Goals - 01/08/2024

Personal Learning and Development Goals

In my experience, I have found that curiosity and imagination are a driving force behind learning and developing skills. Being interested in a topic is largely overlapped by what makes me curious. I often find that the most enjoyable, and impactful, learning experiences are those that involve myself asking many questions. Being curious towards a topic and using my imagination to create approximate understandings of how it may work internally is a great source of questions. I find myself using these questions to guide my early learning of a topic, slowly refining them as my understanding builds. This gained knowledge through asking questions, and sourcing high-quality answers through research on the questions, helps to provide a layer of background knowledge when the process of gaining hands-on technical knowledge begins.

For example, using an LLM chatbot like ChatGPT may lead to questions such as:

• “How does the bot remember what I messaged last time?”
• “Why is the bot wrong sometimes/weak in certain aspects of responses?”
• “What technology/research was used to build this system?”

Exploring these questions will slowly lead to a foundation from which hands-on knowledge can be gained.

Goal 1

Specific:
Read and analyze research papers in the field of large language models, machine learning, and natural language processing to gain a comprehensive understanding of the field and the cutting-edge ideas being applied. Use resources such as in-field experts in the workplace to gain clarification on tricky subjects/ideas.

Measurable:
Read and summarize at least two research papers per month, totaling 12 papers over six months. Document key insights and learning points from each paper in a research journal alongside how the contents of the papers may relate to my current work.

Attainable:
Dedicate 5 hours per week to reading and summarizing research papers.

Relevant:
Enhances self-learning and keeps knowledge up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field, fostering connection-based learning.

Time-Bound:
Complete the goal of reading and summarizing 12 research papers within 6 months.

Goal 2

Specific:
Take initiative to pick up new projects outside of my current knowledge base, focusing on areas such as model evaluation, synthetic data creation, and model training. This will help to push me from my comfort zone and learn by doing.

Measurable:
Successfully complete at least three mini-projects in these areas, each with a documented project plan, execution steps, and final outcomes.

Attainable:
Allocate 60% of my time to working on these projects, seeking guidance from mentors or online resources as needed.

Relevant:
Encourages self-learning and expands expertise into new domains, fostering curiosity and innovative thinking.

Time-Bound:
Complete multiple projects to expand my knowledge base and maintain a clear journal of events in the process.