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Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

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Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#341

Post by ensan »

thfuran wrote: post #275
ensan wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ML is starting to fizzle out as a “savior” of the industry after lofty promises were never fulfilled." What? Siri, text completion, all the health- and activity-tracking features of Apple Watch, computational photography, Photos app, Face ID, and many, many more depend on machine learning. And let's not forget the Neural Engine in M1.

If anything, it's just ramping up in a lot of industries.

Especially in biosciences. But it’s probably the case that the hardware that Apple produces don’t use fancier methods such as DL/RL that much and depend on more traditional methods. You need capable GPUs for the state of the art stuff (e.g. DLSS by Nvidia).

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#342

Post by xvector »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #301

Some people are extremely sensitive to the issue of the remote work, like it is some kind of inalienable right, and any (perceived) threat to it makes them want to grab a pitchfork and proteat. I don't get it. Things are simple. The employer sets the terms, where you work and how the work is paid. The employee either accepts the terms or walks away. Sometimes the sides engage in negotiations, where the side with more…

Because we would all like companies to treat us like adults and let us work from home. Our company has done just fine with WFH - amazingly, even - but they want us back in the office because they fundamentally don't trust us.

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#343

Post by Hayvok »

buzzert wrote: post #146

I can’t help but notice the timing of this. ML is starting to fizzle out as a “savior” of the industry after lofty promises were never fulfilled. Goodfellow was hired right at the peak of ML hype, so I have to assume his salary/total compensation was extraordinarily high, so he was very expensive to keep around. Apple would’ve made an exemption for exceptional talent. They didn’t make the exception for him.

> Apple would’ve made an exemption for exceptional talent. They didn’t make the exception for him.

Mmm. Don’t count on it. Apple will bend a lot for you, but stuff like office location was never very flexible even before the pandemic. If your team switched offices to an inconvenient location, tough luck. Ultimately it was on you to adapt.

If you were a top performer and threatened to quit over it… well, Apple has a deep bench.

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#344

Post by wombat-man »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #301

Some people are extremely sensitive to the issue of the remote work, like it is some kind of inalienable right, and any (perceived) threat to it makes them want to grab a pitchfork and proteat. I don't get it. Things are simple. The employer sets the terms, where you work and how the work is paid. The employee either accepts the terms or walks away. Sometimes the sides engage in negotiations, where the side with more…

sounds like that's what this fellow is planning to do. I don't mind if companies want a return to office, but some of us don't want to go in if we can avoid it.

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#346

Post by xvector »

subpixel wrote: post #42

I told Apple I wasn’t interested in interviewing for a non-remote role based on their NYC office. I’m not an engineer who can work anywhere I want. And I’m confident that working at Apple would have an incredible positive effect on my career. Still not worth it. I’d rather find a local job outside of tech than get back on the office space hamster wheel.

Apple Park is the only hamster wheel I'd remotely consider returning to

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#347

Post by micro_cam »

holografix wrote: post #289
sodapopcan wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on my second highly-collaborative, fully remote team and I'm always learning a lot and challenged. You're "teacher's pets behind zoom calls" example is very oddly specific and not a thing I've encountered.

I think it’s to do with everyone getting along and working well as professional colleagues but not as a team . There’s little camaraderie though or sense of shared ownership. interactions are more transactional, deliberate, thought out. People maximise what’s best for their OKRs only. If this months it’s John on zoom or Jeff and if Mary was replaced with Sue, does it really matter? There’s a reason team events and of…

I believe this is a problem with OKRs more then with remote work. It is too easy to game the OKR process by choosing easy but showy OKRs, doing the bare minimum and declaring victory.

I've been remote for 10 years and before that worked on a bunch of distributed research teams and it is perfectly possible to have a highly functioning distributed/remote team that really takes ownership. I mean look at open source projects.

Further office culture tends to favor a bunch of young people who all live in the same city and have time to go out for drinks after work etc. I'll take a bunch of crazy odd balls scattered across the globe doing their own thing any day.

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#348

Post by wombat-man »

sys_64738 wrote: post #117
saddist0 wrote: post #61

I don't get the fuss about such posts. At the end of the day, it boils down to your personal choices. You love to remote work, find a job with a flexible work policy. You don't, well, here are another companies you would love to work for. Ultimately, markets (including job market) is all about equilibrium. Either companies are going to increase the salary to come back [or reduce if you are staying back at home]. The…

It's because he is so high profile and a visionary in his field at Apple. Or was. He is merely an early big fish swimming away so expect more as draconian old-school companies try to drag employees back to their cubes.

Wish we had cubicles. Nothing but big open offices at most places I know about.

Re: Apple's director of machine learning resigns due to return to office work

#350

Post by chrissnell »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #277

There are many reasons why someone might resign four years after joining. [Hint: RSU grants vest over 4 years.]

For any decent employee, those are refreshed annually with a new grant that has a new four-year runway. If you're a good employee, the grants grow in size.
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