What do you do if your freelance machine learning expertise is falling behind in a fast-paced industry?

Ask this question before.
“Am I falling behind the industry or do I feel like I’m falling behind the industry?” This situation, that is, focusing on the difference between the real situation and the felt situation, was a method I learned from Shane Parish’s book Clear Thing, which is one of the books that guide clear thinking. This is an important situation. Being realistic can be more profitable and calmer than being a dreamer, especially for individuals who are trying to keep up with the artificial intelligence industry, which is a huge sector, and have limited time, resources and energy. So what is realism?

If we are talking about an industry, especially in the field of “artificial intelligence”, the idea of ​​falling behind is also a overgeneralization. I’m sure everyone will agree on this narrative: There are companies in this sector that make artificial intelligence at the “only regression” level and do not use any other models. This is not bad. Because in some cases, regression may produce great results and be sufficient, or the company may not need it. On the other hand, at the other extreme, there are companies that have developed and implemented more advanced technologies by understanding RAG, fine-tuning or other technologies at a magical level of depth. Now which one are you talking about?

A good data scientist would take an average or median EMOJI in this case, but don’t do that. In my opinion, although it is good to follow new technologies, it may be good to be selective and see whether these technologies really meet the demands of the industry. Let me give an example. For example, you are great in the field of artificial intelligence, you are familiar with all technologies, but you are faced with a very large data set and you are not familiar with some “data engineering” issues that are not very new, related to the cleaning, analysis and transformation of this data. In this case, your talent is still valuable, but depending on the industry you work in, it may prevent you from solving the “urgent” problem of the day.

I think the question of whether I am behind or ahead of technology creates the paradox of the tortoise and the hare. We need to think outside of this, especially when it comes to our character and interests. The metaphor is; If there is a swimming championship, am I a fish or a cat? You don’t have to be a fish, but if you are not a fish, do not enter this competition and choose the competition for fish. What does this mean? For example, if your personality tends to immediately pick up and interpret new technology, then you should choose jobs that are suitable for this. However, if you do not like this top speed and like to struggle with large data sets, go for this. However, the target should not be “the latest technology” but “the latest technology that works”, especially if it is a technology that makes things easier and reduces costs.