A.I. researchers are making more than $1M, even at a nonprofit

>But pure fraud? If you didn't even make an attempt to learn on the job? You'd get caught pretty fast as soon as someone started asking any kind of in depth questions about the models you were supposed to be training.

That's just what I mean. It would depend on someone asking you about it, right? (As opposed to being an iOS or Android developer or running microservices on the backend: in those domains nobody has to ask you anything, it's instantly obvious if you're not building and can't build anything.)

For machine learning, who is asking these questions?

If you throw data into a black box (3 lines of code) and are incompetent, can you please tell me a bit more about where you would get found out?

Let's use your example, ecology.

I show up, I get a dataset, and I put it into tensorflow using three lines of code I copy from stackoverflow.

I lie and bullshit about the details of what I'm doing, by referencing papers from arxiv.org that I don't read, understand, or actually apply. It's just the same 3 lines of code I copied on day 1. I don't do anything on the job.

How long could I last? An hour? A day? A week? A month?

Assuming I am outputting 0 useful work. I'm not doing any machine learning. Just 0 competence, or I make something up by hand or in excel.

I am trying to understand how people are judged.

Parks: check Google Maps for anything that's a splotch of green and just go to it. Local parks are free, county & state parks often charge a $5 admission (frequently not enforced). Most of them are pretty good. BAHiker.com has a good guide to state & county parks, Google Maps has pictures and reviews on local parks.

Events: Google [$city events] or check out EventBrite, Johnny Funcheap, or SFGate & the Mercury News's events sections. Also look for flyers when you visit your local downtown area, or check out the local library's website (they often sponsor a lot of fun stuff like storytime for kids or Star Wars Day). Many of the peninsula towns sponsor things like classes, swim lessons, outdoor movie nights.

Socializing: the Bay Area has a thriving Meetup scene, but tbh I've never made a friend that stuck through public Meetup groups. Had much better luck with staying friends with former coworkers, and with paid activities (gyms, courses, music lessons, kid stuff, etc.) Google is your friend here; Google [$activity near me] and you're almost certainly going to find something. Because the Bay Area is both wealthy and densely populated, it's a magnet for really good instructors: aside from the aforementioned Krav Maga gym (KravZone in Sunnyvale), there are 3 world-class gymnastics gyms (West Valley, San Mateo, Airborne); a mandolin orchestra (SF Mandolin); some hardcore cyclists (have seen them riding over the mountains in a group occasionally); and many other activities.

For mom's groups: there're some that are just organized over Facebook (oftentimes by invitation - if you get plugged into the parent networks you often find out all sorts groups), some that are public, and some that are organized through local non-profits (eg. Blossom Birth or El Camino Hospital). I'd probably start with a for-pay class to meet people (folks are often more committed in the for-pay classes, and it draws from a social class that is more tightly networked) and then ask them if they know of other resources.

Museums & amusement parks: the big science ones are the Exploratorium and Cal Academy in SF, the Tech in San Jose. Smaller science ones include Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Monterey Bay Aquarium, SF Aquarium, and Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz. Kids ones are CuriOdyssey in San Mateo, Happy Hollow in San Jose, Junior Museum in Palo Alto, the Discovery Museum in San Jose, and Gilroy Gardens in Gilroy. Amusement parks: Great America in Santa Clara, Raging Waters in San Jose, Children's Fairyland in Oakland, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and Six Flags in Vallejo. History & general interest: Egyptian Museum in San Jose, Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Maritime Museum in SF, the Hornet in Alameda, and probably a few others. There are also 3 railroads that my kid loves (Billy Jones @ Vasona Park, which also has a carousel; Roaring Camp @ Henry Cowell Park; and the seasonal Train of Lights between Fremont and Sunol), and most of the local parks have splash pads that he really enjoys.

To what degree did you enjoy the process of learning, collaborating, teaching, writing, experimenting, and so on? I'd wager you did enjoy some or many of these... otherwise, it might have been a long slog. :/

Maybe the following story can convey part of my message. You might have seen movies about a wily protagonist villain (or a flawed, tenuous partnership between several) who meticulously plan to steal some priceless artifact from some nearly-impregnable facility. What drives such people? I don't think it is purely money -- there would be alternatives that would, rationally speaking, generate more income, on a risk-adjusted basis. In the case of the ninja-suit wearing infiltrator(s), I'd argue they fundamentally enjoy the process (the preparation, the planning, the deferred gratification, the meaning). Perhaps the same is true for people that pursue and complete a Ph.D. -- some get a decent financial payout, but on average, I don't think the degree made them better off financially compared to other alternatives (e.g. holding together some rotting infrastructure with bailing wire). They value the title, the activities, the identity, the community, the kind of work they do.

Seeking a job only for money doesn't really endow much meaning -- (Please, don't take this as an endorsement to go off and work for some harebrained startup when you have better options. :P) -- though I think there is plenty of meaning even in the mundane (e.g. rearranging JSON) to be found if you open yourself to experience (e.g. books with dragons about parsers).