Rocky Ding

[Gift of Time] The years when Rocky first encountered AI

write in front

[Gift of Time] column focuses on sharing Rocky’s story & stories in time

Hello everyone, my name is Rocky.

This article is the second article in the "Gift of Time" column. The first article was written the year before last. Rocky couldn't help but sigh that time flies by, and sometimes it seems difficult to distinguish the true from the false in those accumulated memories.

When Rocky thought about the title of this article, many memory fragments emerged in his mind, such as the curiosity when he heard the first AI term, the excitement when designing the first cat and dog classification model, the sense of accomplishment when launching the first AI project, etc. wait. It is the time and stars in the tide of these times that always make Rocky laugh dumbly at those tired moments and continue to move forward on the vicissitudes of life .

Focus on the present and look to the future, but yesterday has passed forever. Welcome back to "the years when Rocky first encountered AI".

So，enjoy：

go back in time

At the age of 19, Rocky waved his hand and said goodbye to his hometown and came to Beijing. What I didn't expect was that it would be 7 years since I left.

Rocky came to Beijing to do only three things! Read books, start a business, and improve your cognition .

In 2014, it was still three years before Rocky entered the door of AI.

In the past three years, the Internet economy is still burning its last light, the "sharing" model has suddenly emerged, and the entire business market is very prosperous.

Rocky decided to try his hand at starting a business. In addition to attending classes at school, Rocky spent the rest of the time traveling around Beijing's 49 cities, participating in various entrepreneurial teams and entrepreneurial forums, and meeting all kinds of people and things.

Frankly speaking, the day-to-day routine at that time did not immediately lead to a leap-forward breakthrough in Rocky's cognition, but Rocky, who was "nostalgic" and "stupid", often reviewed and settled in the following years. , many things that I didn’t understand before were slowly understood; many methodologies and judgment logic were integrated; and the understanding of things became deeper.

Below, Rocky shares some of his core thoughts at that time to end his youthful years when he was drunk in Wudaokou, stayed up late studying at a fried chicken restaurant before exams, and had many brilliant visions:

Whether it is an entrepreneurial team from a top-level school or a group of entrepreneurial teams with great imaginations, whether it is a student entrepreneurship or an entrepreneurial team with rich work experience, success is an event with a very, very small probability, because the social system is complex enough . Interesting enough too .
It is still very valuable to come to Beijing to study. Beijing has all the elements for perfect cognition. As long as you can get out of campus and "travel around" while studying, you will accumulate a lot of prior knowledge for judging things.
While continuing to grow and improve oneself, Rocky thinks it is a very exciting process to find like-minded partners who are also growing and to move forward and develop together.
The Internet business model is an accelerated version of normal enterprise growth. It allows us to see clearly the essence of normal enterprise growth in a short period of time, that is, the overall structure of the enterprise (whether it is willing to spend money to recruit people, the vision of the founder, etc.), cash flow status , business status, upstream and downstream conditions, etc.

The wave is coming

Until 2018, the AI wave came.

Rocky was making a key decision in the 2010s and was very hesitant.

Due to Rocky's "dullness", "nostalgia" and "realism", Rocky will subjectively force himself to continue thinking, force himself to absorb the experiences and lessons from the past time dimension, and force himself to constantly listen to sincere and constructive knowledge from the outside world. and views.

This kind of logic often makes Rocky very excited when he first enters a stage of study (junior high school, high school, college, etc.). After a year, he may become boring, and after another year, he may be very anxious. Because of deeper thinking, many times the current environment can no longer provide effective prior knowledge or suggestions.

Rocky's key decision at that time was to continue his studies at graduate school? Or go directly to work? Which city should you go to for graduate school? Which city do you go to for work? At that time, Rocky did not have a good methodology to determine that these choices were critical, but his intuition and anxiety told Rocky that this was something that needed to be considered.

Along with anxiety and hesitation, the summer of 2017 arrived.

The summer in Beijing is hot and dry. To escape the heat, Rocky hid in the library. Coincidentally, many students from the computer science department were having an interesting discussion, and Rocky immediately participated.

