tl;dr - the hiring processes in tech get more and more interminable every year.
I am super happy that I am retiring soon. The hiring process these days just sucks.
Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
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Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#12This article is why I see LLM's as a dead end and not real AI. LLM's are somewhat useful for things related to language. LLM's are a decent search engine. But LLM's are not AI.
They’re not AI. But a plural of LLM is LLMs, not LLM’s, unless you’re of course Dutch.
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#1318 month job hunt is pretty rough, I get that he really wanted this but for most people with "normal" lives outside work this would be a very risky move.
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#14My last job search 2 years ago took me 9 months of grinding while working full time at Big Tech and +15 years of experience. After loops with ~30 companies I ended up with about 6 offers. The offers were all over the shop. Some places downleveled me to mid level while others upleveled me. The comp range was about 3x between the lowest and the highest. Also I couldn't find much of a pattern on the processes and outcom…
Were most interviews focused on DSA and System Design still?
2 years ago, for sure. Every programming interview I had pulled problems from LC. Admittedly it’s quite hard to not, now the database is so big.
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#15>A learning hack that worked for me was getting YouTube Premium, which allows for downloads and background play, and then listening to these videos while going for a walk
you can also research about youtube-dl/yt-dlp (and using an ad blocker)
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#16I'm not sure why the OP is using that word: he is working for a (for-profit) company, not at a "lab".
> Mistral AI SAS (French: [mistʁal]) is a French artificial intelligence (AI) company headquartered in Paris.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_AI
I'm not sure why "lab" is being used for all of these companies in this space. Is it an attempt to sweep their money motivations under the rug, or something else?
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#17I'm not sure why the OP is using that word: he is working for a (for-profit) company , not at a "lab". > Mistral AI SAS (French: [mistʁal]) is a French artificial intelligence (AI) company headquartered in Paris. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_AI I'm not sure why "lab" is being used for all of these companies in this space. Is it an attempt to sweep their money motivations under the rug, or something else?
I don’t think the word lab inherently implies anything about profit motives. Only the focus on frontier research
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#18This article is why I see LLM's as a dead end and not real AI. LLM's are somewhat useful for things related to language. LLM's are a decent search engine. But LLM's are not AI.
How would you define AI? It seems they can do a lot of useful things. They are very good for processing language and I find Claude Code to be a better coder than a lot of human programmers.
What I mean to say is that AI encompasses a lot more than just LLM's, and that LLM's in general are a dead-end technology. People think that LLM's are going to keep getting better, but I doubt that they will, they have probably already peaked.
In general I consider neural networks to be a dead-end. But they are still considered to be under the AI umbrella.
The fact that they hired the guy who wrote the article, confirms to me that there is no substance behind LLM technology. It is a waste of time and energy.
Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#19The article is somehow even more insufferable than the title.
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Re: Becoming a Research Engineer at a Big LLM Lab
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would you define AI? It seems they can do a lot of useful things. They are very good for processing language and I find Claude Code to be a better coder than a lot of human programmers.
What I mean to say is that AI encompasses a lot more than just LLM's, and that LLM's in general are a dead-end technology. People think that LLM's are going to keep getting better, but I doubt that they will, they have probably already peaked. In general I consider neural networks to be a dead-end. But they are still considered to be under the AI umbrella. The fact that they hired the guy who wrote the article, confi…
Maybe LLM will be to AI what dial up was to the internet. It’s a start that gets things going and attracts investment for better things.