By Owen O’Neill –
Last Autumn, Dr. Haytham Assem delivered a talk for the ML-Labs bootcamp about the machine learning field and research. I got a chance to discuss things further with him as part of the ML-Labs industry interview series. Haytham’s resume speaks for itself: Forbes 30 under 30 in Europe for technology, youngest master inventor in IBM history, PhD in AI from Trinity College Dublin and 35 patents. Naturally, he had some great advice to share for students and professionals alike.
Math is key: All machine learning is powered by complex math and stats concepts. Haytham explained that the fundamentals come up all the time in industry and how important it is to fill in gaps in your knowledge.
Keep your ears open: Machine learning has been constantly evolving since Haytham started his career. New developments pop up every week, so it’s really important to stay up to date. A nice reading list of blogs that Haytham likes are linked below.
Use the right tool for the job. Haytham likes Python’s speed and ease of use, making it a good all-rounder. He uses it all the time for running experiments and reproducing results from academic papers. When it comes to production in industry, however, C, C++ and Java are better options.
Haytham’s Reading List
https://d-lab.mit.edu/news-blog