My First Tiny Dream
Hello World! This is my first post.
A Long Academic Journey
My name is Weiqin Yang. I earned my Bachelor’s degree from School of Computer Science and Technology, Shandong University. This September, I will begin my Master’s studies at College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University. During my Master’s program, my research will primarily focus on recommendation loss and Large Language Model (LLM) recommendation.
The academia is indeed a long and arduous journey, and the competition is fiercer than ever! Despite having completed three works during my undergraduate studies (with two published and one under review), the “old-wave” are forging ahead, and the “new-wave” are surging in – the peer pressure is relentless.
A truly outstanding AI/ML Master student should aim to publish at least six first-author papers during their three years of research, with at least one of these being a highly impactful work (e.g., 100+ citations in 3 years or Best/Outstanding Paper Award). The numbers may seem daunting, but this is the stark reality of our field – while it is also my personal goal.
Interestingly, I’m not entirely certain about pursuing a Ph.D. – yes, even if my research outputs are impressive. You should always strive to engage in work that is intriguing, enlightening, and enjoyable for you. In other words, you need to make sure you’re contributing something meaningful to the field. If you don’t even know what’s novel about your work, or if it doesn’t help you “know something”, then what’s the point? Our goal shouldn’t be just to publish papers (rubbish), but to uncover the exciting discoveries that lie behind them. If we can’t achieve that, then there’s no compelling reason to stay in academia.
Finally – this might sound like a broken record to those who know me well – anyone aiming to produce significant work needs a solid foundation in both mathematics and programming. During my master’s studies, I hope to learn as much math as I can. To what extent? Perhaps, there is no end. This is my passion.
Bring on Something Cute!
