Career development direction: artificial intelligence algorithm engineer (REC)
Counterpart majors: artificial intelligence, information engineering, electronic science and technology.
Big coffee introduction
After working in Huawei for many years, Li Changlu found that interest is very important for a person's career choice and development. He said that the real interest is to seek challenges and gain a sense of accomplishment, not to escape pressure. The more challenging things are, the more I want to go up instead of choosing easy things.
In this way, he is willing to help students who want to enter the electronic information industry, and thinks it is a very meaningful thing.
The following are the main points of the interview:
No. 1
Pointing to the North Star: Please introduce your occupation?
Li Changlu: When I first joined Huawei, my position was called Big Data Scientist. Now my name is more AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithm engineer.
I am now doing the application of artificial intelligence in the network, and the "automatic driving" of the network. With the increasing complexity and scale of the network, we need to use artificial intelligence technology to provide a better solution-automatically maintaining the network through programs and using network resources more efficiently.
Polaris: Your study experience and work experience?
Li Changlu: I graduated from Chongqing No.8 Middle School. I was admitted to the Communication Department of Electronic Engineering Department of Nanjing University. My major was recommended by my high school teacher. Teachers think this major is good for employment and high income. I majored in signal and information processing when I was a graduate student. During my master's and doctor's degree in Chinese Academy of Sciences, I began to contact and conduct research on artificial intelligence.
I was responsible for the research of human-computer interaction system in the early stage of graduate students, just in time for the advent of the mobile Internet era. The computing power of various smart phones and mobile terminals has been developed. The terminal behavior data is very important for user behavior modeling, and the terminal also has a lot of content and data of user interaction with content, so I gradually turned to the fields of data mining and artificial intelligence.
I joined Huawei as soon as I graduated and worked in Huawei for 6 years. I have been doing data mining and artificial intelligence. But they all belong to partial application research, and the research direction is based on the needs of applications.
second
Point Polaris: What do you think is the biggest motivation to support you along the way?
Li Changlu: I think I still have to do what I like, really.
Although our industry is relatively hot now, the overall income level of the industry may be higher. But I didn't expect this when I did it.
To tell the truth, I never thought about making a lot of money or anything. Moreover, any technical direction, even any industry, will not develop forever, and it is possible that it will not make so much money in the future. But I will continue to do it in this direction.
So the most important thing is interest. Interest is not something you are comfortable doing. The real interest is that you will seek challenges and a sense of accomplishment in it, not escape from pressure. The more challenging things are, the more you have to go up, instead of picking up easy things to do. In this way, your heart will be more solid and peaceful, and your spirit will be more positive, sunny and full of vitality.
third place
Pointing northbound: where can the electronic information specialty develop?
Li Changlu: In fact, there are many very popular fields, which used to be the general direction of electronic information or signal processing, such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) image recognition, which is very popular now; There are also those who are very popular now, doing voice; Even in the field of chip semiconductor, it can be incorporated into electronic information engineering.
Therefore, there are actually many directions for the development of electronic information engineering undergraduate major, and some subdivision directions will only be chosen after graduate students. Of course, some undergraduates make choices, such as joining the teacher's project team, or participating in some subject competitions and innovation competitions themselves.
At the same time, it is very important to learn basic courses well if you want to do this industry. Only with spare capacity can we pursue higher goals.
fourth
Polaris: Do you like your present job? What qualities do you have that enable you to do your present job well?
Li Changlu: I should say at least 80 points. Because I like to study abstract things, this is a realistic problem, to abstract and summarize its elements and the logical relationship between them.
I participated in physics competitions in high school, which is a way of thinking and will be trained and improved repeatedly in the process of physics learning.
The reason why I chose to do physics competition at that time may also be related to my thinking habits since I was a child. I like to think deeply about the logic behind things and the fundamental laws behind things.
So when I was a sophomore, I strongly urged my tutor to change my current research direction. Before I changed my direction, my graduate life was very painful, because I was not interested in the previous embedded research and was not good at it. After I changed my direction, although I was two years behind others, and my doctoral degree was under great pressure, my whole mental state was different, because I became happier and more energetic after going deep into this field.
