December Delta

Archived from occybyte.com/resources · 2024-01-08

I’m really digging machine learning. I’m taking too it like””well, that analogy wouldn’t be appropriate. The unfortunate thing is that I’ve always been more of an entertainment and experiencing type of person rather than a”¦ what problem will you solve, or would you like to solve type of person.

The last professional work experience I had was building training simulations inside of VR mainly for this companies strategic growth team””which””all that meant was I was building customized courses for people to use to train their employees using nothing but a starting environment and a few pop-out art assets with no functionality at all.

Projects with that Company

So, what I had to do was””figure out a baseline, make a gameplan of how things would work””then bug my manager for access and references, but I basically””cough””was given his credentials to start up projects because that was the level of trust that was given. Otherwise, I’d have blockers because he was swamped and I’d have to wait on him. Anyways, I prided myself in making sure it was as 1:1 to real life as can be and that’s even the wire placements.

If a training module had like 100 interactable wires””they all had to be positioned and tweened. The two biggest projects I worked on had like”¦ both had minimum of 15 different unity scenes. The longest probably had 70 procedure steps and I wish I were joking. It was more tedious and boring than anything. The most engaging task that I had was that 2nd project where I had to make”¦

This things functional circuit board. Which fun fact: it uses a dummy ghost asset for the light blinking when displaying an error code. I learned how to read wiring diagrams too. The button-pressy part was kind of like this:

Each ‘LED’ char display had like”¦ at least 10 different states which I couldn’t just copy and paste for the dummy “˜ghost’ asset. SO, like “˜tSt’ would blink on and off, I emulated that but disabling the normal one and re-enabling the ghost one, and repeat like”¦ three times. Long story short, it was fun: I documented how it works and even highlighted the important parts in the inspector.

Afterwards? Machine Learning? Close”¦

Kinda. I was let go in January. So, that’ll almost be a year now after December. I up-skilled””expanded my knowledge of C#“”by an alarming degree. I found out about ChatGPT pretty fast and the idea of generative text is basically something I’ve fantasied about. Now, to complete that fantasy””I want to also be able to write using only mind. Brainstorm a whole book””a play””Okay, I’m going on a tangent.

I learned about Prompt Design and Engineering””Did quite a lot of prompt jailbreaking early; I noticed if a lot of text is just copy pasted in””it would overload it somewhat too. I probably would have been super depressed without but hey, it allowed me to create a Unity game in two weeks””purely the logical part and I learned how dictionaries work even more. I created a mobile game where you can play hangman using binary, multi-tap number-pad and just standard text input.

Some time after that I jumped on another project with someone. Learned I really, really enjoy active collaboration. I learn so much more””I then on my own and with the help of GPT. Integrated like two different unity plugins together. Created my own with GPT””but it was super helpful in helping me out with the logic. Before 2023, I was able to quite a lot of interviews. In 2023? My callback rate dropped drastically.

In 2021, when I first graduated: I was able to get an interview from Hypixel and Beenox””I actually went through four stages with Beenox. In 2022? EA Maxis, Jadu VR, Owlchemy Labs and some others. This year?

My resume sent to callback percentage is so low. I did have an interview with EA again, but this time with Madden ”” EA Orlando, I would have relocated but stuff happened. I also had a panic attack during that interview. The recruiter was so great too””surprised I wasn’t picked up by anyone. After that? Thirdverse with X8””I did a design test that was”¦ so much fun and no NDA. Before that? I interviewed with this French Game Dev who worked from this Saudi Arabian mobile game company. Which I looked at their pitch deck and all””I was disqualified before I even had a chance due to the time zone but the guy”” whose a lead game designer. Actually mentioned that my level of knowledge / skillset was pretty much up there with his.

Which””I’m still not over that compliment. Yet? Like two other studios decided not to go forward with me because I didn’t meet the minimum of 2 years of experience and only had 1.5 professional years of experiences. (The least my old job could have done was let me go a month before or after my 2nd year there)

Then there was this other start up company here in the states. I was terrified but I needed a job; it seemed sketchy due to the email address not being for the company but it was that company. That was a whole”¦ mess”¦ I did really great in the first three rounds. There was three or four more to go, I mentioned: well, it’s better if I just show the rejection I got after mentioning””I’m really happy that communicating is emphasized and it’s a small team.

To preface, I usually write scripts before any type of recording too, so this is what I said:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedI’ve watched the video and the biggest key indicator that you’re looking for is someone who is collaborative, communicative and knows their way around Unity and C#— but also can actively learn and ask questions. 1.) Firstly, I would like to know if the environment is neurodivergent friendly, I have ADHD. Which in some cases can explain my enthusiasm for constantly learning. A good environment around that ensures that I have no issue communicating. 2.) How are the meeting conducted during the day, and how much is asynchronous communication also used? I’ll be available for a phone interview throughout today on Sunday, just give me prior notice. On Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be available anytime from the afternoon in the EST well into Evening. So, around 1pm to 9pm EST. If needed, I don’t mind have two phone interviews on a singular day.

