tech community retreat. I learned that:

• a safe space for ideas is essnetial. 1517’s Santarchy Ball was full of contrarian speakers, many of whom would likely get “cancelled” for their views. I realized how important it is to have a group of people and place where ideas can be expressed and challenged in a healthy manner. I also realized how important it is to have differing opinions to prevent groupthink. Moreover, I learned to not be afraid of sharing what I believe. I now actively play devil’s advocate in many group conversations, willingly becoming a contrarian voice. Despite it rocking some of my relationships, it’s helped strengthen others - it’s been a good litmus test to see the open-minded friends you should keep around you.

The Matrix is real

• Your beliefs are not really yours: going down the rabbit hole of challenging my beliefs, I realized many of my opinions were just regurgitations of the popular/politically correct opinion. 12 years of my life in a public school education system gaslit me into thinking there were objective answers to contentious topics, and made me recklessly dehumanize opposite believers. These “objective truths” included: “pro-choice or else you are a misogynist”; “climate change is the biggest problem for humanity”; “support increasing minimum wage or else you don’t care about poor people”; “capitalism bad, socialism good”; “trust the science or you’re an anti-vaxxer”; etc. I began unlearning everything so I could rebuild my opinions from fundamentals and critical thought. Bias was unavoidable, so my solution was to consume as much as I could from all sides. Consequently two things happened: I gained better understandings of both sides of the aisle on most political topics. Unfortunately, I’ve also become terribly confused on what/who is actually right.
• Decentralization is important: people in power have agendas to retain centralized power. I began viewing centralization as putting your eggs in one basket - if they fuck up, it’s a BIG fuck up. Last year I realized that the actions of many powerful groups, governments, and organizations in the past several years (draconian lockdown policies, censorship, etc.) were terrifying. I used to meme on crypto/web3 nerds, but I now realize the underlying importance for decentralized systems. Moreover I think the technology (looking past the noise) is actually really cool.
• You MUST think for yourself: I feel a lot of cringe when I think of all the dehumanization and hatred I had towards people with unorthodox opinions. I won’t let that happen again - I won’t let others tell me how to think, tell me who to love and who to hate.

The faithful will be rewarded

• Stick to one thing for a long time: after hopping around different research foci in 2021-mid 2022, I had an epiphanal conversation with a friend: I came out of it understanding the reward to investment ratio is exponential. Although hustle culture glorifies chasing the new shiny (at the time of writing, generative AI), for the things I want to pursue (high quality research), it’s better to listen to your gut and heads-down focus on one thing for a long time.
• Persevere, persevere, persevere: seeing Messi and Argentina win the world cup meant a lot to me, beyond just a championship. I followed him for 12+ years, seeing his biggest failures at the 2010, 14, and 18 world cups; and the 2015, 16 Copa Americas. It really put my failures and thoughts of quitting on my goals into perspective. Greatness will always come to those who keep trying.

Family above all

• It’s the only thing that really matters: seeing my dad for the first time in many years and discussing my future/the family’s future made me think deeply about what matters. Time with loved ones is limited, so I’m going to take extra care from now on to cherish it. Moreover, beyond my career, my definition of success includes creating a strong family. It’s a shame to have no one with you at your deathbed, but even more a shame to be the end of your bloodline.

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Happy New Year everyone.