Week 47, 2021
I hate writing, I love having written – Dorothy Parker
I am writing a weekly blog after a very long break. 14 weeks long. Many things happened and this blog would be paraphrasing the last 14 weeks.
Work
Work has been moving slow. Since September, we have had 2 software releases of our product. I have been involved in developing algorithms for some of the features. One example is an algorithm for operating a group of battery systems (with or without solar) as a virtual power plant through openADR. I can’t be transparent about the rest of the ## work on this blog. My work mostly involves identifying and fixing bugs using data, communicating results with clients or answering their questions and concerns with eloquent visualizations.
Side Hustles
FourthBrain ML Bootcamp
I graduated from the Machine Learning Bootcamp at FourthBrain. Me and Tiziano got awarded the best capstone project award (we developed and deployed a web app for the use of the fraud investigations team at Ibotta to identify and bar fraudulent accounts from their app). The bootcamp covered everything under the umbrella of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Thanks to it, I now have a clear insight on the technical feasibility of machine learning models and where we cannot stretch ML models too far. From my experience so far in the energy industry, the only area I believe sophisticated ML can provide a good value proposition is in energy trading. For the majority of the applications that drive value, a simple arithmetic formula can do the job and any subsequently complicated ML models are past the point of diminishing returns. Even outside the energy industry, it’s not as good as it seems. Most of the financial industry uses very basic ML like linear regression which is nothing but y = mx + c. The places where ML and AI really practically shine today have no positive impact on humankind according to me. To give you an example, Facebook (now Meta) uses ML for attention harvesting to sell more ads. Google does the same. These companies have taken this technology too far. Fire was a great technology when invented. You can use fire either to cook your food or burn down your house. ML and AI applications are approaching the burning down phase.
CEEW Engineering
My other side hustle with CEEW didn’t progress fast in the past 3 months. We completed the Bus Shelter Assessment web app and presented it in the competition. The organization was placed 5th nationally. The person who I was reporting to is leaving CEEW soon and hence we haven’t been able to start a new project. I am staying put for now. If any interesting project comes up, I’ll resume working there. If not, I’ll look to volunteer or intern with another Indian company. My goal is to spend 2-6 hours a week growing my professional network in India and hopefully make a good name for myself while helping companies achieve what they want. “Doing well by doing good”
Books
These past 14 weeks were great for reading. I finished the following books
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker | Kevin Mitnick
Internet of Money | Andreas Antolopous
The psychology of Money | Morgan Housel
The Innovator’s Hypothesis- How cheap experiments are worth more than good ideas | Michael Shrage
Benjamin Franklin | Walter Isaacson
I am currently reading the biography of Benjamin Franklin written by Walter Isaacson. I am 10% in and thoroughly enjoying the book. I hope some of his characteristics rub off on me and help me rise above myself.
Fitness
My focus on exercising was dwindling until this month. Thanks to my apple watch, I have been recording each of my workouts. I looked at the data and realized I am falling behind in all aspects – Cycling, Strength training, Yoga. That accountability gave me some motivation and I have been able to pick up exercising – mostly cycling.
This week was Thanksgiving break. Me and 2 other friends took advantage of the holidays and biked over 50 miles on the mountains in the North bay. We started from my place and came back from the Pantol car park which is just 2 miles short of the peak of Mt. Tamalpais. I was supremely exhausted but I had 2 days to recover from it. That bike ride gave a boost of self confidence to get over the laziness mentality. I hope only sky’s the limit for fitness for the months to follow.