And after that? I didn’t even get to talk to the CEO, okay, my fault for mentioning my ADHD””but I thought I was in the clear socially and””

I actually did try clarifying, mentioning that it’s a misunderstanding””but my email was ignored.

Regardless, I actually learned so much leading up to Machine Learning such as:

Onto the Machine Learning!!

It wasn’t until the August when I read a research paper, Generative Agents, the first time in a while that I read a research paper that I actively got into ML. From there I built my way up in learning, starting with Googles Developer courses. Then a Stanford Online / DeepLearning.AI course””after that I went through Huggingface.co’s Deep RL learning. Which”” I believe I got a good amount of foundational knowledge. I started to truly understand exactly what people meant when they were throwing domain knowledge around.

I’m actively still reading through stuff””gotta remember not to compare my experiences with people. There are so many talented and intelligent individuals who are amazing with this technology.

I’m in Huggingface.co’s discord, Anarchy.AI’s discord”¦ which I hope soon that I can actually find a ticket to work on and contribute too””and I’m apart of Nous Research’s discord. The dataset that I’m creating I do want to see if it’ll help with Hermes 2.5””with my hyper-fixation on Greek Mythos for the past two years, it’s only natural.

At this point, I’m wanting to pivot into Machine Learning, but I only have like”¦ three months of knowledge but I feel I can really get somewhere as long as I continue to learn and interact with other people. It’s the first time that I’ve wanted to contribute which brings me back to the initial part of this whole post.

If I had Jupyter Notebook or Google Colab back in high school””I would have learned so much more Python””since it was the language I started with. But that would have required that the school I went to allowed us to use our laptops in class.

Feel free to delta / jet/ leave the post now!

Oh Man, This Sucks:

Trauma Ahead! Turn back, or not.

Last year in 2022, my mother was murdered””which is pretty much why that job let me go. Because in Jan. I came back after a ~month PTO (after them insisting I use it), December 29th was my moms birthday””I didn’t get to grieve until then. She was shot twice, died in the hospital. I started having extreme anxiety and panic attacks””really bad de-realization.

I had persistent physical panic attacks for nearly three weeks straight. I’d wake up out of my sleep after only 40 minutes of sleep, extremely dizzy with my heart racing. Which””some jackass tried to tell me it was vaccines and not my mom’s death that was affecting me. I blocked them fast. I don’t tolerate specific shit. I was afraid of losing my job””I had to go to a meeting while I was completely out of it. So, I would force myself to go””I started turning off my camera because I’d basically just clench my jaw and seem unfriendly. Every day felt kind of like that feeling when your heart drops from like missing a step.

I was struggling to find a psychiatrist and a therapist. I’d already had been looking for a psychiatrist for my unmediated ADHD””The biggest concern was literally losing my job and afraid I’d start hallucinating from the lack of sleep.

In my defense, I did try suffering less. But”¦ poverty, paranoia, stress”¦ The only thing that helped was time. But before then””I even mentored someone and helped lead the simulation designer side of the south African localization project. I personally feel that the strikes against me was because I didn’t go to the company summit””which I didn’t have the money too””I was one person taking care of my little sister and another. With my first job after being in abject poverty””like”¦ not having running water the entire time I was studying online in college.

I didn’t like talking about the home life even before my mom was murdered because it was like: domestic violence, cycle of abuse I tried preventing””making sure my sister wasn’t present during any of that. Small talk was hard to make. After she died? I got some flowers. But””ugh. Had to buy a water heater, the furnace died after 30 years ”” house old, it mortgage was paid off by my grandparents. Paying car insurance and car payments (which it got repo’d back in August). I did ask for a raise””but got denied””so”¦ forgive me for not being able to go meet everyone in person. I’d have gone they brought the tickets and such.

I barely even got 1:1s because my manager was swamped. Which in my performance review before my PTO kicked in””he told me another co-worker was going to leave who was senior””he wanted me to fill in the position. I was excited and I was like: “Sweet! Alright, I’ll grieve and rest on the first christmas and birthday without my mom (okay I didn’t say that part) and I’ll be there and do well.” I just missed one meeting that month and then””it wasn’t even my manager. It was His manager’s manager, and his manager’s manager’s manager and main HR person in a meeting called: “Catch up”. I knew then.

The worst thing, currently, is I hope that I won’t be judged harshly for not having worked for a year. Financially? I’m in ruin but oh well! I went through two therapist at first””had to sneak in some meeting with them. I went through three psychiatrists before I found one that was helpful: which I found her too late, in November””also learned I had a hypothyroid issue.

Honestly? Like truly? Going back to the original point I was making which is this, ""¦ rather than a”¦ what problem will you solve, or would you like to solve type of person.” When my mom died, I lost sense of purpose in a way; I worked to help her because she took care of me and I loved her. I still do.

In Machine Learning: LLMs, NLP, GenAI, Deep RL and etc., all that’s fascinating and it helps me feel like I’ve found something I’d like to solve in a meaningful way or be apart of. I hope that I can and that I do.