We want to build systems that can generalize to a new task. Being able to do things with much less data and with much less computation is going to be interesting and important.
Jeff DeanRead
It would be great to have every engineer have at least some amount of knowledge of machine learning.
Interpretation
Engineers should be knowledgeable about machine learning to enhance their skills.
Jeff Dean emphasizes the importance of machine learning knowledge for engineers, suggesting that even a basic understanding can significantly improve their expertise and adaptability in a technology-driven industry. This highlights the need for continuous learning and staying updated with emerging trends in engineering fields.
In practice
During a tech conference, I shared this quote to stress the importance of continual learning in engineering.
We want to build systems that can generalize to a new task. Being able to do things with much less data and with much less computation is going to be interesting and important.
Previously, we might use machine learning in a few sub-components of a system. Now we actually use machine learning to replace entire sets of systems, rather than trying to make a better machine learning model for each of the pieces.
Some people are happy to work in a particular domain or some field of computer science for years, and years. I personally like to kind of move around every few years, just to learn about new areas.
I like working in small teams where people on the team have very different skills than what I have and that banter back and forth, and the ability to build something collectively that none of you could do individually is actually a really useful and valuable thing.
Supervised learning works so well when you have the right data set, but ultimately unsupervised learning is going to be a really important component in building really intelligent systems - if you look at how humans learn, it's almost entirely unsupervised.
There's no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student's achievement, and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers. But here's what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Parents more focused on their children's education can also make a huge difference in a student's achievement.
History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.
Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory... In this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom.
Children will go with any story as long as it's good, but white adults sometimes think that if a black child's on the cover, it is perhaps not for them.
Nothing under the sun is greater than education. By educating one person and sending him into the society of his generation, we make a contribution extending a hundred generations to come.
It's such a thrill when an adult comes up to me and says, 'I read your book as a child and really loved it.' That's a tremendous compliment.
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