Fifth place
Zhi Beixing: What major do you prefer when enrolling students in your industry? What is the salary level?
Li Changlu: I think it mainly depends on the needs of business development.
For example, our department is the application of artificial intelligence in the network. Maybe we need talents in traditional communication networks and some talents in artificial intelligence. If we do cross-research at school, we also need it; Including math, we also need some. According to the work needs of each team, it does not mean that the whole company will be biased towards which one. In fact, our company has all kinds of specialties, from making bottom chips and microelectronics to making applications and making top ecology.
In terms of income, we generally only recruit master's degree or above, and the annual salary of graduates can be above 30W. Of course, the upper limit is uncertain. For example, the talented teenagers reported before have an annual salary of 2 million, but they are all doctors.
We don't recruit undergraduates very much, because they still need some time to accumulate theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
Sixth
Polaris: What capabilities do you need to develop in this industry?
Li Changlu: The initial stage mainly depends on your technical ability and solid foundation.
There are still differences in the value orientation of R&D works at home and abroad. After you have achieved a certain position in China, you must have an insight into its commercial value, not purely technical research.
All the research we do points to business opportunities, so you should have the awareness and ability of marketization in the later stage and be able to gain insight into business opportunities.
Do research and development work to keep curiosity, have judgment on new technologies, dare to try and make mistakes, and be the first person who dares to eat crabs.
Seventh place
Refer to Northbound: What suggestions are there for students who want to engage in this industry in terms of schools and regions?
Li Changlu: In the field of electronic information, Chengdian (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China), Xi Jiaotong University, Tsinghua, Southeast University, Huake and other engineering colleges are all very good.
With artificial intelligence, the South Congress is very good, with famous teacher Zhou Zhihua and many excellent young teachers. Some undergraduates from Peking University and Tsinghua came here to study for graduate students.
Geographically, first-tier cities such as Beishangguangshen and Shenzhen are definitely better, and cities such as Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan and Chengdu are also very good. You may have more opportunities for career development, technology accumulation, joining excellent teams and meeting excellent peers, which is helpful for your career development, technology accumulation, broadening your horizons and even raising your income level.
No.8
Zhi Beixing: What advice do you have for middle school students who want to pursue this career?
Li Changlu: My suggestion is that you should choose what interests you.
Don't be interested in it because it makes a lot of money or because parents, teachers and neighbors envy it, but because you really like it. In fact, besides AI (artificial intelligence) and electronics, there are many things that can make good achievements and earn good income, right?
Make a choice according to what you are good at and what you really like. You don't take learning as a burden, not to get high marks, but also to study for further study. If you have a good time, that's especially good. If you feel this way, I strongly recommend that you choose this major.
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't do it without this feeling. There is a degree of matching between people and things, so we don't have to ask too much for perfect matching. It is a good choice for most people to choose a fairly matching business and study hard. What's more, many times we need to overcome the initial stage of painful adaptation, and only when we get started can we find the feeling of meeting each other late. Interest is not always innate.
But if it's because of parents, because the uncles, aunts and teachers around you think this thing is good, but you are not interested, you may even feel a little contradictory, uncomfortable, or mentally burdened. For example, if you do this for half an hour, you have to rest for two hours to recover; While doing other things, you can do it for eight hours, and you only need to rest for half an hour, so you feel very comfortable. Then I think we should think it over.
When choosing a career direction, we should also consider more grand factors. We should consider the development of human society, the development of national undertakings, and the path of personal practice throughout life. To make your life valuable and have goals on the road of struggle, you should devote your life to a bigger trend or career, and to the pursuit of up and down. In this way, when you face some hardships and some grievances and setbacks, you will be more tenacious and indifferent.
After so many years, I always remember the opening speech of President Hao of No.8 Middle School, which was to the effect that "your life should bloom like fireworks". We will always meet some such people on the road of life. They are very bright and will light up the starry sky of people around us. I am lucky to have such teachers and classmates around me in middle school. They helped me to know the world and love it.
I hope that when you are teenagers, you will meet the person who holds the lamp for you.
Special thanks: Li Changlu.