What does a DevRel advocate do? - DSBoost #9
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What does a DevRel advocate do? - DSBoost #9
Welcome to the 9th issue of DSBoost, the weekly newsletter where you can discover exciting people in the ML/AI world, get the main takeaways of a relevant podcast, and stay up to date with the latest news in the field!
💬 Interview of the week
This week we interviewed Shubham. Enjoy:
What did you study/are you studying?
I did my bachelors in Information Technology and then pursued an AI fellowship program at Plaksha Technology Leadership Program in collaboration with Berkeley and Purdue.
Plaksha Tech Leaders Program is a one-year, post-graduate, residential program, in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, and Purdue University, with an annual intake of 60 Fellows after a rigorous process of scholastic and behavioral assessment.
The first-of-its-kind TLP interweaves Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) with real-world design & systems thinking, product development, and leadership to create impact.
My experience at Plaksha TLF and how it enabled me to start my career as a data scientist.
What are your favorite resource sites and books (ML/AI)?
Here are my top 3 AI books recommendation:
“Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach” by S. Russell and P. Norvig
“Foundations of Machine Learning” by M. Mohri et al
“Deep Learning” by Ian Goodfellow et al
What got you into your current role (portfolio, certification, etc.)?
Currently, I am working as the Head of Developer Relations at Tenstorrent, where I am responsible for building the ML community around our hardware specifically designed for AI.
Before that, I worked as an AI evangelist for an OpenSource startup Jina AI where I co-authored the book Neural Search - From Prototype to Production with Jina.
Along with that, I have also co-authored a book on GPT-3: The Ultimate Guide to Building NLP Products with OpenAI API, which acts as an introductory guide for anyone looking to venture into the world of LLMs.
I got into my current role of DevRel and AI evangelism through my books and social media presence, which led me to work and get involved with the AI community closely.
What do you enjoy the most in your work?
Developer Relations is a relatively new and exciting field in the tech industry that focuses on building relationships between a company and the developer community. A DevRel advocate is a bridge between a company and its end-users or developers, understanding their pain points, helping them solve their problems, and providing feedback to the company to improve the product or service.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working as a DevRel advocate is the opportunity to meet new people and learn from them. The AI community is vast and diverse, and there is always something new to learn, whether it's about the latest AI tools and technologies or about the different applications of AI in various industries. Meeting and networking with like-minded individuals in the community help me gain valuable insights and knowledge.
Another enjoyable aspect of the job is the ability to work with end-users and understand their needs. As a DevRel advocate, one of the main responsibilities is to listen to the end-users, understand their pain points, and communicate them with the internal team to ensure that the product or service is meeting their needs. The ability to make a difference in the lives of the end-users and contribute to the improvement of the product or service is very fulfilling and satisfying.
What tools do you use the most / favorite tools?
Here are my 5 favorite AI tools:
ChatGPT/GPT-4
tl;dv
Zapier
Airtable
Supermeme
Do you use ChatGPT or other Al tools during your work? If so, how do they help you? Do they change your approach to problems?
Yes, I use ChatGPT for pretty much everything that I do in my work. It helps me automate repetitive tasks, provide answers to common questions, and even generate content for various purposes, such as writing reports, summarizing data, or creating marketing materials.
It also helps to identify patterns and insights in data that would be difficult or time-consuming for me to find, which leads to better decision-making and more efficient processes.
It definitely changes my approach to solving problems by allowing me to focus more on higher-level tasks that require creativity and critical thinking rather than spending time on routine tasks.
What is your favorite topic within the field?
My favorite topic within the AI field is Large Language Models (LLMs), which are powerful tools that have the ability to generate human-like language and assist with a wide range of natural language processing tasks. LLMs like GPT-4, ChatGPT, and GPT-3 are incredibly useful for applications like natural language processing, language translation, chatbots, and more.
The advancements made in this field have enabled us to build models that can understand the complexities of natural language and generate text that is coherent and contextually relevant.
Another reason I find LLMs interesting is that they have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with machines. With LLMs like ChatGPT, we can build chatbots that can converse with humans in a way that feels natural and intuitive. We can also use LLMs to automate tasks like content creation, text summarization, and more, freeing up time for humans to focus on more complex tasks.
Which one of the recent AI/ML models will have the most significant impact on the industry in your opinion?
GPT-4 is expected to have even more advanced capabilities than its predecessor, which has already demonstrated impressive performance in natural language processing, language translation, and other AI applications.
GPT-3 is already being used in various industries. With GPT-4, we can expect even more groundbreaking developments, such as enhanced language understanding, better reasoning, and more advanced applications of AI and machine learning.
Furthermore, GPT-4 is likely to open up new possibilities for research and innovation in the field of AI. Its advanced capabilities could help researchers to solve more complex problems and create new applications in fields such as medicine, finance, and engineering.
What are you currently learning or improving (topics you are interested in nowadays)?
I am currently learning about the multimodal capabilities of large language models and how user-centric applications can be built and deployed on top of it. Idea is to have a template to deploy multimodal applications in a matter of days, given the idea!
What is the biggest mistake you've made? (preferably DS related)
One of the biggest mistakes that I made early on in my DS career was to rush to the solution without fully understanding the problem.
For example, One time, I was tasked with improving the conversion rate of a website. At an initial glance, I thought the problem was related to the design of the website and quickly started making changes without first analyzing user behavior data or conducting user research. Those changes didn’t had any positive impact and in fact made the problem even worse with a further decline in the conversion rate.
After that, I took a systematic approach to problem-solving focused on first understanding the problem and pain points by talking to the stakeholders, analyzing the data, and then getting to the root cause and generating the hypothesis!What is your most significant achievement? (preferably DS related)
My top three achievements are as follows:
Co-authoring a book on GPT-3 (GPT-3: The Ultimate Guide To Building NLP Products With OpenAI API) and seeing it trend as Number #1 NLP new release and bestseller on multiple occasions on Amazon.com
Co-authoring a book on Neural Search (Neural Search - From Prototype to Production with Jina)
Starting and growing my weekly AI newsletter Unwind AI to 4k+ subscribers.
Can you share a fun fact about yourself?
Humor and sarcasm come naturally to me. So I can make people laugh and pull their legs without even trying!
🧵 Featured threads
🤖 What happened this week?
Now it is possible to teach Stable Diffusion to model something in 3D just with a few photos thanks to DreamBooth3D. You can also modify the model with text!
Discover ReBotNet, a tool capable of enhancing live streams and video conferences in real time. Truly impressive!
Bing Chat is now able to generate images!
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, was interviewed by Lex Fridman, you can check it out here.
👥 Under the radar
Hi there! I'm RS Punia, a passionate Python software programmer with a keen interest in computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
I enjoy analyzing and visualizing data and building projects with Django and React. In addition to my programming skills, I also enjoy sharing my knowledge with others via social media. I often share about Python fundamentals, Quizzes, Machine Learning, and AI, as well as object detection & tracking algorithms.
My programming journey began in 2011 with HTML, CSS, jQuery, and JavaScript, but I later shifted to C and C# before finally settling on Python in 2016. With my diverse skillset and passion for learning, I strive to contribute to the programming community and help others grow in their own programming journeys.