I can't believe I held myself back from a lot of learning opportunities just because I thought I don't belong to CS/math conferences as someone who doesn't have an academic background
and nobody gatekept me but myself
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Glad that you realised it. Can you share from where have you started? Resources etc. as a person without academic background.
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The best accelerator for getting into academic circles and collaborating with academics is honestly reading a bunch of papers on what’s relevant to your interests and work, then contacting said authors for questions or discussions. 100% guarantee
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They love it when you're interested in their work! I haven't been brave enough to email yet, but Twitter has been so cool for saying hi to researchers in a more casual way, and to see the conversations are happening between them. It's weird when they start following you back 😳
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yeah I always feel weird about it, but it makes sense. outside connections with industry folks bring new perspectives. it’s a different pace of research, even if they are way more experienced. I guess it’s like mentoring beginner programmers, keeps you fresh
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Yeah, that's what I feel my role can be. I'm incredibly clueless and slow to understand some of this stuff (esp. when it gets more theoretical), but I hope that by interacting and engaging with the research I can help to build the bridge between academia and industry…
Some of the stuff researchers are working on is just so damn cool, and I really want to use it! And I don't want to have to wait 20 or 30 years! Just look at all the coolness at ICFP and the co-located conferences, it just makes me so excited:
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Ooooh so excited to watch some ICFP'21 presentations! Seem to be up on YouTube now! youtube.com/playlist?list=
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Like, how do we design, implement, integrate, and explain this stuff so it can be accessible to more programmers? And get more programmers to be excited by and feel empowered to engage with ongoing research? This stuff makes me so excited. Sorry if I am rambling though haha 😳