“AI” “artificial intelligence” “machine learning” “deep learning” “computer vision”

The summer wind in Beijing is as cool and relaxing as ever, but the difference this time is that it also brings these terms to Rocky.

Rocky is very excited. The experience accumulated in the past three years has allowed Rocky to make intuitive judgments about AI. I think it will work!

Hello AI

The key decision that Rocky considered before can finally be made after understanding the development value and commercial value of AI.

In the fall of 2018, Rocky officially started his graduate career.

In the year before that, Rocky learned Python, took out the dusty C language textbook, and typed out a handwritten character classification model line by line. He finished the Xigua book with difficulty, and gave up on the Hua book after reading a few pages. And sold it to students in need.

It may not be because of the computer science class, but Rocky discovered that there are many types of technical knowledge, and there are many "intermediaries" between technology, business logic, and cash flow, so Rocky turned technology into a tool.

Rocky wants to know how Internet companies implement AI, what is the business logic of AI unicorns, how do traditional technology companies empower themselves with AI, and how do state-owned enterprises use emerging AI technologies?

With these questions in mind, Rocky started his internship journey for the next two years. Yes, Rocky is once again "traveling around" in Beijing's 49 cities.

It’s just that this time Rocky really enjoyed this time of running around, not only because he could gain work experience in the AI industry, but also because he was able to work in Xueyuan Road, Xierqi, Liudaokou, Zhongguancun, Xidan, Chaoyang Joy City, Xihongmen, and Sanlitun , Houhai seems to have left a mark on Rocky's heart.

During the day, he went to practice and in the evening he worked on projects in the laboratory. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Rocky would get on the youth tram 508. What brought Rocky back to his status as a student at night was the ringing of the evening class bell and the song "It's my turn" in the illuminated stadium. We’re on the field.”

Many years later, Rocky once reviewed that if he had not been "traveling around" all day long and had been "three points and one line" in school, then he might not have so much attachment to Yanbei.

Yes, Rocky decided to leave Beijing. After three months of intense interviews, Rocky finally finalized a formal job offer at the end of 2020. This was also Rocky's first key decision in the 2020s.

Different cities, different nature of industry segments, different company sizes, different intuitive feelings, and different reputations.

This time there was the same hesitation and anxiety, but the difference was that this time Rocky had to make a decisive decision, because in the long years to come, Rocky would have more and more responsibilities. After careful consideration and judgment, he decided to make a decisive decision . When we go up, our hands can't shake .

Below Rocky shares some time-tested decision-making logic. It’s time to keep that poetic era in mind when we first encountered AI, and then move forward bravely:

" Judge the company's development from five dimensions: company structure, business status, cash flow status, industry market size, and company atmosphere . ———— Rocky Ding (China)"

Company structure: The founder's vision and structure include whether he is willing to spend money to introduce talents, whether he is confident in the company's future business growth, the mental outlook of employees, the turnover rate of company personnel, etc.
Business status: What is the company’s product form? Are the company's products competitive in the industry? What does the company's performance growth look like?
Cash flow situation: Does the company have cash flow? Are the upstream and downstream sound? Have you been burning investors’ money? Are there ongoing layoffs?
Industry market size: What is the size of the industry segment in which the company is located? The industry market size determines the company's upper limit.
Company atmosphere: Is the company environment comfortable? Is work communication smooth? Does it feel right at first?

These five dimensions can be obtained from on-site visits, from the interview process and the behavior of the interviewer, and from objective external materials and risk evaluations, and finally get the answer.

exquisite ending

When I finished writing this article, many fragments of light and shadow from the old cycle flashed in Rocky's mind like a movie.

It’s just that the times we have experienced have become so strange.

Walking and stopping, the old days are dazzling.

This is about the hurried years when Rocky first encountered AI.

Rocky has been running a technical exchange group (WeThinkIn-Technical Exchange Group). The original intention of this group is mainly to focus on the discussion and learning of technical topics, including but not limited to algorithms, development, competitions, scientific research and job hunting. There are many big names in the artificial intelligence industry in the group. Everyone is welcome to join the group to learn and communicate together~ (please add the assistant WeChat Jarvis8866 to join you in the group~)